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Content warning: This article includes details about the impact of conflict on children in war zones and descriptions of injuries that some readers may find distressing.
Eleven-year-old Abdelrahman's story: A life shattered by war
Abdelrahman al-Nashash lost his father when an Israeli airstrike destroyed his family home in Gaza. His mother, Asma, 29, recalls the horrific moment: "They brought him out in pieces."
Weeks later, on July 16, 2024, another airstrike hit a school in Nuseirat, central Gaza, where Abdelrahman was sheltering. The blast left him with severe injuries, forcing doctors to amputate his leg. His mental health deteriorated rapidly afterward. "He started pulling his hair and hitting himself hard," Asma said. "He became like someone with depression, watching his friends play while he sat alone."
When interviewed at a Jordanian hospital in May 2025, Abdelrahman, now withdrawn and guarded, stated simply: "We will return to Gaza. We will die there."
A crisis of unimaginable scale
Abdelrahman's suffering is far from unique. In 2024, an estimated 520 million children-one in five worldwide-lived in conflict zones, according to the Peace Research Institute Oslo. The figure, derived from conflict records and population data, underscores what experts call "the largest humanitarian disaster since World War II."
Theresa Betancourt, author of Shadows into Light, a book on former child soldiers, warns that trauma inflicts lasting damage. "It can disrupt the developing architecture of the brain in young children, with lifelong consequences for learning, behavior, and both physical and mental health," she said.
The science of trauma: Why war leaves deep scars
Decades of research reveal how conflict reshapes children's minds. Michael Pluess, a psychology professor at the University of Surrey, has studied Syrian refugee children and found that 80% exhibited vulnerability to multiple psychological disorders. Family circumstances-such as access to safe housing, food, and schooling-were "about 10 times more predictive of their mental health" than other factors.
Trauma's physical toll is equally alarming. Prolonged exposure to "toxic stress" floods the body with hormones like cortisol and adrenaline, increasing risks of heart disease and autoimmune disorders. Emerging research in epigenetics even suggests trauma may alter gene expression, potentially affecting future generations.
"Children differ in how they respond," Pluess noted. "Some may have protective social environments-parents who shield them, friendships, or access to school-that buffer the impact."
Michael Pluess, University of Surrey
From Rwanda to Gaza: A reporter's witness
The article's author, a veteran conflict journalist, reflects on nearly four decades of documenting war's toll on children. Faces from past assignments remain vivid: Adonai Mikael, a child burned by napalm in Eritrea; a Belfast boy following his father's IRA-targeted coffin; a Rwandan child nicknamed "Grenade" after an explosion killed his parents.
"Certain faces are embedded in my memory," the journalist writes. "They reflect the depth of terror inflicted on children in our time."
Personal experience with PTSD-both as a child in a fractured home and later as a war correspondent-deepened the author's curiosity about how children cope. "I know the symptoms all too well: extreme anxiety, hypervigilance, flashbacks, nightmares," they admit. Therapy, medication, and support networks were critical to recovery.
Can healing begin amid chaos?
Experts emphasize that stability is key to recovery. Metin Başoğlu, director of the Istanbul Centre for Behavioural Sciences, pioneered Control-Focused Behavioural Treatment (CFBT) to help survivors regain control over fear. For children clinging to parents after trauma, this might mean learning to sleep alone.
Israeli psychologists working with children freed from Hamas captivity after October 7, 2023, stress the need to restore agency. "Providing survivors with information and space to express concerns ensures their voices are heard," a team wrote in the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health journal.
Yet in war zones like Gaza, stability remains elusive. Davide Musardo, a Médecins Sans Frontières volunteer, described therapy sessions against a backdrop of drones and explosions. "In Gaza, one survives, but the trauma is constant," he wrote. "Children show clear signs of regression."
Beata's resilience: A life rebuilt after genocide
Beata Umubyeyi Mairesse, a Rwandan genocide survivor, offers a rare story of hope. Evacuated as a 15-year-old orphan in 1994, she later rebuilt her life in France. "The first thing that helped was exile," she said. "A peaceful place, a foster family, and the chance to see a psychologist."
Though she now lives a full life as a writer and mother, Beata still grapples with anxiety. "Their only image of Rwanda should not be the genocide," she said of her children. "I told them stories from my childhood and brought them fruit from visits, so they could discover a country full of flavor."
The relentless tragedy of war's youngest victims
Despite advances in trauma care, experts agree that lasting recovery requires safety, education, and family support-luxuries often denied in conflict zones. Ceasefires collapse, front lines freeze, and displaced children languish in camps.
"Trauma is as old as war itself," the author concludes. "For all the knowledge gained about treating it, humanity is far from addressing its root cause: war."
