BMTea

A new study of children living through the war in Gaza has found that 96% of them feel that their death is imminent and almost half want to die as a result of the trauma they have been through.

A needs assessment, carried out by a Gaza-based NGO sponsored by the War Child Alliance charity, also found that 92% of the children in the survey were “not accepting of reality”, 79% suffer from nightmares and 73% exhibit symptoms of aggression.

“This report lays bare that Gaza is one of the most horrifying places in the world to be a child,” Helen Pattinson, chief executive of War Child UK, said. “Alongside the levelling of hospitals, schools and homes, a trail of psychological destruction has caused wounds unseen but no less destructive on children who hold no responsibility for this war.”

The survey questioned parents or caregivers of 504 children from families where at least one child is disabled, injured or unaccompanied. The sample was split between southern and northern Gaza and was complemented by more in-depth interviews. The survey was carried out in June this year, so is likely to understate the accumulated psychological impact of Gaza’s children now, after more than 14 months of Israel’s assault on the territory.

The estimated death toll in Gaza is more than 44,000 and a recent assessment by the UN Human Rights Office found that 44% of the fatalities it was able to verify were children.

The new psychological survey published on Wednesday was carried out by ​​a Gaza-based organisation, the Community Training Centre for Crisis Management, with backing from the Dutch Relief Alliance as well as the War Child Alliance.

“The psychological toll on children was severe, with high levels of stress manifested in symptoms such as fear, anxiety, sleep disturbances, nightmares, nail biting, difficulty concentrating and social withdrawal,” the report said. “Children have witnessed the bombing of their homes and schools, experienced the loss of loved ones, and have been displaced or separated from their families while fleeing for safety.”

About 1.9 million Palestinians in Gaza, approximately 90% of the territory’s total population, have been displaced, many several times. Half of that number are children who have lost their home and been forced to flee their neighbourhoods.

More than 60% of the surveyed children reported having experienced traumatic events during the war and some had been exposed to multiple traumatic events.

An estimated 17,000 children in Gaza are unaccompanied, separated from their parents, although the study notes the real number may be much higher.

The report warns: “Being separated from their families places these children at a heightened risk of exploitation, abuse and other serious violations of their rights.”

“As a result of such exposure, children develop responses that may persist long after the war has ceased, profoundly affecting their daily lives,” it adds. “Traumatic responses can manifest in various ways, including ongoing emotional distress, anxiety, behavioural changes, difficulties in relationships, regression, nightmares, sleep disturbances, eating issues, and physical symptoms such as pain.”

The sense of being doomed has become pervasive. Almost all the children (96%) felt their death was imminent, and 49% actually wished to die, a feeling that was much more prevalent among boys (72%) than girls (26%).

War Child says the charity and its partners have so far been able to reach 17,000 children in Gaza to provide mental health support, but it ultimately aims to reach a million children with psychosocial and other support, in what it says will be the biggest humanitarian response in its three-decade history.

Pattinson said: “The international community must act now before the child mental health catastrophe we are witnessing embeds itself into multigenerational trauma, the consequences of which the region will be dealing with for decades to come.”

Been playing this game for weeks. I completed it and then started a new game. The game's story is excellent, but it absolutely does not justify the tedium it makes you endure to experience it. In a 40 minute sitting, I'd spend the entire thing simply having characters dialogue at me. What's the point of the open world then? Car chases are scripted so that you don't even have to fire a single shot. The enemies will just eventually blow up. 70% of dialogue choices are just for roleplay and don't change a thing or make extremely minor changes. The combat and shootouts are mid.

Act 1 is a chore to get through on replay. There are so many touches they could have added to make it interactive. The Flathead robot mission... why not let us pilot the bot in first-person to do all the tasks, like a stealth minigame? I can think of a few games that let you do something similar. Instead, it is 20 or more steps that are essentially "look at this object and wait."

The best part of the game for me was the middle, where the plot becomes more elaborate, evocative and the relationships with Judy, Panam, Johnny etc develop. But even there the game was navigating me through a seedy open world in order to show me glorified cutscene after cutscene. Then shootouts that were really nothing special.

Witcher 3 was dialogue heavy, nuanced and compelling. It had tedium, but I never felt like the open world was superficial or that the tedium overshadowed the rest of the game. Side tasks like Gwent or contracts were fun and absorbing. The most boring expositional bit was using Witcher sense to explore, but even then at least you were interacting with your surroundings more, not just sitting there being talked at.

Did anyone else feel this way?