Gaza’s child amputees

The Gaza Strip's population has suffered an amputee crisis for years, the result of the Israeli army's targeting of Palestinians' limbs in successive waves of military operations on the strip, and due to the limitations in the resources available for treating the injured. This crisis has escalated since October 2023 with Israel's ongoing military campaigns in Gaza. The Hamad Rehabilitation and Prosthetics Hospital in the Gaza Strip has stated that over the course of this war, amputee cases have risen by 225 percent. Before the war, the hospital was dealing with about 2,000 cases, and now they exceed 6,500. According to the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza, 1,500 child amputees in the strip are in need of long-term rehabilitation. Mada Masr met with some of these children.

Yezin Abedrabbo, 11, met us inside his family's place of shelter in Gaza City, and showed us a photograph of himself on his father's mobile phone. The photo showed an earlier version of him, before an Israeli air raid struck his family's home and disabled him, breaking his left arm and causing him to lose his right leg.

As for Aya Ahmed, 12, she moves about in Buerij Camp, central Gaza Strip, on crutches. Her left leg was amputated and her right leg severely injured after Israeli jets targeted her neighbor's home.

In April 2024, Yassin al-Ghalban, 10, lost both of his legs and was made dependent on a wheelchair. He was injured when Israeli helicopters shelled his home in Maan, Khan Younis. His younger brother lost one leg in the same strike and is currently being treated in Turkey. The brothers' father and other sibling were killed in the same air strike, and Yassin, now displaced, lives with relatives in Mawasi near Khan Younis.

Mada Masr met with Wahid Haziyan, 11, in the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, where he was being treated. Wahid was struck with shrapnel from a missile that targeted a house near his family home in Beni Suheila, Khan Younis, in mid-June 2024, and lost his right leg and arm.

The home of Rahaf Saad, 4, was struck in an Israeli air raid in September 2024, and she lost both of her legs as a result of the attack. Mada Masr met her in her grandfather's home in Bureij camp before the Palestine Children's Relief Fund evacuated her for treatment in the United States, accompanied by her mother, who was also suffering injuries from the same air raid. There, Rahaf was invited to appear with Rachel Accurso on her Ms. Rachel educational online platform for children, which put Rahaf's situation, and that of Gaza's other child amputees, in the spotlight.

As for Miral al-Babli, 9, she lost her entire family in an Israeli air raid on their home. Miral survived but lost her right leg, and now lives with her grandfather in Nuseirat camp, central Gaza Strip.

***