Post and Present Trauma Time Bomb Hangs Over Gaza

Her eyes glued to a cellphone photo of her sister and four children killed in an Israeli strike on Gaza, Ola lets out the painful words: “I was hoping we’d find them alive.”

The Gaza City resident in her thirties wipes away tears as she stands before a psychologist from a local organisation.Ola is one of many Gazans who lost family members during 11 days of Israeli bombardment last month when the local health ministry says 66 Palestinian children and teenagers were killed.

From May 10 to May 21, the Israeli army pummelled the Gaza Strip in response to rocket fire by militants of the Islamist movement Hamas which rules the coastal enclave that is home to two million people.

One of the strikes devastated the Al-Rimal district of Gaza City and demolished the building where Abeer, Ola’s sister, lived with her family.

Ten hours after the raid, rescue teams miraculously pulled Abeer’s husband, Riad, and their eight-year-old daughter, Suzy, from the rubble.

But Abeer and the…

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