Research Report : The Impact of the Environmental Crisis on Children’s Resilience Development in the Gaza Strip

Researcher: AbdAlfatah Mohamed Shehada

Research Mentor: Dalia Mabrouk

This study explores the impact of the environmental crisis in Gaza’s displacement shelters on children’s mental health, psychosocial well-being, and resilience during the war beginning October 7, 2023. Drawing on a mixed-methods approach across 14 shelters involving 406 children, 118 caregivers, and 17 psychologists and teachers, the research finds that children are exposed to severe, persistent environmental hazards — overcrowding, unsafe water and sanitation, pollution, noise, heat, and unstable shelter conditions — now normalised as features of daily life. These conditions were strongly associated with high levels of trauma, anxiety, depression, and social withdrawal. At the same time, children demonstrated fragile, survival-based resilience through play, art, and relationships with caregivers and educators. The study argues that environmental degradation functions as a direct psychological trigger, not merely a background condition.

Keywords: environmental crisis; child resilience; forced displacement; psychosocial well-being; trauma; Gaza Strip; Palestine; internally displaced children; humanitarian shelters