For more than 700 days, Hadil Abu Zaid trekked across the rubble-laden streets of Gaza, carrying what remained of his house after he was displaced nine times.
“I have no energy left for joy or for any emotions,” said Zaid, a relief worker for the UK-based charity Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP), after Israel and Hamas agreed to terms for a ceasefire. “I have been haunted by the shadow of death, fear, sorrow and hunger.
After Israel’s two-year campaign in Gaza following the Hamas-led attacks of October 7, 2023, Palestinians say they bear psychological scars that go beyond the physical trauma of war.
Fikr Shalltoot, the Gaza director for MAP, received the news of a ceasefire with “mixed feelings.”
Another aid worker in Gaza warned that future generations will need “years” of mental health support.
“Homes lie in ruins, livelihoods have vanished, and families are fractured,” Amroo Al-Zeer, a senior protection officer in Gaza for the international medical NGO Project HOPE, said in a statement today.
“Beyond physical devastation, deep psychological wounds now threaten both the present and the future,” Al-Zeer added.
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