Specialists: The siege on Gaza imposes harsh psychological effect on people

Specialists: The siege on Gaza imposes harsh psychological effect on people

  Local and international psychologists and human rights activists have urged Thursday the international community to pressure the Zionist entity into lifting the siege on the Gaza Strip, warning that the blockade imposes negative effect on the psychological health on the cordoned people there.

In a workshop organized by the Mizan center for human rights in Gaza, Khaled Nasser, the representative of the UNRWA in the Strip, said that his organization is the biggest agency that introduces psychological health services in the Strip, and that the UNRWA is open for cooperation with all parties in this regard.

"Indeed, the psychological scars left by the persistent Israeli aggression on the Strip are more painful than the physical scars because the psychological scars need more time, more effort, and more capabilities to cure", Nasser explained.

For his part, Dia Saymeh, the WHO representative in the Strip, pointed out that merging the public health with psychological health was a trend sponsored by the WHO based on the right of the psychologically ill to integrate with the society rather than be isolated.

Saymeh explained that one of the challenges facing the psychological health services was the sudden change on the policy of the donor countries that start to prioritize relief and emergency program at the expense of development programs, including psychological services.