Three years after Hamas militants launched their assault on southern Israel, killing 1,200 people, taking 251 hostages, and triggering a devastating war in Gaza, the physical and psychological toll on the region’s children remains stark and defining, CBS News reported.
Living With Fear in Netiv HaAsara
For 15-year-old Ron Shargian, growing up in southern Israel means navigating a constant undercurrent of dread. He was 12 years old when he watched militants soar over border defenses on paragliders into Netiv HaAsara, the Israeli community closest to the Gaza border. Seventeen of his neighbors were killed during the attack, while he and his family locked themselves inside their home’s bomb shelter for 11 hours until security forces rescued them.
“It feels like some kind of nightmare,” Shargian told CBS News, describing the realization of a day he never believed possible. “It was really hard to come back,” he said. “But I also anticipated it very much. I really missed my home, my friends, the community — it’s something that you don’t have anywhere else.”
Yet, the psychological shift remains permanent. Shargian admitted that the violence fractured his worldview regarding peace. “I don’t know if there are good people there,” he said of the other side of the border. “Up until October 7th, I thought that we could make peace. But from that day, something inside me broke.” While he attempts to maintain a normal teenage routine by playing guitar and hanging out at the beach, sirens and rocket fire still trigger a visceral physical reaction. “Your muscles get tight and you have an adrenaline rush,” he said. “It’s something we just got used to.”
Rubble and Resilience in Gaza
Across the border, Palestinian children face a vastly different landscape of destruction and scarcity. Kazem Doghmash was 11 when Israel’s full-scale military assault began in retaliation for the Hamas attacks. Now 14, he looks back at his prewar life simply: “Before the war, I am just being a kid… a good life.”
Despite a cease-fire taking hold last October that ended major combat operations, the conflict continues to claim lives, with Palestinian officials reporting more than 1,400 deaths in Gaza since the truce officially began. “They say a lot of times that the war will finish, but the war has been not finished, the war has been more difficult,” Doghmash told CBS News.
Leading journalists through the remains of his family’s destroyed home, Doghmash detailed the erasure of his routine. “My life has been destroyed,” he said.
Finding Solace Along the Mediterranean Coast
Daily life for the more than 2 million residents packed into the narrow, 25-mile-long Gaza Strip is dominated by basic survival. According to reporting from The Atlantic, roughly half of Gaza’s population now lives in tents that offer minimal protection against the scorching summer heat, while approximately 60 percent of the territory has become inaccessible due to the westward expansion of the yellow line.
Amid this displacement, the Mediterranean coastline remains a vital public escape valve. As The Christian Science Monitor reported from Deir al-Balah, local initiatives are trying to restore small fragments of normalcy through community programs, such as a rare functioning swimming pool operating despite prohibitive maintenance and water treatment costs. Similar grassroots efforts, highlighted by The Guardian, have used beachside swimming clubs built from rubble to help orphaned children confront their fears and experience fleeting moments of childhood freedom.
United Nations Children’s Fund data indicates that more than 21,000 Palestinian children have been reported killed in Gaza since October 7, 2023, alongside dozens of Israeli children, including 37 killed during the initial Hamas assault. As both Shargian and Doghmash demonstrate, young people on both sides of the border continue to grapple with the heavy architecture of trauma while striving to preserve simple moments to just be kids.
