Israel's war compounds challenges faced by Gaza's disabled Palestinians

"We have recorded 4,500 amputation cases by the end of 2024 as a result of the continuous Israeli airstrikes and ground attacks on Gaza."
6 min read
15 January, 2025
Before the war, there were about 58,000 people with disabilities living in Gaza. [Getty]

As Israel's genocidal war enters a second year, Palestinians with disabilities are dealing with immense challenges that have dramatically increased amid the lack of basic needs and security conditions. 

Over the past 15 months of attacks on Gaza, the Israeli army deliberately destroyed institutions that provide essential services to people with disabilities, in addition to forcibly displacing them from their homes and compounding their suffering due to the ordeal of war and the difficulties related to their needs.

As a result, individuals with disabilities are often more vulnerable to the impact of war, making them more vulnerable to killing, serious injury, sexual assault, and other forms of abuse.

This is precisely what happened to Basma al-Shaqouq, an amputee. The 35-year-old young woman lost her right leg during the Israeli war in 2021 when the Israeli army attacked her family's house. 

"At that time, I hated myself and life and suffered for months from depression and introversion, but after undergoing many psychotherapy sessions, I accepted my situation and began to deal with my disability and accept it sometimes," she recalled to The New Arab. 

But eight months ago, Basma's had to amputate her left leg and right hand after an Israeli airstrike on her neighbour's house. 

"The army ordered us to evacuate our house in order to bomb our neighbour's house, but because of my difficulty moving and everyone rushing to escape, I was unable to evacuate in time […] My brother stayed with me to help me. But while we were trying to escape, the Israeli army targeted our neighbour's house while we were still in our house," she recalled. 

Basma does not remember exactly what happened except that she woke up in the hospital. Later, her family told her that the Israeli army had killed her brother during the bombing. 

"They killed my brother and left me to live the rest of my life in regret because I hold myself responsible for his death because he was trying to help me," she said.

After a month of hospital treatment, Basma was forced to leave and live in a tent set up in the courtyard of the Yarmouk Stadium in the centre of Gaza City.

"At any moment, the army could attack the place where I live, and I don't know if my family will be able to evacuate me or if I will die here because I cannot escape," she added.

'Every day, I live a nightmare'

The situation is not much different for Adli Mansour, a displaced Palestinian in the city of Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, who lost his left leg during an Israeli bombardment of the displaced people's tents in Mawasi Rafah nine months ago.

"Before my injury, I was the breadwinner for my family, and I used to move from one place to another to at least provide food for my children [...] But today, I have become a burden on my children, and they are the ones who bring me food," the 42-year-old father of five lamented. 

"On such days, children need their father to save them from death, but the Israeli army has taken away my right even to protect my children from its crimes," he said to TNA

Mansour fears that any place near him would be attacked and that he would not be able to escape or even save his children. 

"Every day, I live a nightmare, especially when I think that my children will die before my eyes and I will not be able to save them because I am helpless," he added.

The Israeli army has been waging a large-scale war on the Gaza Strip since 7 October 2023. Since then, the Israeli army has killed at least 46,000 Palestinians and wounded more than 110,000 others, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza.

Out of the total number of permanent disabilities, 4,500 were amputations, most of whom arrived at hospitals without feet or hands, according to Zaher Al-Wahidi, the head of the Health Information Unit at the ministry. 

"We have recorded 4,500 amputation cases by the end of 2024 as a result of the continuous Israeli airstrikes and ground attacks on Gaza," he noted. The official added that children account for 18 per cent of the cases, almost 800, and women account for 12 per cent, or 540.

"The figures show the impact that Israel's war is having on Palestinian civilians, especially women and children, and the figure will likely continue to rise as the offensive continues," he further explained. 

Deteriorating situation

Before the war, there were about 58,000 people with disabilities living in Gaza, facing many arduous challenges that robbed them of much of their dignity and quality of life, including years of Israeli blockade and restrictions, in addition to marginalisation and stigma that society associates with disability, according to Louay Abu Saif, the disability program officer at Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) in Gaza.

"People with disabilities have always faced a lack of medical services, healthcare, assistive devices and infrastructure available to them, which has led to unemployment spreading among nearly 100 per cent of them, in addition to their exposure to higher levels of poverty than their peers in society," Abu Yousef told TNA.

"However, their situation has deteriorated further during the current war due to the serious repercussions of the Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip on the reality and lives of people with disabilities, in light of the unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe at all levels," he added.

He explained that the Israeli army killed hundreds of people with disabilities and injured thousands of them.

"The majority of people with disabilities were displaced with their families in difficult circumstances that put their lives at risk, in addition to the psychological trauma they are currently suffering from in a double manner," Ismail Thawabta, Director of the Government Media Office, told TNA

He said that Israel destroyed the infrastructure, main roads, and headquarters of organisations working in the field of rehabilitation, which limited the ability of people with disabilities to move and access services and thus limited the opportunities for movement and evacuation, which exposed their lives to extreme danger, in addition to forcing them to leave their assistive devices due to the bombing.

"The lives of people with disabilities are at risk due to the severe shortage of water, food, energy, medicines, medical and rehabilitation treatment, and they face great difficulties in the overcrowded and unsuitable shelters for the displaced, which do not provide the necessities of life, which It makes it more difficult for them to obtain humanitarian aid, use bathrooms, and other essential needs and requirements," he added.

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