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More than 4,000 amputations and 2,000 cases of spinal and brain injuries have been recorded in Gaza since the start of the Israeli offensive on 7 October 2023.
Mohammad Abu Salmiya, Director of Al-Shifa Medical Complex, stated during a conference held to mark the International Day of Persons with Disabilities at Nasser Medical Complex in southern Gaza that “the majority of those who have lost limbs are children.”
More than 4,000 people have had their upper or lower limbs amputated since the beginning of the genocide
he said.
He added that over 2,000 people with spinal and brain injuries are now bedridden and in urgent need of rehabilitation.
Thousands more have suffered hearing and vision impairments due to the relentless bombardments, he added.
“The health system in Gaza lies in ruins, with no medical care or facilities available. The sole rehabilitation hospital, Hamad Hospital, and Gaza’s prosthetics center have been completely destroyed,” said the official.
On Tuesday, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini described the situation in Gaza as a “pandemic of disabilities.”
UNRWA warned that many of the injured would require long-term rehabilitation services, including care for amputees and spinal cord injuries.
This aligns with a September report by UN Humanitarian Coordinator Sigrid Kaag, who estimated that more than 22,000 people in Gaza suffer life-altering injuries, with 13,000 to 17,000 of these involving severe damage to limbs.
Israel has launched a genocidal war on the Gaza Strip following a Hamas attack last October, killing more than 44,600 people, most of them women and children, and injuring nearly 106,000.
The second year of the genocide in Gaza has drawn growing international condemnation, with officials and institutions labelling the attacks and blocking of aid deliveries as a deliberate attempt to destroy a population.
On 21 November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and former Defence Minister, Yoav Gallant, for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its deadly war on Gaza.
