You’ve got a situation where grandparents, parents and uncles are already very stressed, and that would show in a number of ways: depression; certain clampdowns of emotions; and a tendency to get very upset at small incidents.
All of this really has an impact on kids growing up. They’re realizing that their entire structure for safety and protection is not doing very well.
I would say that in all studies of disaster and in war crisis, the fundamental feature that protects the children from serious psychological stress is their certainty and their confidence that their parents or grandparents will be able to protect them and hold them. If they can get the sense that the parent is OK, then they will be able in the long-term. In the short term they may be upset, but in the long term they will be OK.
You have now complete disruption of the very structures for psychological stability of the parents, and grandparents are also suffering greatly.
It will be important for — as soon as possible — stability to be restored and the parents to get it together for themselves to create a sense of confidence in themselves for their children. But I think the odds of that are not high for two reasons: One is there’s going to be ongoing violence and lingering uncertainty for some time in Gaza, even if there is hopefully a cease-fire that can be arranged. The worry will continue on the part of the adults and the children will remain terrified and unable to relax, literally and figuratively, in the arms of their family.
And then secondly, the parents and grandparents and others themselves, are in no psychological position to be able to convey that umbrella of hope and safety for the children. The resilience of the Palestinian population in general is not going to be as deep or robust as any of us want it to be and certainly as they would want it to be, just because this have been extraordinary series of acute stress on top of chronic stress.