[Today’s Prayer] “96% of children in Gaza feel ‘death is imminent’”

A survey found that 96% of children who grew up in the Gaza Strip during the war “feel the fear of imminent death.”

On the 11th (local time), the British NGO Children of War Coalition released a 26-page report titled “The Impact of the Gaza War on Vulnerable Children and Their Families.” The study was conducted with guardians of children whose family members died or were injured after the war, and some of the questions were answered directly by the children.

According to the report, 96% of children who experienced the Gaza War responded that they “feel death is imminent.” 92% responded that they still cannot accept the horrors of the war.

The mental suffering caused by the war was also found to be serious. According to the guardians’ responses, 79% of the children suffered from nightmares, 77% were reluctant to talk about their trauma, and 73% displayed aggressive behavior. The report stated that “the extreme stress experienced by children manifested itself in various symptoms such as anxiety, sleep disturbance, nightmares, nail biting, regression, and eating disorders.”

The war, which seemed to have no end, caused children to lose their will to live. According to the report, about half of the respondents (49%) said they wanted to die.

Women who participated in the in-depth interviews said, “Children would rather die than live in fear, worry, and misery,” and “Children keep saying, ‘We won’t survive the war.’” One woman who cares for orphaned children said she could not forget when her child asked, “Are we all going to die?”

This study was conducted from June with the aim of conducting an in-depth investigation into the psychological trauma suffered by children as the war in Gaza continued for over a year. A survey was conducted on 504 children and their guardians, and some cases were also discussed and interviewed in depth.

(Omitted)

According to the UN, since October of last year, the number of deaths in the Gaza Strip war has exceeded 44,000, of which 44% are children. The Children of War Coalition estimated that more than 17,000 children have lost their immediate family members in the Gaza Strip war.

Source: Naver News

He must increase, but I must decrease (John 3:30)

God,

I hear the heartbreaking news that countless children in the Gaza Strip are living in fear of death amidst the war.

Please have mercy on, watch over, and protect the many children in the Gaza Strip who have lost much hope and joy in life and are suffering from the trauma of war.

These children should be growing up with dreams and hopes, and with joy and excitement every day, but I cannot even imagine how difficult it is for them to endure the reality before their eyes.

Lord, please grant the grace of salvation to the children in the Gaza Strip. Watch over them and protect them, and let the kingdom of God come among them so that they can grow into healthy, young adults full of dreams and hope.

Also, Lord, open opportunities for them to be protected and learn so that they can become children who will become the hope of the future, and that a new generation that follows Jesus will arise, not the generation that lived under the previous leadership of Hamas, and that the Lord will open up paths of education and the gospel!

Let them know that these disasters have occurred because of things that are not true, and let them properly hear and know Jesus and the gospel, the true truth, so that they can now enjoy freedom in the truth!

May the saints of the global church will pray together until the end for the suffering children and souls of the Gaza Strip with the same spirituality as John the Baptist who cried out, “He must increase, but I must decrease!”

So, like John the Baptist, please prepare the way for the Lord’s coming, and let countless works of those who dedicate themselves to the kingdom of God take place in the Gaza Strip and Palestine!