The Organization calls for an urgent increase in international support to address the short- and long-term needs of displaced Palestinian children in Egypt, particularly regarding mental health and psychosocial support services.
Palestinian children who fled to Egypt from the war in Gaza are haunted by the horrors they have experienced and struggle with nightmares, anger, bedwetting and anxiety. It’s Save the Children, the Organization that has been fighting for over 100 years to save girls and boys at risk and guarantee them a future, to sound the alarm and call for a substantial increase in mental health support and psychosocial support.
Since the start of the war in Gaza on October 7, more than 60,000 Palestinians, including over 5,500 displaced for medical reasons, have crossed the border into Egypt seeking refuge and medical assistance.
Over the past three months, Save the Children has received more than 500 requests from Palestinians in Egypt for mental health and psychosocial support. Nearly 90% of these requests were for children, with parents concerned that their children were still agitated by loud noises, unable to sleep or even go to the bathroom on their own, or that they were withdrawn and showing no signs of of emotion.
Prolonged exposure to war and uncertainty can cause a state of “toxic shock”, but children in conflict areas show remarkable resilience and can recover with appropriate assistance such as through mental health and psychosocial interventions (MHPSS), child-friendly spaces where they can play and specific educational programs.
Waleed*, 66, from Gaza, now lives with his wife and five of their children in Cairo. His children lost cousins and other loved ones in the war, and their mother says they always asked who would be the first of them to die. Waleed* said that although she has tried to help her children, they still need a lot of support to recover: “[La guerra ha] had a major impact on my children’s mental health. As they fled and were displaced, their lives were threatened, it was very dangerous and there was a lot of bombing and all of this intimidated them and made them anxious. When they arrived in Egypt, they were in very bad conditions and needed psychological support and I tried to help them. But it’s really difficult.”
“Here in Egypt, children play with fireworks in the streets, and when my children hear the noise, they get scared and go crazy. She snaps them. There are also plane sounds and when they hear them, they freeze.
Heba*, 28, lives in an apartment in Cairo with her husband and three children Rami* (7), Sana* (10) and Samira* (12), all seriously injured in an air strike in Gaza. Heba* says that her son Rami, who suffered injuries to his head and leg, is now afraid of everything: “Rami was actually known to be very brave and always consoled the family. But since he got injured he has become a child who fears any noise or who is afraid of the dark and cannot be alone or go to the bathroom alone.”
“Since the war, little girls have a higher heart rate, they are afraid and think that death is around the corner. Even when we were driving from the border to Cairo… Samira had nightmares and she would wake up thinking we were dead and everything had been destroyed.”
The closure of the Rafah crossing with Egypt since May 7 has completely blocked the evacuation of patients. Around 600 patients scheduled to be evacuated are currently unable to move. Between October 2023 and May 18 there were 12,760 requests for evacuation for medical reasons, to Egypt and other countries.
“Children in Gaza have suffered unimaginable psychological damage due to violence, severe physical injuries, including the loss of body parts as well as the loss of family members, homes and schools. The little ones are also tortured by the uncertainty of not knowing where their loved ones are in Gaza and what will happen to them. Living under this type of stress for so long is enough to destroy anyone’s health, both physical and mental,” said Laila Toema, a psychologist and consultant for Save the Children in Egypt on mental health and psychosocial support.
“Despite what they have experienced, children are resilient and we know from experience in Egypt and many other countries around the world, that they can recover when we provide them with support to access medical care to heal their physical injuries and help them regain a sense of stability, normality and security. Save the Children calls for an urgent increase in international support to address the short- and long-term needs of displaced Palestinian children in Egypt, particularly regarding mental health and psychosocial support services,” continued Laila Toema.
“In Gaza, children continue to be mutilated and suffer physical injuries, with little opportunity for medical care or therapy, and their mental health hangs in the balance. It is estimated that more than 1 million children are in desperate need of mental health services. We call for an immediate ceasefire to save the lives and future of boys and girls” concluded Laila Toema.
Save the Children is working with Egyptian authorities to provide essential services to displaced Palestinians, including cash assistance, support to cover medical expenses, and mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS). MHPSS activities include group and individual counseling for children and their caregivers, training Palestinians in Egypt to provide community-level psychosocial support to Palestinians newly arrived from Gaza, and MHPSS training Egyptian ambulance personnel so they can better support care for children evacuated for medical reasons.
Save the Children is also supporting health authorities, ambulances and public hospitals receiving medically displaced people from Gaza by providing baby incubators and other essential medical supplies and equipment. The Organization is also preparing to train healthcare workers on the front lines on how to respond to pediatric blast injuries and accident victims. Save the Children’s response to Gaza takes place in the country of Egypt through collaboration with the Egyptian Ministry of Health and with the support of Community Jameel and the Canadian Humanitarian Coalition Fund.*Names have been changed to protect the identity of interviewees
