“Everything is missing, even the idea of a future.”

As the unrelenting horror continues in Gaza, Palestine, our teams in Rafah and the Middle Area are seeing a spectrum of mental health issues among children and adults. Since the beginning of the year, Doctors Without Borders / Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has provided over 8,800 psychosocial support sessions for people in Gaza.

Davide Musardo, Doctors Without Borders psychologist, recently left Gaza where he helped Gazans address the various mental health symptoms they are facing, while living in horrific circumstances amidst the relentless bombing. Below he reflects on the haunting memories of people living through an unbearable reality.

"In some sessions we even had to shout to be heard, to overcome the sound of drones and bombs. And when there was no fighting outside, the background sound was the cries of children in the hospital. Children maimed, with burns or without parents. Children having panic attacks, because physical pain triggers psychological wounds when pain reminds you of the bomb that changed your life forever. Calmer children draw drones and military jets. War is everywhere in the hospital; the smell of blood is unbearable. This is the image I bring back from Gaza.

I’ve never experienced anything like what I saw in Gaza. There are some traits common to all the patients I saw there. Dark, almost burnt skin, because they are exposed to the sun all day. Weight loss because food is scarce. Their hair is white from the stress of these months of war. And they all have expressionless faces. A face that illustrates loss, sadness and depression. People who have lost everything.

'I miss the little things. The pictures of my mother who died years ago, the cup I used to drink coffee with. I miss my routine more than my broken home,’ one patient told me."