The stress of seeing the destruction of their homeland sent rates of mental illness soaring in Jordan’s Jerash camp – and the ceasefire has brought scant relief

• Photographs by Alaa Atwah

Among the hills of northern Jordan, three miles west of the Roman ruins of Jerash, a sprawling settlement is home to more than 40,000 Palestinian people. Set up as an emergency shelter to accommodate 11,500 Palestinians forcibly displaced from Gaza during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, Jerash camp – known locally as Gaza camp – was intended as a temporary solution.

The initial clusters of tents have since evolved into a more permanent settlement, where generations of refugees have grown up. Jordan hosts the largest number of Palestinian refugees in the world and most of the 2.3 million living there have been granted citizenship.