A Nation Turned into 'Zombies': The Gaza War Through the Eyes of a Foreign Correspondent

During America's famous wars in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, and elsewhere, Arwa Damon, a former senior war correspondent for CNN, was present to report on the most intricate details and the suffering of the people in these war-torn countries.

As a war correspondent with 18 years of experience covering conflicts, especially in the Middle East, Damon believed she had seen every possible tragedy and hardship faced by civilians, until she witnessed the Israeli assault on Gaza.

She covered the U.S. invasion of Iraq from 2003 to 2010, the evolution of the Arab Spring into a brutal civil war in Syria by Bashar al-Assad’s regime, and the war in Mosul against ISIS in 2016.

What she saw in these wars led her to establish a humanitarian organization in 2015, INARA (the International Network for Aid, Relief, and Assistance), a non-profit that supports war-affected children in need of long-term medical and psychological care. In 2022, she decided to leave CNN and focus on her humanitarian work.

Eyewitness 

When Arwa Damon went to Gaza, she was shocked and later spoke about the “death of the human soul” there.

She was the first foreign journalist to enter Gaza under the cover of her humanitarian organization to expose Israeli atrocities at a time when journalists are denied entry by the occupation.

"Death, destruction, refugeehood, humanitarian crises – those are the things we're used to accepting as part of the reality of war," she says. 

"But in Gaza I also saw the death of the human soul. The Gazans are zombies. Death of souls on that scale, psychological wreckage at that level, I've never seen anywhere. At a certain point, I went through Rafah, and the streets were filled with refugee tents, and people, and booths, and there were hardly any vehicles, because there's no fuel, so transportation is via carts and donkeys, and people move between them slowly.”

It took us two hours to cover a distance that normally would take 10 minutes. And all this time I looked at the faces of the people who were passing by us and I was shocked because they just looked dead,” she added.

Damon emphasized that the level of destruction caused by “Israel” in such a short period in Gaza and the psychological devastation endured by the residents cannot be compared to any other place.

When told that the Israeli army respects ethical standards and sets a gold standard for its strikes to avoid killing innocent children and families in Gaza, she said what she witnessed makes those defending this genocide, as she saw it with her own eyes, mentally disturbed.

She affirmed that when she visited Gaza in April 2024, she returned stunned by the horror of what she had seen, especially the crimes against children.

What she saw was more horrifying than anything she had witnessed in all the wars she covered, and her shock intensified during her second visit on June 19, 2024.

Damon appeared on television networks, wrote articles, and posted on her X, recounting the crimes occurring in Gaza.

Talking about the psychological impact of the Israeli aggression during an interview with CNN's renowned anchor Christiane Amanpour on May 14, 2024, she said that the people's eyes in Gaza are dead, and the spark of life has vanished due to the trauma of killing, genocide, and starvation.

In a televised interview on May 20, 2024, she condemned the horrific violence resulting from the Israeli Occupation forces' attack on civilians in Gaza.

She captured the ruins of Gaza and its children, who were either killed, maimed, or orphaned by the Israeli Occupation forces, left alone, physically and psychologically scarred, with no future. She mentioned that her organization tried to bring joy to these children who lost everything, but their emotions were frozen by the horrors they had witnessed, and they showed no signs of happiness despite their efforts.

Damon's extensive testimony to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz on June 21, 2024, and the website Democracy Now! on April 9, 2024, about her observations in Gaza, resembled a detailed chronicle documenting the Zionist massacres and atrocities against Palestinians.

These crimes closely align with the findings of the Israel Massacres website, which documents Zionist crimes in Gaza with photos, videos, and evidence in English.

She stated that she saw in Gaza what goes beyond death and destruction, describing it as the "death of the human soul," and characterized the inhabitants as "zombies,” psychologically shattered souls.

She said she was driving through Gaza in a sea of zombies, a term denoting the living dead or walking corpses – people moving unconsciously, akin to those affected by certain destructive drugs in America.

Psychological Ruins 

In her interview with Haaretz, she noted that despite her years as a war correspondent witnessing bloodshed globally, she was "shocked” by the psychological wreckage in Gaza, alongside death, destruction, displacement, and starvation.

She recounted the case of a 7-year-old boy who saw his sister's head explode from Zionist shelling, leading to his nightly seizures and screams, as his mother helplessly watched.

Parents and caregivers told her their children are scared, anxious, prone to bedwetting, or sometimes hypervigilant and hysterical, struggling to sleep due to ongoing aggression.

Damon emphasized that it is impossible to treat such trauma while the war continues daily.

She stated that the people of Gaza are haunted by the ghosts of everything they've lost, and their trauma is unending due to this nightmare attacking them from various angles every day.

She explained that “the impact of what’s happening in Gaza on mental health is unlike anything I've personally seen in 20 years of working in war zones.”

Damon visited Gaza three times and described her most recent visit, the fourth, as the most terrifying experience of her career, surpassing her experiences in Syria or covering battles against ISIS in Mosul.

