If the bomb hits the building itself the damage is so big that catastrophic damage to the lungs, other internal organs and the brain becomes very likely. The child may die almost instantly, but may also survive and get trapped under rubble, potentially going through a protracted death struggle of minutes to at worst some days. The cold will then add to the suffering. a fire may erupt that the child can’t ever escape from and it’s not even impossible rats come gnawing, exposed wounds could attract them.
Not having the faintest clue what happened, why or if anyone is trying to come and free the child, pain of injuries sustained, the absence of family members, the darkness and lack of food and water all make this about the worst ordeal a human being can experience. If nobody rescues the child perhaps the best case scenario is that the child enters a delirious state and goes out with the distraction of visions, hopefully pleasant. Worst case scenario is that they are fully conscious, suffering from painful injuries and forced to stare at cut up family members strewn about. There have been thousands of children in Gaza who did not live to tell us what their death struggle felt like.
If the bomb hits near the building, but not directly, it matters a lot where the child is located. Close to windows glass and debris can very well be lethal and there is a high risk of facial injuries. There is still a high risk of damage to the lungs and the brain. The shock of these bombs is tremendous and deafening. If it’s not a direct hit it starts mattering a lot how many walls are between the child and the impact. This is if no fires break out. A building in an impact zone may still partially crumble even if not directly hit.
Even if the child comes out physically unharmed the psychological impact will have devastating consequences especially because the situation in Gaza is such that we are never talking about a one time event. Children in Gaza are exposed to the sound of bombings at many different distances, repeatedly over long periods of time and are almost certainly confronted with what bombs can do to buildings and their peers. There is non-stop fear of waking up harmed, alone, orphaned, dead or of finding siblings injured or dead or of losing all remaining belongings and items they are deeply attached to, such as toys or precious gifts or souvenirs. Since it never seems to end there is no countdown to a day that the threat of being bombed (or sniped) will ever end for them, unless through death.
Could you push the button that drops the bomb and think: ‘Maybe their parents voted for Hamas?’
Under every article on Gaza there is paragraph on October 7th. Do you think it would make any kind of difference if there was also always a paragraph of what happens to child after an Israeli bomb hits? Preferably much more graphic than what I did here, because we could still get into details as to what catastrophic damage to internal organs means in practice for the child.
