Genocides leave a profound mark on human history. They don't just kill people, they also leave deep psychological wounds that are passed on from generation to generation—the word trauma comes from Greek and means wound-This is what will happen to the clean and clean people who will survive the extermination of Gaza. Even if they haven't seen a single bomb, these children will carry within them an inherited emotional and psychological burden. This burden of pain from previous generations is what is known as transgenerational trauma and refers to the transmission of pain, fear, emotional disconnection, and other psychological after-effects of traumatic events to one's offspring. Therefore, the shadow of today's inhumane slaughter on the Palestinians will be carried by these people for generations to come.
History presents us with a paradox: this concept began to be studied in the 1960s, by descendants of Holocaust survivors. From Jews raised by parents broken by pain, amid deafening silences that generated feelings of anxiety, guilt, or fear, without knowing exactly where it all came from. As Helen Epstein, the daughter of survivors, said: "We carried memories we hadn't even experienced."
Thus, unprocessed, high-impact traumas can be unconsciously inherited through mechanisms such as family silence, overprotection, or the unconscious repetition of patterns of behavior and emotions. The majority of the Palestinian population suffering from this genocide today are the sons and daughters of refugees. Descendants of a people who have accumulated a reality of loss, exile, and violence, which can make the wounds of the future even deeper and more complex.
According to Save the Children (2024), 86% of children in Gaza show severe signs of trauma—such as mutism, bedwetting, anxiety attacks, and sleep disorders. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. Several studies are already pointing to the effects of psychological trauma, and it has been concluded that it can even leave marks on genetic expression (epigenetics), because the fear, suffering, pain, or loss experienced by one generation can affect the brain and body of the next. According to some research, descendants of genocide victims share some symptoms, such as difficulty trusting, hypervigilance, complicated emotional relationships, low self-esteem...
In Gaza, the problem is intensified because the trauma has not yet become a thing of the past: it is present, and these people still suffer from impunity. That is why grieving and reparation processes are impossible: they will be until the violence stops.
Whenever possible, we must be vigilant and break the chain of transgenerational trauma: it is not easy, but it is essential. We must listen, remember, and acknowledge in order to repair and dignify their lives and their history. This can only happen when the suffering stops repeating itself every day.
