Ten children a day losing a limb in Gaza: Report

According to an update by the UN-sponsored Global Protection Cluster, Israeli attacks on Gaza have “destroyed the protection environment” of the disabled and newly disabled in the enclave.

The report said 134,105 people including over 40,500 children have suffered new war-related injuries since the war began in October 2023.

Twenty-five percent are estimated to have new disabilities requiring acute and ongoing rehabilitation.

“There is no safe space in Gaza. Twenty months of intense hostilities have destroyed the protection environment for persons with disabilities and older persons,” it added.

“Over 35,000 people are believed to have significant hearing damage due to explosions. Ten children per day lose one or both of their legs.”

According to the report, Gaza’s only limb reconstruction and rehabilitation centre became non-functional in December 2023 due to a lack of supplies and specialised health workers, and was severely damaged in air strikes in February 2024, depriving children and adults of life-saving services.

Rights groups and NGOs say the war on Gaza has had a devastating effect on the children of the enclave.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health says that more than 17,000 of the 58,500 Palestinians killed since October 2023 are children and that they account for 30 percent of the total injuries.

An average of 15 children per day acquire potentially life-altering disabilities, the ministry said.

In December, the UN reported that Gaza had the highest number of child amputees per capita globally.

“Gaza now has the highest number of child amputees per capita anywhere in the world – many losing limbs and undergoing surgeries without even anaesthesia,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stated.

Last week, the UN agency for children, UNICEF, warned that children experiencing acute malnutrition are particularly vulnerable and face a greater “likelihood of dying from simple causes by 10 times”.

Spokesperson James Elder said that access to hospitals in Gaza was no longer safe for ill or malnourished children.

Separately on Tuesday, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said one in ten children screened at UN-run health clinics in Gaza is now malnourished.

“Our health teams are confirming that malnutrition rates are increasing in Gaza, especially since the [Israeli] siege was tightened more than four months ago on the second of March,” UNRWA’s director of communications, Juliette Touma, told journalists in Geneva during a briefing via video link from Amman.

Aid agencies have warned repeatedly that famine is looming in parts of Gaza, particularly in the north, where access remains limited.