[Salon] The trauma of Israel’s attacks on Gaza is unimaginable

https://www.newarab.com/opinion/trauma-israels-attacks-gaza-unimaginable

The trauma of Israel’s attacks on Gaza is unimaginable

Nasreen Hanifi 31 Oct, 2023

I work in healthcare, I’m a psychologist. I’m used to dealing with emotions but the ongoing atrocities in Palestine leave me at a loss for words. I feel the urge to write something, but I struggle to articulate my thoughts in a way that accurately reflects the magnitude of what the Palestinian people are enduring in Gaza, the West Bank, and in the diaspora.

So many of us feel distressed and helpless bystanders, caught between the need to bear witness and the instinct to look away from the horror and for some, a kind of survivor’s guilt. I myself feel totally overwhelmed by the aftermath of what this war will have on those who have experienced trauma previously and will continue to.

For more than 75 years, Palestinians have been expelled from their homes. This displacement remains an ongoing crisis. For most of us, it is unimaginable. Though over the years many have become immune to the struggle of ordinary Palestinians, accepting that it is a sad and ongoing reality.

''Even as mental health professionals, it remains challenging to fully grasp the detrimental psychological consequences that the experiences of terror, death, and loss will impose on the children growing up in Palestine, both in the present and for generations to come.''

However, Israel’s attacks on Gaza today are waking some up to the most appalling violence. Raw video footage shows the devastating aftermath of attacks on innocent civilians and children, which feel impossible to watch. There are reports of families losing as many as 21 members in a single day. Palestinians in the diaspora are unable to contact their loved ones, anxiously waiting and dreading news that they are dead.

Imagining loss on that scale in my own family, despite our roots in Afghanistan, is unfathomable.

The tragic bombing of Al Ahli - Baptist hospital, a refuge for many, claimed the lives of more than 500 civilians, including medical professionals. Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah, a surgeon at Al Shifa Hospital who travelled from his Harley Street Practice in London to volunteer support to medical staff and patients, revealed the devastating aftermath surrounded by lifeless bodies. In an interview with The New Arab, he explained the incredibly difficult circumstances, stating that there are many people laying on the floors of the emergency department waiting for an operation, but as doctors they have to be selective as to what surgeries they can perform with the limited resources available.

As the stark realities continue to unfold in Gaza, there is still a hesitation when it comes to critiquing Israel. Here in Australia, a significant number of people including many politicians, and those within healthcare, like the Australian Psychological Society, continue to endorse Israel’s apartheid regime.

As a healthcare practitioner, I have a responsibility to shed light on the long-lasting mental health consequences Palestinians have had to contend with since the Nakba in 1948. This is a land with a history of severe ethnical cleansing, colonial violence, and institutional racism towards the indigenous population. This violence has persisted and institutional oppression is found within Australia's various services, including healthcare.

For decades, the Israeli military occupation has limited the availability, reach, and quality of healthcare especially mental services for Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. The restrictions on freedom of movement, imposed through checkpoints, the separation wall, restrictive permit regulations, and the Gaza blockade, make it significantly challenging for patients throughout the occupied Palestinian territories (oPt) to access necessary treatment and support.

Living under this prolonged state of occupation has left the 4.8 million oPt residents in a constant state of danger, from incidents involving illegal Israeli settlers, to injuries (at times fatal) during protests, arbitrary arrests and mistreatment in prisons, to the recurrent destruction of homes and critical infrastructure.

In Gaza, a population of just over 2 million has been living in one of the most densely populated area in the world. In 2021, the United Nations reported that 1.45 million Palestinians required humanitarian assistance. That’s around 30% of the Palestinian population. Imagine what those numbers look like following Israel’s recent bombardment.