(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Children Bear the Cost of War in Ukraine, Sudan, and Gaza [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-10-02 Millions of children are suffering from severe physical, mental, and emotional, trauma, impacted by continuing wars in Ukraine, Sudan, and Gaza. They have lost family members, fled from their homes, and seen friends and siblings wounded or killed. The effects of mental and emotional trauma like PTSD, depression, and anxiety can last for decades and my never subside. According to UNICEF, more than half of Ukraine’s children were displaced in the first months alone following the Russian invasion in February 2022, about 500 were killed, and over 1,000 were injured by the Russian bombing of Ukrainian cities. The latest civil war in Sudan, starting in April 2023, has placed 24 million children at risk of exposure to brutality and human rights violations. According to UNICEF, 3.7 million Sudanese children are acutely malnourished, including over 700,000 suffering from severe acute malnutrition. Schools and hospitals stopped functioning meaning children are denied an education and a vast majority of the population lacks basic health care. There are reports of children being killed, subjected to sexual violence as a weapon of war, and forced to serve as child soldiers. UNICEF spokesperson James Elder, an Australian, describes Gaza as “the most dangerous place in the world to be a child and day after day, that brutal reality is reinforced.” UNICEF estimates that over 850,000 Palestinian children lost their homes and were forced to relocate, sometimes multiple times. Over 20,000 children have lost either one or both parents. More than 14,000 children have died in Israeli attacks, but the mortality figure may be higher because of deaths from starvation and disease. Ulrike Julia Wendt, an emergency child protection coordinator with the International Rescue Committee and a member of the German Parliament, estimates that “There are about 1.2 million children who are in need of mental health and psychosocial support. This basically means nearly all Gaza’s children.” Based on her own visits to Gaza, she reports that Palestinian children are having nightmares and wetting their beds because of stress, noise, crowding, and constant change. Another casualty of the war in Gaza is the education system. Following the Hamas assault on Israeli on October 7, 2023, Israel responded with a massive bombing campaign and a military invasion, forcing the closing of all schools. More than 800 schools were bombed or destroyed by the Israeli Airforce during the first five months of the war. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinian students have had no formal education for the past year or a safe place to spend the day. Many end up in the street sifting through ruble trying to find things to sell that will help support their families. The 18-member UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) accuses Israel of severe breaches of the 1989 global treaty protecting children’s rights that Israel signed. It argues that Israel’s military actions in Gaza are having a catastrophic impact on children and are among the worst violations in recent history. Bragi Gudbrandsson of Iceland, vice chair of the committee, describes “the outrageous death of children” in Gaza as “almost historically unique.” Israel attended United Nations hearings in Geneva, Switzerland in September on its actions in Gaza where its representatives claimed Israel respected international humanitarian law and that the Children’s Rights treaty did not apply in Gaza or the occupied West Bank. The Israeli public views very managed coverage of events in Gaza on television and reads similarly edited reports in its press so it is largely unaware of the depth of the trauma suffered by Palestinian children. Reports focus on military operations, the negotiating demands of the Netanyahu government, and concern with Israeli hostages held by Hamas. Israeli psychologists report Israeli children are suffering childhood trauma following from the attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023, that resulted in over 1,200 deaths and hundreds of hostages. Despite disruptions caused by continuing air raid alerts and fear that the small country could be overrun, life for Jewish children in most of Israel has not been interrupted in the way it is in Ukraine, Sudan, and Gaza and Israeli mental health professionals, with support from the government and non-profit organizations, have been able to provide children with needed counseling and support. 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