Gaza's Nuseirat Refugee Camp Holds Music and Art Workshops for Displaced Children

Displaced Palestinian children sheltering in Gaza's Nuseirat refugee camp are finding rare moments of respite through music and art workshops organized by local volunteers and humanitarian groups, even as Israeli airstrikes continue to pound the besieged enclave. The sessions, held in makeshift tents and damaged community spaces in the central Gaza camp, bring together dozens of children each week to draw, sing traditional Palestinian songs, and learn basic instruments, offering a fragile sliver of normalcy in one of the most devastated humanitarian landscapes of the 21st century.

Organizers say the workshops are designed to address the deepening psychological toll of more than a year of relentless bombardment, mass displacement, and acute hunger. Mental health specialists working in Gaza have repeatedly warned that an entire generation of Palestinian children is being shaped by trauma, with many having witnessed the deaths of relatives, the destruction of their homes, and prolonged periods without food, clean water, or schooling. The United Nations Children's Fund has previously described conditions for children in Gaza as among the worst in the world, estimating that nearly all of the territory's roughly one million children require mental health support.

Nuseirat, one of eight historic refugee camps established after the 1948 Nakba, has been struck repeatedly throughout the current war, with residential blocks, schools, and markets reduced to rubble. Despite the dangers, volunteers say they continue running the workshops because creative expression has become one of the few tools available to help children process loss. Drawings produced in the sessions frequently depict bombed buildings, family members who have been killed, and Palestinian flags, but instructors say they also see children gradually return to drawing trees, the sea, and scenes of pre-war life.

The initiative comes as international aid agencies warn that humanitarian access to Gaza remains severely constrained, with food, fuel, and medical supplies entering at a fraction of the levels needed. Qatar, which has played a central mediating role alongside Egypt and the United States in ceasefire and hostage negotiations, has been among the largest donors of humanitarian aid to Gaza, funding hospitals, food parcels, and education programs through the Qatar Fund for Development and Qatar Charity. Doha has repeatedly called for an immediate and durable ceasefire, the unimpeded flow of aid, and protection for civilians, particularly children, under international humanitarian law.

For the children of Nuseirat, the workshops offer no shelter from the bombs overhead, but volunteers say even a single afternoon of music or painting can mean the difference between silence and a smile. Anadolu Agency first reported on the workshops from inside the camp.