Gaza child traumatized after losing mother, four siblings in air strike

Three weeks since Suzy Eshkuntana was pulled from the rubble of her house, destroyed by an Israeli air strike, the six-year-old girl has barely spoken except to ask for her mother and four siblings who were killed that day.

Her life turned upside down, Suzy and her father are now living with her uncle, who said she barely eats, doesn't sleep well and cannot muster the will to play.

"But after their home was hit and her mother was killed the girl doesn't talk a lot, doesn't play a lot and she is screaming whenever people are reaching out to her," said Suzy's uncle Ramzi, who said she previously was full of energy.

Half of young people in Gaza - around 500,000 children - could be in need of psychological support after 11 days of fighting in May between the enclave's Hamas rulers and Israel, according to officials from the U.N. children's fund UNICEF.

At least 66 children were among over 250 Palestinians killed by Israeli air strikes on Gaza. Two children were among 13 killed in Israel by Gaza militant rocket fire, which sent thousands of Israeli families running for bomb shelters where they cradled their children for hours on end.

Suzy's home was struck in a wave of Israeli attacks on Gaza City on May 16 that Gaza health officials said killed 42 people, including 10 children.

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