Measuring the impact of Gaza war on the wellbeing of Israeli civilians using real-time wireless sensing.

Abstract

Background: The conflict in Gaza has had catastrophic effects on the wellbeing of Gaza's inhabitants as well as civilians in Israel.

Aim: To investigate the impact of the conflict in Gaza on the wellbeing of Israeli civilians, using real-time wireless sensing on smart phones and smart watches.

Methods: We prospectively monitored acute and robust reaction to the conflict in Gaza among 954 Israelis aged ≥ 50 years over a 6-week period. Measurements were recorded using mental related, energy expenditure related and sleep related indicators. We calculated the weighted average for 4 different periods, examined the correlation between the distances of participants' residential city from Gaza, and tested the long-term effect of the war on different wellbeing indicators using mixed ANOVA.

Results: Sixty-eight (7.1%) of the participants lived in high-risk areas, 704 (73.8%) in medium-risk areas and 182 (19.1%) were not exposed to missile attacks. The Israelis showed acute and robust reaction to the conflict, as all indicators worsened during the war, including spikes in heart rates, excessive onscreen time and reduction in sleep duration and quality. The changes were more significant among people who lived closer to the battlefield, younger individuals and women. However, all the indicators returned to normal within 2 weeks after ceasefire or humanitarian pause.

Conclusion: Real-time monitoring of victims during a humanitarian crisis can help in early detection of their subjective and objective wellbeing and in designing and providing prompt assistance.