Accounting for approximately one quarter of Gaza’s population, over the past year, young people have witnessed traumatic events, lost family and friends, suffered from hunger and thirst, lost homes, and have not been able to go to school. Since the attack on Israel by Hamas on the 7th of October 2023 and the ensuing Israeli invasion of Gaza, the United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, has warned that Gaza is becoming ‘a graveyard for children’. One year on, even conservative estimates put the death toll among Gaza’s children at more than 14,000 (among an overall estimated death toll of over 42,000 and more than 10,000 still buried under the rubble) (Khatib et al., 2024; Wintour, 2023; United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), 2024)2. Children and young people, along with their families, have been displaced multiple times since the war started, and have yet to find a safe place, as designated safe zones are still targeted by the Israeli military, forcing families to flee once again (Yasser, 2024).
While there is no doubt that the war has taken a heavy toll on young Palestinians in Gaza, who are at a crucial stage of their development, concrete data on what is happening to young people in Gaza has been scarce since the war started, mainly due to the unprecedented level of violence and restricted access for humanitarian responders and independent observers. This short report draws on survey research with 1,011 young people aged 10-24 years across the five governorates of the Gaza Strip undertaken in August and September 2024 and aims to contribute to filling this gap, and to provide evidence to inform an urgently needed adolescent and youth-centred humanitarian response.
Suggested citation:
Abu Hamad, B., Vintges, J., Diab, R., AbuHamad, S., Khammash, U., Dabis, J., Labadi, H., Maayeh, C. and Jones, N. (2024) Shattered lives and dreams: the toll of the war on Gaza on young people. Report. London: Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence
