Palestinian Territory – More than 30 Palestinians sustain permanent or temporary disabilities each day in the Gaza Strip, as part of the genocide carried out by Israel since October 2023.
The number of persons with disabilities in the Gaza Strip has risen by about 35 per cent compared to the period before the genocide, as a direct result of Israeli attacks deliberately targeting civilians. The Israeli army systematically employed excessive force and highly destructive weapons to maximise deaths and injuries, causing permanent disabilities and severe physical and psychological suffering to thousands of Palestinians. This forms part of Israel's systematic policy of destruction, integral to the ongoing crime of genocide.
From about 156,000 Palestinians injured during Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip over 681 days of genocide, the Euro-Med Monitor field team documented more than 21,000 cases of permanent or temporary disability. This exceptionally high rate reflects Israel's use of highly destructive weapons, including cluster munitions, heavy explosives, and missiles fired at populated areas, causing amputations, deformities, and severe brain and sensory damage. These practices form part of a deliberate policy to maximise physical and psychological suffering among civilians.
Prior to Israel's genocide in Gaza in October 2023, the number of people with disabilities in the Strip was estimated at about 58,000. In less than 23 months, 21,000 new cases of permanent and temporary disability were recorded, raising the proportion of people with disabilities to around 3.4 per cent of the total population, directly caused by Israel's ongoing crimes.
Furthermore, the initial figure of 58,000 before October 2023 was not the result of natural or purely health-related causes, but was largely driven by repeated Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip over the years, including the excessive use of force against peaceful demonstrators in the Great March of Return and successive military assaults that left thousands with permanent injuries. This demonstrates that Israel had already been systematically increasing the number of people with disabilities in Gaza even before the current genocide.
Based on data from the Palestinian Ministry of Health and institutions concerned with persons with disabilities, Euro-Med Monitor documented 8,700 cases of permanent disability, including 4,800 amputations, 1,200 cases of paralysis, 1,200 cases of blindness, and 1,500 cases of other disabilities such as speech and hearing loss and disabilities caused by major burns.
In addition to violent attacks with highly destructive weapons, the deliberate denial of medical care through the targeting of the health system, the blockade, and restrictions on the entry of medicines and surgical supplies, as well as leaving the injured for hours or days under rubble due to the obstruction and targeting of rescue efforts and the lack of equipment, have all exacerbated the risk of disability and amputation.
The repeated targeting of medical personnel and the obstruction of their access to the wounded, the blockade restricting patients' movement and preventing treatment abroad, recurring injuries from explosions and explosive bullets, and environmental pollution caused by shelling and the use of chemical weaponry such as white phosphorus are all causing chronic injuries and permanent disfigurements, further increasing the number of people with disabilities in the Gaza Strip.
The rise in amputations is also linked to the collapse of the healthcare system, which Israel has systematically targeted. Overwhelmed hospitals receive huge numbers of injured people, forcing medical teams to prioritise cases and leaving many without timely, critical treatment.
Alongside the collapse of health services, harsh living conditions caused by forced displacement, the destruction of homes, the confinement of hundreds of thousands to tents without basic necessities, the absence of sewage networks and clean water, widespread pollution, and severe shortages of food and essential medicines, especially antibiotics, have turned treatable injuries into serious infections that in many cases led to amputation, driving disability rates in the enclave to unprecedented levels.
During its ongoing ground incursions into the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army has detained many people with disabilities. Although Israeli authorities withhold clear data on detainees from Gaza, Euro-Med Monitor has confirmed that those with disabilities face deadly and inhumane conditions in Israeli prisons and military detention centres. They are subjected to physical and psychological torture and denied basic rights, including medical care, while accurate information about their fate remains unavailable.
The suspension of medical referrals has prevented thousands of injured people from accessing advanced treatment and essential surgeries outside Gaza, forcing under-resourced local teams to resort to amputation as the only option and directly increasing the number of people with disabilities.
Israel not only destroyed Gaza's health system but also targeted vital facilities and institutions serving persons with disabilities. Almost all specialised centres and associations were destroyed or severely damaged, with around 80 per cent completely destroyed. These include Assalama Charity Association, Baitona for Community Development, Jabalia Rehabilitation Society, the Palestinian General Union of People with Disability, Atfaluna Society for the Deaf, Accessible Beach Break, Al Salam Sports Club for People with Disabilities, the Association of Visually Impaired Graduates, Right to Live Society, the Centre for Disability and Inclusion Services at the Islamic University of Gaza, the Communication Disorders Clinic at the University College of Applied Sciences, El-Amal Rehabilitation Society, the Society of Friends for People with Special Needs, and the Society of Physically Handicapped People.
This systematic destruction of disability institutions seeks to dismantle the support and rehabilitation framework for this group, deepening the impact of disability and depriving those affected of their most basic rights.
Israel also disrupted the work of the UNRWA's Al-Nour Centre for the Visually Impaired in Gaza City, which provided children with Braille tools, guide canes, and specialised educational services. The facility had been converted into a shelter.
It also inflicted extensive damage on the Sheikh Hamad Hospital for Rehabilitation and Prosthetics, the only facility in Gaza capable of manufacturing prosthetic limbs and offering comprehensive rehabilitation programmes. In addition, it destroyed homes and service centres that housed wheelchairs and prosthetic devices, depriving thousands of people with disabilities of essential services that enable mobility and independent living. This has turned disability into a double burden of suffering, reflecting a systematic policy of deliberately depriving the most vulnerable groups and imposing destructive living conditions on the entire population as part of the crime of genocide.