She said she did not fear Hamas when entering Gaza, because she is not a target for al-Qassam (the military wing).

She described how some hospitals, such as the European Hospital near Khan Younis, which she visited, have turned into camps filled with tents where displaced people cook, children play or receive treatment, and the dead are buried due to the siege.

She confirmed there are no bathrooms or sanitation systems, and in UN areas, which are relatively better, one toilet serves 600 people.

“There is also no clean water or enough food, so people eat only one meal a day,” she said. 

She pointed out that the Israeli incursion into Rafah and the closure of the crossing have led to the disappearance of goods, especially flour, and have caused a spike in prices (1 kilo costs 100 shekels, about $27 according to Gaza residents).

In her interview with the American website “Democracy Now!” on April 9, 2024, Damon said that the Israeli Occupation in Rafah and elsewhere has left nothing untouched, leaving about 1.5 million Palestinians in a sea of misery, tents, mosquitoes, and flies.

She confirmed that transportation is conducted using donkey carts because there is no fuel, and they need everything from food to water to medicine to baby formula and diapers.

She added that “all the mothers there hand you their emaciated children, begging for medicine and appropriate formula.”

Entirely Different 

Damon wrote an article for CNN on May 7, 2024, about the disturbing effects of Israeli violence in Gaza, stating that the suffering there is different from all the other conflicts she has covered.

She noted that what she witnessed, such as children in severe pain from Israeli shelling burns and painful surgeries sometimes performed without anesthesia in unsterile hospital environments due to intense bombing, is beyond what the mind can imagine.

She said she has worked in war zones for the past 20 years, as a journalist and humanitarian activist, and she has memories in Iraq, Syria, Libya, and Afghanistan, but what she saw of suffering in Gaza, siege, famine, and families fleeing for safety, is entirely different.

She explained that death and destruction are not unique to Gaza, but the scale and intensity, and the relentless nature of the conflict make it particularly severe.

The most dangerous aspect is that there is no respite from the constant bombing, the drone buzz, and no opportunity to heal the wounded or treat the psychologically and physically traumatized, especially children.

She described what she saw inside the camps, filled with flies, extreme heat, widespread hunger, and the absence of medicine, with grieving families content with limited rations of canned beans and lentils, and mothers trying to calm their traumatized children.

She said she could smell death through the tent covers, from the remains of those killed a week ago, just retrieved and brought to this field clinic to be wrapped and cataloged, some of them children as small as “my arm.”

A study by Save the Children in 2022 revealed that about 80% of children in Gaza suffer from psychological disorders in the form of feelings of sadness, depression, and fear, among other negative emotions.

This was before the outbreak of the Israeli aggression on Gaza on October 7, 2023, so Damon estimates that these figures have now, according to what she witnessed, reached 100%.

She explained that her relief organization (INARA) operates through 13 shelters and temporary camps, providing hot meals and clothing for children, but the core of the activities revolves around managing mental health and psychosocial activities for children.

This includes trying to engage children and distract them from the bombing through children's songs played loudly enough to drown out the drones and distant explosions, group play, various arts, and other creative outlets; but no one can fully heal the fragile and damaged psyches of Gaza's people, according to her.

“Surgeries and bandages cannot help Gaza's residents recover from emotional loss or trauma."

“A child might smile, but their spirit is absent; they are present physically, but their souls and emotions are lost,” Damon explained. 

She stated that it's not just children who suffer; adults are unable to cope with the pain, fear, and anxiety crushing their spirits, threatening to push them to the brink and into madness.

Arwa Damon affirmed that no one can understand what Gaza's residents have endured over several months, as their faces, dead eyes, and mechanical movements show how months of war have ripped out everyone's spirits.

Allowed and Forbidden 

Damon narrated to Democracy Now! on April 9 how the Israeli Occupation controls what aid enters and does not even allow what relief organizations demand despite the urgent need for all types of aid amid the siege.

She confirmed that “Israel” controls what enters Gaza, being obstinate and refusing requests made by relief organizations, such as hygiene items and nail clippers, with an entire truckload turned back due to these materials being deemed forbidden by “Israel.”

She described the Israeli military rules on what is allowed or prohibited as "illogical" and arbitrary, despite Gaza needing to be flooded with not only aid but also humanitarian workers.

The Egyptians prepared a list of products they wanted to enter, and “Israel” rejected it repeatedly, such as solar panels, wheelchairs, insulin syringes, and sleeping bags.

Even children's toys are forbidden, with a shipment of toys sent back after entering Rafah.

She said that since 2008, there has been a list of materials banned from entering Gaza by the Israeli Occupation, also present in the West Bank, with additional materials added after October 7, 2023.

She pointed out that anything the Israelis claim can have a dual use is banned, which is extremely illogical.

“They even refuse children's toys and nail clippers, and the entire truck is turned back due to these strange conditions,” she said.

Damon noted that amid this disaster, there are people exploiting the war to make money, confirming that a travel company in Egypt controls the market for exit visas from Gaza.