Young people’s mental health during the war on Gaza: longitudinal evidence from GAGE

Since the Hamas attack of 7 October 2023, Israel has carried out actions that amount to genocide. It has systematically destroyed the Gaza Strip, killed tens of thousands of people, and deliberately deprived Gaza’s population of life-saving humanitarian aid (Amnesty International, 2024; HRW, 2024; Asem, 2025; B’Tselem, 2025; Forensic Architecture, 2025; UN, 2025). Given the unprecedented level of violence, young people in Gaza are in danger of severe mental health disorders as a result of traumatic events, loss of loved ones, and the everyday stressors of struggling to survive with limited food, water and shelter. This brief explores the impacts of the war on young people’s mental health. It draws on two rounds of data collection (in 2024 and 2025) with more than 1,000 young people undertaken by the Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence (GAGE) longitudinal research programme.

Suggested citation

Vintges, J., E., Abu Hamad, B., Diyab, R. and Jones, N. (2026) ‘Young people’s mental health during the war on Gaza: longitudinal evidence from GAGE’. Policy brief. London: Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence (https://gage.odi.org/young-people-s-mental-health-during-the-war-on-gaza-longitudinal-evidence-from-gage/)