Of the roughly 62,000 Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks, more than 400 were persons with disabilities. In addition, an estimated 9,000 died from critical injuries due to the deliberate denial of healthcare and essential treatment, constituting intentional killing.
The unprecedented rise in disability rates reflects a deliberate pattern of inflicting serious harm, one of the elements of genocide under the 1948 Genocide Convention and the Rome Statute, which define causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of a group as an act of genocide when carried out with intent to destroy that group, in whole or in part.
In testimony to Euro-Med Monitor, Anwar Ibsisa, 40, from Khan Yunis, recounted that he was shot in the back by an Israeli sniper while attempting to reach the US-backed GHF aid distribution centre in Rafah. He said: "I was lying in the area where people gather before reaching the aid centre. Suddenly, Israeli soldiers opened fire. I saw a young man getting shot in front of me. I ran to help him, but a bullet struck my back, hitting my spinal cord. Now I suffer from permanent hemiplegia."
A.M., 38, injured on 15 June 2025 while trying to obtain aid in the Zikim area northwest of Gaza, said: "I was among people trying to get closer to the aid trucks when a quadcopter flew over and opened fire randomly. I was shot in the right leg and fell to the ground covered in blood before losing consciousness."
He added: "When I woke up, I realised I had been bleeding for three hours. Even after reaching the hospital, I lay there for six hours without care. They told me there were no vascular doctors and that I had to wait."
He continued: "After six days, they decided to amputate my leg without anaesthesia because the infection had spread. Days later, they cut another five centimetres, again without anaesthesia, as the infection worsened. The pain was excruciating."
Mohammed Awad, 27, from Gaza City, who lost his leg when his home was bombed, said: "I used to work to support my family, but now I cannot stand on my feet. I feel as if my life has suddenly stopped."
In another testimony to Euro-Med Monitor, Amna H., 19, from Khan Yunis, who lost her sight in the Israeli bombing of her family's home, said: "I wake up every day to pitch-black darkness. I did not only lose my eyes, but also the ability to see my mother and siblings."
Sami al-Kurd, 35, from Jabalia camp in northern Gaza, who was left partially paralysed by an Israeli airstrike, said: "My body no longer obeys me. I need help with the simplest tasks. This occupation has robbed me of my independence and dignity."
The tragedy of disability does not end with injury or amputation but worsens daily under Israel's policies of destruction and impoverishment. Those affected are left without limbs or physical abilities, deprived of treatment, rehabilitation, and prosthetic devices that could help them live more independently. In an environment without resources, medicine, adequate food, or safe housing, disability becomes a heavy burden on both the individual and their family, while repeated displacement and life in tents without basic necessities deepen feelings of helplessness and isolation.
These consequences go beyond humanitarian impacts and are deliberately used to undermine Palestinians' ability to survive and thrive. They inflict deep psychological scars that weaken resilience, restrict productive potential and participation in reconstruction, and intensify suffering in displacement camps and ill-equipped shelters, reflecting a systematic policy to drain Palestinian society of its strength and capacity to prosper.
Targeting civilians and causing permanent disability constitutes a deliberate act at the core of the crime of genocide, falling within the intentional infliction of serious harm on the Palestinian people as a protected group under the 1948 Genocide Convention. It is a fundamental element of the crime under both the Convention and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, as widespread disability undermines the physical and psychological capacity of the Palestinian people to survive and clearly reflects the destructive intent inherent in genocide.
The international community must act urgently to halt the genocide, hold Israeli officials accountable before international and national courts, and provide immediate humanitarian assistance to Palestinians with disabilities in Gaza, including treatment, prosthetic limbs, psychological care, and rehabilitation services. This requires rebuilding specialised facilities destroyed by Israel, ensuring the entry of prosthetic devices and surgical supplies, and establishing sustainable programmes for care, social support, and economic empowerment to guarantee these victims their basic rights to dignity and independent living.
All states, individually and collectively, must urgently meet their legal obligations to end the genocide in the Gaza Strip in all its forms. This requires concrete measures to protect Palestinian civilians and lift the illegal blockade, as only then can the accelerating humanitarian collapse be halted and aid allowed into the enclave. Any delay in lifting the blockade will only worsen an already uncontainable catastrophe, leaving more than two million people trapped in hunger, disease, and thirst, deprived of the basic conditions for a dignified life.
The international community must also impose economic, diplomatic, and military sanctions on Israel in response to its systematic and grave violations of international law. This includes banning weapons exports to Israel and halting arms purchases from it; suspending all forms of political, financial, and military support and cooperation; freezing the assets of officials involved in crimes against Palestinians or inciting such acts; and imposing travel bans on them. Moreover, trade privileges and bilateral agreements that grant Israel economic advantages, enabling it to commit crimes, must be suspended.
The international community must urgently fulfil its legal and moral obligations by addressing the root causes of the Palestinian people's suffering and oppression, ongoing for 77 years. It must ensure their right to live in freedom, dignity, and self-determination in line with international law, end the apartheid regime imposed by the Israeli settler-colonial enterprise, lift the illegal blockade of the Gaza Strip, hold Israeli perpetrators accountable, and guarantee Palestinian victims their right to compensation and redress.
