As basic services collapse across parts of the occupied Palestinian territory, aid workers say a quieter catastrophe is unfolding alongside the visible destruction: a surge in trauma and gender-based risks that is reshaping childhood, particularly for girls.
Sima Alami, an adolescent and youth programme officer with the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), said the needs have outstripped anything typically seen in a single emergency. “We have more than one million children in Gaza who need mental health and psychosocial support services,” she told UN News.
The UNFPA official described a population living with acute fear. Citing agency data, Alami said 96 per cent of children in Gaza believe death could be imminent. “This reflects the depth of fear and trauma they experience daily,” she stressed.
Young people and adolescents, she added, are carrying an especially heavy psychological burden despite often receiving less attention in crisis planning. UNFPA figures show 61 per cent of adolescents and youth are experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder, while 38 per cent are facing depression and 41 per cent anxiety. Alami said the distress extends across age groups: “Alarmingly, one in five adults contemplates suicide almost daily.”
“This is not merely psychological distress,” she emphasized. “It is a widespread mental health emergency.”
Within that emergency, Alami warned that girls face compounding dangers, including the re-emergence of child marriage in Gaza after years of decline. UNFPA data indicate the practice had dropped from 25.5 per cent in 2009 to 11 per cent in 2022, but humanitarian deterioration is reversing that trend.
A recent UNFPA study found that 71 per cent of respondents in Gaza reported heightened pressure to marry girls before they turn 18. In a brief monitoring period, more than 400 marriage licences were issued for girls aged 14 to 16 through emergency courts, though UNFPA believes the true number is higher because many cases go unrecorded.
Alami said families cite displacement, poverty and insecurity as drivers. “Some families see marriage as a survival strategy amid displacement, poverty and insecurity,” Ms. Alami explained. Others, she said, view early marriage as a form of protection in overcrowded shelters or as a way to reduce financial strain after incomes vanished.
UNFPA links the rise in early marriage to escalating health risks and exposure to abuse. In 2025, the agency estimates that roughly 10 per cent of newly registered pregnancies in Gaza involved adolescent girls, a marked increase compared with levels before the war.
Care options for pregnant teens and new mothers have also narrowed sharply. Alami said just 15 per cent of health facilities in Gaza are currently able to deliver emergency obstetric and neonatal services, increasing the likelihood of life-threatening complications for mothers and newborns.
Violence is another central concern. “Some evidence suggests that 63 per cent of girls married at a young age have experienced physical, psychological or sexual violence,” Ms. Alami said. Reports gathered by responders also point to increasing divorce among minors and severe psychological harm.
In the gravest situations, Alami said, the toll has included self-harm. “More than 100 suicides or attempted suicides have been documented among survivors of violence,” she noted, describing child marriage as a form of gender-based violence.
UNFPA says it has expanded services intended to provide protection and support for women, girls and young people. Over the last three years, the agency has reopened and backed more than 35 safe spaces for women and girls, offering case management and multi-sectoral support for survivors of gender-based violence.
The agency has distributed more than 120,000 dignity and hygiene kits, and across Palestine it supports more than 15 multi-purpose youth centres, including 11 designed specifically for girls.
“These spaces provide psychosocial support, education and life skills while promoting community engagement and a sense of belonging,” Ms. Alami said. She added that young people are not only recipients of aid but “active partners” in shaping programmes.
Available support includes group sessions, psychological first aid, one-on-one counselling, and a remote service called the Youth Window, a digital helpline offering free assistance to marginalised young people.
Even with those efforts, Alami said the operating environment remains punishing. Repeated displacement, scarce resources and difficult living conditions—particularly in Gaza, where some safe spaces function in tented settings exposed to extreme weather—limit what humanitarian teams can sustain. “Many families prioritise survival over mental health,” Ms. Alami noted, arguing that psychosocial care must be linked with food assistance, healthcare and education to reach those most at risk.
Source: United Nations
