Transcript from 8th February 2025 online Public General Meeting with Gaza Team

Transcription provided by and with thanks to Lauren Donaldson

The current situation in Gaza:

Dr Omar: After the ceasefire, there is a struggle to find anything.

Dr Said: There is no water, no land to put tents on, no electricity, no gas.

Dr Omar: In the shelters behind me, only half have returned to the north. There is no life there. The displaced encampments have water at least; it is better than the rubble of home. Different people have different plans. The future is still dark. The ceasefire doesn’t feel permanent. People are afraid for the future, especially after the first phase. We can’t trust the Israelis. We fear they will get to war again once they have their hostages. Trump’s plans to move people out of Gaza have left people anxious for the future. Our home is rubble, but we love our country. We like to stay here.

Bayon: Myself and others in Gaza have a big fear for the genocide war returning. We don’t feel it’s the end. The suffering will return and continue.

Niveen (in Istanbul): I lost my house. It was demolished. I am worried from afar. What will happen to me and my family? It feels like the Nakba of 1948 in light of Trump’s words. Can I go back? Does Trump have the right to do this? It’s very strange. Everyone thinks about our land. Why do they want to take it? We had the Nakba in 1948 and the Naksa in 1967.

Now they want more? We want Jordan, Egypt, others to have a strong response to Trump.

Alaa: I am happy with the ceasefire. It is beautiful to feel safe. More food is coming in now.

This is really good. However I still feel worried, with Trump’s thoughts, using Palestinians as something to sell and buy; ignoring us as humans. I hope this doesn’t happen. It is enough what’s happened to Palestinians so far.

Dr Omar: There is a shortage of water. The ceasefire agreement promised 600 trucks a day but practically it is 70-80 a day, so there is a big shortage of all including clean water for drinking, there is no water for washing, there is a shortage of gas for cooking. There is no electricity. Charging mobiles means sending them elsewhere to charge. Some food is now entering but it is very expensive. For 5 months there was no meat in the market; in the last 10 days chicken and meat has started entering the market, but it is very expensive. People are traumatised, the suffering is ongoing. There is fear for the future.

People are confused.

Dr Mohamed: Gaza has been tortured in front of the world. People are afraid Trump will force them to move through aggression.

Dr Omar: It will take 5 years just to move the rubble, 15 to rebuild Gaza. People can’t stay in tents for these years, so they are afraid Trump will force movement.

Manar: I am happy but worried about how long the ceasefire will last. I can finally sleep. I haven’t been able to because of the noise of drones and planes in the sky. This was annoying and scary. Nuseirat was under heavy attack. My house was partly destroyed.

We bought wood and materials to close the windows.

Samar: I live in north Gaza. I lost my house in the war near the Al-Shifa hospital; this area was completely destroyed. I still feel lost. It feels like a war after the war. There is more suffering. Gaza is not liveable. It is very hard to live there. There is no electricity, no water, no cars. There is huge suffering. We used to do it easily before. Still, there is a little hope and happiness but there are worries about Trump’s words.

Dr Said: It has been a mad war. There are hard conditions. I believe with Allah we can get through this. It is a dark time. I don’t know how things can change but we believe in freedom. We believe the hard conditions will not continue in this war. Allah will make it better. The near future will be better. I give this lesson to my children. Trump’s words, the hard conditions, I don’t know how, but Allah will help us pass this. Nice people like you, people still listen to us. This meeting makes us have hope. People still love us and believe we have a right to live like others. We believe in ourselves, in Allah, that this will pass.

PTC-UK projects and future plans:

Ahmed: We have arranged some sports counselling for tomorrow in Nuseirat camp. This will be psychosocial support with children. The centre was destroyed. We will work with children from this area, doing a sports programme for them for one month. I will share photos tomorrow. We will talk to them about their feelings, what they expect in the future.

Most fear the war will continue. We will try to record and write this up.

Manar: I tried to visit the centre, to check the needs of the people who have been traumatised – children and families. We hope our team can help as we used to.

Ali: I am leading the sports counselling programme in Gaza, with Ahmed and other volunteers. I am happy about the ceasefire, but sad about the loss of people, of buildings, memories, children. Many have been lost, some of them we had helped. They need help more because of what’s happened to them and because of how they feel. We need to keep helping them.

Thoughts from the UK: Could we fund the sports project? This is huge complex trauma.

The children need to move. This movement will provide bilateral stimulation of the brain.

This will be trauma processing without having to make it explicit. The freedom to move is important.

Ahmed: The club was destroyed, equipment was destroyed, so we will work outdoors in the street. We aim to work with more than 50 children tomorrow, doing games, exercises, checking in with their feelings. We will do one hour of exercise tomorrow then ask how they feel after the ceasefire. I will do photos and videos.

Ali: We used to hire a wall which has been completely demolished. So now we use the street, though this can be dangerous. It is difficult to buy new equipment because it is expensive and difficult because of the closures. We will do our best to use whatever is remaining, whether we have tools or nothing. Children have lived in shelters for 1.5 years with no play, so games and sport are very important as psychosocial support. Streets remain dangerous; there is rubble and unexploded devices. Some children in the last week lost their lives and limbs. Most children are traumatised because of this crazy war and crisis. Their families need support. We need to consider how we can deal with them.

Ahmed: I have an idea for the next step; to work with the whole family, to share the programme with parents.

Dr Omar: Family intervention is very important. They have faced the same trauma.

Dr Mohamed: We need to deal with the whole team.

Dr Said: Parents may be open to “support” rather than “therapy”.

Dr Omar: A future target may be amputees and the disabled. There are now over 6000 amputees in Gaza. They need very intensive work. Some families have more than one amputee. One family I met have 3 children that had lost limbs.

Dr Said: Orphans are the other hugely important area. I have been working with them in a focused therapy programme. Deep intervention is needed – Focusing therapy or CBT.

They are really traumatised. They fear for the future and have anxiety for the future. They don’t know how they can deal with the life without their parents. Professionals need to discuss this vulnerable group and how to help them. There are 5 camps of orphans in Gaza. They are asking PTC to make an intervention in north and south Gaza. I can set up a meeting with them, discuss how we can work together in the future. I have done groups with young boys, normalising their feelings as difficult, having to head the family. They had lost one or more parents. They are traumatised. This is complex trauma.

Dr Omar: Children have lost whole families. They are the only survivor, found alone under the rubble. They need hard work and support. Maybe we can organise work in the near future? The other day I found a 9-year-old girl sleeping in the street, no covers to protect from cold. She had lost her whole family. We put her with another family.

During the war we had no time to suffer, no time to cry, no time to feel fear; now that there is a pause, our bodies relax and all those emotions come out. It is hard to manage.

Ahmed: Meeting like this helps. It is an opportunity to share our traumatic experiences with people who have not been through them. That is good for us.