When <i>The National</i> compiled the images of all 70 children killed in this month's Gaza war, it was not just their faces that depicted the scale of the senseless loss of young life. The names did so too. Scrolling through the top of the list, the first three infants to appear bear the surname Al Masry. Rahaf, 12, Marwan, 6, and Yazan, who was just 12 months old, were all killed on May 10 in Beit Hanoun, a northern part of the Gaza Strip. In Gaza, families have to contend with living perilously close to death. This fear has innumerable consequences for young people. <i>The National</i> also reported that at least 12 of the children killed in Israeli strikes were already dealing with psychological disorders linked to the trauma of growing up under occupation. Nightmares are a part of childhood. For the majority they are not grounded in reality. This is not the case for the new generation of Palestinians. Their parents will find it a lot harder to tell them they have nothing to fear. The physical burden of death and injury, while outrageous and unacceptable, is carried by an unlucky minority. But the mental impact of seeing classmates suffer these fates is far more pervasive, denying young people their right to a proper childhood and endangering the many crucial developmental milestones that are reached during a one's early years. It is impossible to educate and nurture talent in a child as war rages. In Gaza, even school buildings have been appropriated by the reality of war. Considered to be some of the only safe havens left, the United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs has said almost 40,000 people sought shelter in Gaza's 48 UNRWA-run educational facilities. Schools might be considered secure for now; but with a building that housed international media outlets lying in ruins after the latest round of fighting – breaking longstanding norms over the right for journalists to report free from danger – it is not unreasonable for Gazans to fear that one day schools could also be targets. At the same time as we learnt of these tragedies, luckier children around the region were showing the world what young people can achieve if given the right support. In mid-May, Saudi 12-year-old Ritaj Alhamzi broke a Guinness World Record to become the youngest author of a series of novels. The children of Gaza are being denied such opportunities, although they have won their own minor victories in this latest conflict. Seven-year-old Nariman went viral when the world learnt of her successful mission to rescue a pet goldfish and two canaries from the bombed ruins of her home. Stories such as Nariman's remind us that children are resilient. But there is no hiding from the lifelong impact this latest round of tragedy will have, and the horrible fact that in Gaza, the nightmare of premature death does not disappear in the morning.