Will there Ever be a Cure for Gaza’s ‘Shell Shock’

If deliberate starvation doesn’t take the lives of Palestinians facing Israel’s bombings, the rise in mental health issues surely will lead to long-term disabilities. This is a crisis that we can’t ignore.

Mental health is spiraling in Gaza, where people are dealing with the heavy toll of ongoing violence and oppression. The trauma—marked by the loss of entire families and the destruction of essential infrastructure—happens in plain sight while the world looks on in silence.

You might have heard the term "shell shock" from World War I, used to describe soldiers' psychological struggles. Tragically, it still applies today as many in Gaza experience severe anxiety, panic, and sleep issues due to constant bombardment. While the term isn’t commonly used anymore, it perfectly reflects what people in Gaza are going through.

Historically, shell shock was misunderstood and sometimes regarded as a sign of weakness. Today, however, we know it affects brain function and can lead to chronic health problems. The World Health Organization reports that about 22% of people in conflict zones like Gaza deal with mental disorders, compared to 13% in the general population. Given what Palestinians endure, this number likely doesn’t even capture the whole picture.

Mental health struggles can be invisible, complicating treatment. But they are very real, and untreated mental issues can lead to serious physical health problems.

In a place like Gaza, trauma is everywhere. The constant fear of bombings, the loss of loved ones, and the threat of violence create an environment that is overwhelming. Sadly, children suffer significantly, often left without the support they need to deal with their trauma.

The psychological effects of living under Israeli violence are intense. Displacement and fear lead to issues like depression and PTSD, further compounded by the absence of safe spaces or mental health resources.

Children in Gaza experience chronic stress that can lead to complex PTSD, where even small noises can trigger deep fear. Their pain is part of a bigger narrative of suffering that doesn’t just go away after the violence stops.

Bringing back the discussion around shell shock can help us understand the mental health crisis in Gaza. We need to recognize the pervasive trauma inflicted by Israel on Palestinian civilians and call for a permanent ceasefire. It’s vital that we advocate for mental health resources to help heal the invisible wounds of this ongoing genocide. Only then can we start to foster resilience and recovery in a community that has endured so much at the hands of the Israeli regime.

Dr Crane is a retired MD, who has an extensive experience in Emergency Medicine and Internal Medicine, holding board certification in Internal Medicine. She trained at Yale Medical School and completed her Internal Medicine residency at Boston City Hospital, now known as Boston Medical Center. With over 25 years in practice, she further studied public health at the T.H. Chan School of Public Health at Harvard.

Editor's note: Under normal circumstances text-book scientific solutions could well be beneficial and fruitful. But when implemented with total disregard to a conflict-zone's conditions, then those solutions could at some point be implemented in vain. In the case of Gaza, where the whole strip is under total siege and there is no possiblity to isolate patients or vaccinated children, then, out of the box solutions need to be brought forward. At @RebuildGaza24, we remain of the opinion that a permanent ceasefire and allowing for the entry of food, clean water and proper medication could well enable the Palestinian children of Gaza to develope a stronger immune system that would enable them to fight the side effects of the active OPV vaccine which could be fatal in their current case