Lebanon’s children face physical, psychological trauma amid Israel’s war

Published 8 June 2026 · india

Experts warn of lasting trauma for Lebanon's children as war continues to shatter their sense of safety. Beirut, Lebanon – Four-year-old Malaika was in her

Experts warn of lasting trauma for Lebanon's children as war continues to shatter their sense of safety. Beirut, Lebanon – Four-year-old Malaika was in her home in southern Lebanon’s Mayfadoun when Israel’s bombs began to hit on March 2. Malaika’s mother made an immediate attempt to flee, knowing that more attacks were likely. She grabbed Malaika and her younger sister Sara, putting the latter in the back seat of her car, and Malaika in the front passenger seat. The mother sat in the driver’s seat. Then a strike hit near the car. Malaika woke up in a hospital hours later, with burns on her forehead and damage to her left eye that hospital staff say will require surgery. Sara was also wounded, but not as badly as Malaika. However, their mother – who the family did not wish to name for privacy reasons – was killed in the strike. In her last act while alive, she had used her body to protect Malaika. Almost 1,000 children wounded Israel intensified its war on Lebanon on March 2, launching attacks that came after Hezbollah had responded just hours earlier to the February 28 killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, ending more than a year of restraint despite daily Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon. Israel has since killed at least 3,613 people in Lebanon, including at least 245 children, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health. “Children continue to bear a disproportionate burden of the conflict,” Elissar Gemayel, response director for World Vision Lebanon, told Al Jazeera. “Children are experiencing repeated displacement, disruption to education, psychological distress, and growing uncertainty about their future.” Malaika and Sara are just two of the more than 900 children to have been wounded by Israeli attacks since March 2. A ceasefire announced by United States President Donald Trump on April 17 has not stopped Israel’s attacks, with at least 40 children killed or maimed since then, according to Save the Children. Israel’s war on Lebanon has displaced more than 1.2 million people in the country, some multiple times.

Among them are around 400,000 children. Many of them have been displaced to stay with relatives, in apartments in safer areas, or in schools turned shelters. Others are living in tents. Violations of international law War disrupts children’s routines, pulling them from the perceived safe spaces of their homes, their rooms, their gardens, and their schools. And even those who have not been physically injured have their routines disrupted and their sense of safety shattered, potentially leading to serious psychological effects. Marianne Abboud is the mental health and psychosocial support adviser for War Child, an international humanitarian organisation focused on the rights of children living with violence or armed conflict. She told Al Jazeera that many children in Lebanon have “experienced repeated violence, displacement and loss of loved ones during critical stages of their development”. Abboud shared the story of a mother displaced to the northern city of Tripoli whose daughter “had become so distressed by everything she had experienced” that whenever triggered, she would “start hitting her head against the wall”. Experts told Al Jazeera that children need a strong community around them – including adults they can trust – so that they can recover from trauma. But finding that stability is impossible, the experts said, as long as Israel continues to attack Lebanon, including renewed attacks on Beirut’s southern suburbs on Sunday. And even before Israel’s war, children in Lebanon had already experienced educational disruptions due to several crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 Beirut port explosion, and the country’s economic collapse. Nora Ingdal, Save the Children Lebanon’s country director, told Al Jazeera that children need a return to stability so they can “start recovering and return to school”. Save the Children and War Child are among the many organisations calling for a permanent ceasefire in Lebanon. Ingdal also said that her organisation was calling on countries around the world to ensure that international humanitarian law is upheld, adding that it has been violated through the “killing and maiming of children, the denying children of access to healthcare, and denying children access to lifesaving humanitarian assistance”.