New project for children in Gaza

Food cannot be used as a weapon of war

For 2025, Beyond Conflict is supporting a new project for children in Gaza, whose lives have been devastated by the conflict in the region and the Israeli food and medical aid blockade. We join voices around the world to call for a ceasefire, for this blockade to end and for the UN to be allowed to resume humanitarian duties delivering food and medical supplies to Gazan civilians. Food cannot be used as a weapon of war. It must end now.

This year we are backing a project by Gaza Community Mental Health Project, the leading and world respected NGO operating in the region to provide recreation days for 2,800 traumatised children, called “Healing Through Play”. This remarkable project, led by GCMHP’s Director General, Dr Yasser Abu Jamal, aims to run 8 camps across the Gaza region over a period of months, providing  art, play and music, under the supervision of mental health professionals.

Funded by LSEG and a private donor

The project is made possible by funding from our donor the London Stock Exchange Group Foundation and a private donor to Beyond Conflict. We thank them for their generous support.

The project activities will be conducted in 8 camps and IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) communities in the Gaza Strip. The goal is to provide emotional relief, promote healing, and strengthen children’s resilience. Children will also receive snacks, when food is available.

However, all humanitarian work in Gaza  is being severely hampered by the IDF (Israeli Defence Force) bombardment and now the spectre of starvation due to aid blockades, which must end now to save civilian and particularly children’s lives.

GCMHP said: “The ongoing conflict and humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip have severely impacted the mental and emotional well-being of children. Many have been exposed to traumatic events including the loss of family members, displacement, and destruction of homes and schools. The long-term effects of trauma can hinder their cognitive development, emotional stability, and overall ability to cope. This project aims to provide safe, structured recreational activities to help children experience moments of joy, express their emotions, build resilience, and reconnect with a sense of normalcy.”

Beyond Conflict Chair Gillian Dare said:

“I am pleased to welcome the new partnership with the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme  to respond to the critical and heartbreaking trauma experienced by most of  the children in Gaza  by  providing emotional relief, promoting healing, and strengthening  children’s resilience.  For these children,  normal happy childhood and family life has gone forever. I salute also the heroic local staff of doctors, psychotherapists and emergency workers inside Gaza who, at great personal cost, carry on in the horrific circumstances we have all witnessed.”

Beyond Conflict Co-Founder and Director Edna Fernandes, added:

“We are honoured to support this project by GCMHP, which has been addressing the trauma of Gazans for more than three decades. Work like this is vital for the future of Gaza and all Palestinians. We believe that an attack on a child is an attack on the future of all Palestinians and humanity. Therefore, we join global calls for an end to the food and medical blockade to allow the UN to deliver vital life saving support and to allow frontline workers like those at GCMHP to do their job.”

Children’s war trauma

A report by GCMHP in December 2024[1] revealed that children are the most vulnerable during and after emergencies, with symptoms including nightmares, bedwetting, crying, fear, concentration issues, sleeping problems, and aggressive behavior.

On average, 8% of children need advanced mental health care in the Gaza Strip. UNICEF estimated that almost all of Gaza’s 1.2 million children need mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS), with particular concerns for children who are exposed to repeated traumatic events, have been maimed, have lost parents and close family members, and children with disabilities.

UN relief chief Tom Fletcher[2] highlights traumatization of a generation in Gaza due to Israel’s war, stating at least one million children require mental health support for depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts. UNRWA[3] reported also a surge in symptoms of depression, stress, anxiety, and trauma among the people they serve, especially noticeable among children. Sleep disturbances, nightmares, emotional numbness, and aggression, including a rise in domestic violence, are just some of the manifestations of the trauma endured.

Expected Outcomes

• Improved emotional well-being and temporary relief from trauma for 2,800 children.
• Raised community awareness of psychosocial support needs in emergencies.
• Referred children with severe symptoms to GCMHP community centers for further specialist support.

You can support this work in the future by donating to Beyond Conflict now. Thank you.

[2] https://www.gcmhp.org/publications/4/220

[2] Gaza ‘hell on Earth’ for one million children: UN

[3] https://www.unrwa.org/sites/default/files/content/resources/22.8.24_-_mhpss_300_day_report_final.pdf