NGO Network Monitors an Unprecedented Psychological Crisis Among Gaza Residents

SadaNews - The health and psychological crises are worsening throughout the Gaza Strip, leaving devastating effects on children, women, and the most vulnerable groups as the Israeli genocidal war on the Strip continues for more than 22 months, with ongoing disruptions to humanitarian services and a lack of food and medicine for more than a hundred days, in a clear and deliberate violation of the principles of international humanitarian law and the Fourth Geneva Convention.

This unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe caused by the Israeli occupation has resulted in the martyrdom of more than 60,000 Palestinians, with over 150,000 additional injuries, including more than a hundred victims who died of hunger. According to a recent statement from the rehabilitation sector in the network, this war has left more than 32,000 new cases of disability, 70% of whom are children and women, increasing the number of persons with disabilities in the Gaza Strip by 55% to more than 90,000 individuals, in addition to 107,000 or approximately 12% of the Gaza Strip's population being elderly. There are many statistics related to the humanitarian disaster that space does not allow to mention in this statement.

Amid this tragic reality, the Palestinian NGO Network has monitored the catastrophic psychological conditions of the residents in the Gaza Strip as a result of their daily experiences with the horrors of this catastrophe and continued genocide, through a deep analysis and reading of a series of scientific studies, UN reports, humanitarian appeals, and technical reports that have recently been issued by local and international organizations working in the fields of mental health and psychological and social support, which have clearly shown the existence of an unprecedented psychological crisis on all levels affecting all segments of society, including children, women, men, individuals with disabilities, and the elderly, leaving deep and long-term impacts. The network emphasizes, in light of recent UN updates and food security assessments, the urgent need not only for medical, psychological, and social support but, more importantly, to put an end to the ongoing violence that continues to destroy people's lives.
Official statistics indicate that nearly one million children currently live in the Gaza Strip under genocide. While the facts released by UNICEF show that all children in Gaza require mental health services and psychosocial support, which was only half prior to the war, the Gaza Mental Health Programme reports that Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip suffer from ongoing and complex psychological trauma, characterized by prolonged and repeated exposure to multiple traumatic events, which will overwhelm individuals' ability to cope and adapt. A study conducted by the Palestinian Community Training and Crisis Management Center showed that 96% of children in the Gaza Strip feel that death is imminent, 87% show intense fear, while 79% suffer from nightmares.

In related reports, the World Health Organization has confirmed that approximately 485,000 residents are suffering from psychological disorders, including 20,000 who need specialized mental health interventions. In our attempt to assess the prevalence of mental health disorders due to the environment of continuous fear and the chronic state of anxiety, and repeated exposure to traumatic events such as displacement, loss of loved ones, and destruction of homes, a research study published in July 2025 indicates a disturbing and unprecedented rise in the rates of psychological symptoms, with study results showing that 72.7% of participants have moderate to severe depression, and 65% have moderate to severe anxiety, while 83.5% meet the threshold for post-traumatic stress disorder.

Results of the clinical data analysis for the first quarter of 2025 in the Gaza Mental Health Programme showed an increase in rates of psychological disorders among new cases of children and adults compared to the previous year's rates diagnosed in its three community centers, where 31% of cases were diagnosed with severe depression disorders, 27% with anxiety disorders, including post-traumatic stress disorder, while the remaining cases were diagnosed with a variety of psychological disorders, including somatic symptom disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and others.

Through the analysis conducted on most reports issued over the past months, experts in the field of mental health have agreed that the continuation of this tragic psychological state and the ongoing exposure to repeated psychological traumas will have profound and long-lasting repercussions at both the individual and collective levels, extending across generations. At the individual level, especially among children, this will affect their mental and physical development, as well as their ability to learn, emotionally connect, and navigate social skills. Among adults, this situation will lead to increased nervous tension, a rise in chronic diseases, weakened immunity, and the emergence of physical symptoms, in addition to escalating violent behaviors and, in some cases, a loss of the ability to empathize with children, perpetuating suffering across generations. At the collective level, this will contribute to a lack of trust, social isolation, and the breakdown of social bonds due to repeated displacement and loss. Additionally, the prolonged state of uncertainty and instability will foster a collective sense of despair, apathy, and pessimism about the future, while ongoing psychological crises will limit individuals’ ability to recover, plan, and invest in personal or community development.

The Palestinian NGO Network, amidst these alarming indicators regarding the mental health reality of the population in the Gaza Strip and the increasing need for psychological and social support services in all their forms and levels, emphasizes the prominent role of local Palestinian organizations and international and UN institutions that operate within various networks and alliances, which continue to provide their psychological and social services to affected and displaced populations in all areas under enormous challenges and numerous obstacles related to the safety of staff, movement restrictions, shortages of materials and supplies, and the destruction of the main headquarters of most of these institutions. These organizations have sought to continue working devotedly and managed to reach hundreds of thousands of affected individuals over the past twenty-two months under intense bombardment and continuous genocidal events, providing various services at initial preventive levels such as psychological awareness, psychological first aid, and psychological counseling, as well as specialized levels that included specialized psychological treatment and medications.

Furthermore, we cannot overlook an important aspect of the psychological challenges faced by workers in the field of psychosocial support and mental health, who are also subjected, like others in the population, to martyrdom, injury, displacement, hunger, and repeated psychological traumas due to the loss of loved ones, properties, and other experiences of loss and traumatic events. We emphasize the importance of directing specialized care and professional supervision programs to them to help them continue providing their vital services through their various organizations.

Based on the aforementioned, the Palestinian NGO Network calls upon all countries and all international and humanitarian organizations to adhere to their legal and humanitarian obligations, and to take immediate and effective measures to work on stopping the Israeli aggression, lifting the siege, allowing goods and aid to enter, halting systematic starvation policies, and ensuring the protection of the population and enabling them to safely access food, medicine, and healthcare.

The network also demands continued support for the mental health sector and psychosocial support to meet the escalating community needs in this vital and important field.