Palestinian children 'feel abandoned' after home demolitions: study

Four out of five Palestinian children whose homes Israel has demolished say they “feel abandoned by the world,” Save the Children said in a new report on Monday. 

The UK-based charity conducted interviews with 217 Palestinian families in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, including 67 children between the ages of 10 and 17 years old who lost their homes to Israeli demolitions. 

Of the children interviewed, 80% said they “lost faith in the ability of not just the international community but also the authorities and even their parents to help and protect them.” A majority of children showed signs of distress, and many said they experience frequent nightmares.

“All I have are sad memories,” a 15-year-old Palestinian boy told researchers. “I have nightmares about the bulldozers ripping away every stone in our house, and the sounds of the explosions still haunt me.”