Sharon Zhang
Truthout / December 3, 2024
Many children are undergoing amputation procedures without anaesthesia, UNRWA said.
Gaza now has the largest population of child amputees per capita in the world, the UN has reported, as a result of 14 months of Israel’s genocide, which has especially targeted children in relentless bombings and attacks.
Israel’s genocide in Gaza has “caused an epidemic of traumatic injuries with no rehabilitation services available,” the head of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) Philippe Lazzarini said on Tuesday. “Now, Gaza has the highest number of child amputees per capita in the world — many losing limbs and undergoing surgeries without even anaesthesia,” Lazzarini said.
He added that, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), 1 in 4 people injured in Gaza have life-changing injuries that will require long-term care for years to come. According to official estimates by Gaza health officials, Israel’s attacks have injured at least 105,000 Palestinians so far, meaning that it’s likely that tens of thousands of people have sustained life-changing injuries.
Israeli forces have especially targeted children in their genocide, landing Israel on the UN’s list of international violators of children’s rights earlier this year.
According to a report published by the UN Human Rights Office last month, children make up the single largest group of people killed by Israel, with children between 0 and 14 years old being the most represented age groups among verified deaths.
Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor found, separately, in August that Israeli forces have killed at least 2,100 babies and toddlers between 0 and 2 years of age in the first 10 months of Israel’s genocide. Doctors who have gone to Gaza on service trips have said that they constantly saw children shot in the head during their time in Gaza’s crumbling health facilities.
UNRWA has estimated that at least 10 children in Gaza are losing one or both legs per day in Israel’s attacks. This estimate doesn’t include children losing arms or hands, so the true number of children losing limbs each day is likely higher.
Israel’s systematic destruction of Gaza’s health care system has made it so that children needing medical treatment have little to no options for care.
Médecins Sans Frontières said last month that Gaza’s formerly robust health care system “no longer exists due to the bombardment of health facilities by Israeli forces, dire shortages of vital supplies, and evacuation orders forcing patients and staff into life-threatening situations.” As of last month, only 17 out of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are left functioning, with none of them fully operational.
In north Gaza, health care is almost non-existent due to Israel’s blockade of medical supplies, raids of the hospitals there, and detainment of medical staff.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said that the Biden administration is to blame for the dire increase in child amputees in Gaza. “History will hold President Biden and his administration’s officials responsible for enabling the Israeli genocide in Gaza,” CAIR National Director Nihad Awad said in a statement. “For more than a year, he has remained unmoved by the far-right Israeli government’s systematic campaign of slaughter, ethnic cleansing, forced starvation, and mass destruction that he unfortunately supported and excused.”
Sharon Zhang is a news writer at Truthout covering politics, climate and labour
