Gaza: “Only the dead have been spared this suffering”

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams are providing individual mental health sessions at our clinic in Al-Mawasi, a coastal area near Khan Younis in Gaza that's supposed to be safe. As part of these sessions, children are asked to draw Gaza as they once knew it, and Gaza as it is today.

A series of drawing decorate the walls of MSF’s clinic, where our teams provide psychological support to Palestinians suffering the harmful mental health impact of the war. Upon first glance, they seem like normal illustrations any child would draw: colorful, messy, and drawn outside of the lines.

A group of adolescent girls drew Gaza before the war—the Gaza they miss, full of color, light, and clean streets with homes and buildings intact.

A child's drawing of Gaza as they remember it before the war. — A Palestinian child's drawing of Gaza before the war that started in October 2023. | Palestine 2024 © MSF

Next, the girls illustrated Gaza as the war started, through their eyes: bombings, death and destruction, massive displacement, and masses of people killed, many of them girls their age. The last drawing shows how they see Gaza today and how they feel now.

In their final drawings, a striking absence of color—everything is gray, except for the red blood of ongoing killings and the orange of fires caused by airstrikes. This reality continues.

A child's drawing of the destruction of Gaza they've witnessed. — Palestinian children draw images representing the destruction they've witnessed over the past ten months of war in Gaza. | Palestine 2024 © MSF

Invisible wounds belie a child mental health crisis

“Even though the wounds are invisible, the drawings provide a glimpse into what these children have witnessed. It is beyond words,” said Samuel Johann, MSF emergency coordinator in Gaza. “I cannot express what I feel, seeing what these children have experienced, through their eyes and the reality they are facing.”

In their final drawings, a striking absence of color—everything is gray, except for the red blood of ongoing killings and the orange of fires caused by airstrikes.

“Today,” he added, “I heard a Palestinian colleague describe the human suffering of the war as such: ‘Only the dead have been spared this suffering.’”

About our work in Gaza

Medical staff in Gaza have been enduring the unthinkable over the last 10 months of war: amputating limbs without anesthesia, treating mass crush and burn injuries with extremely limited supplies, and trying to work as Israeli forces have repeatedly besieged hospitals like Nasser and Al-Shifa. MSF reiterates its call for an immediate and sustained ceasefire to prevent more death and destruction to the lives of people in Gaza.