It’s been two months since the truce started in Gaza. The Israeli army continues to kill Palestine, but ruthless bombing has stopped – at least for now. The necessary help that was allowed in the tape was cut off two weeks ago.
What entered the previous month and a half could hardly revive the demolished health system in Gaza. So many hospitals and clinics were destroyed, especially in the north, that humanitarian organizations had to set tents to provide basic care for hundreds of thousands of survivors. Medical accessories that entered already expires.
In the midst of this continuous torment, the health system in Gaza cannot even be recovering, and less concerned with multiple health crises that plague the civilian population. One of the worst among them is the shocking number of amputated ones who have unsequidably used explosive weapons for 15 months.
According to the World Health Organization, since September 2024, in Gaza, from October 7, 2023. In Gaza, 22,500 people in Gaza suffered injuries that change their lives, including serious injuries of limbs, amputation, trauma of spinal cord, traumatic brain injuries and large burns.
At the height of the genocidal war, the help and medical organization agencies reported that more than 10 children lose one or two limbs in Gaza daily. Many were undergoing surgery without anesthesia, and many of these limbs could be saved that the health system was not completely decimated. In December, the UN said Gaza has “the largest number of child’s amputated inhabitants.”
In July 2024, while I was at the Al-Aqs Martyr’s field hospital, I was first hand in hand at one of the last functional hospitals in Gaza struggled to help those who sustained injuries from explosive weapons. When I arrived at the hospital, there were many wounded because of several bombings.
I rushed to help because there was a strong lack of staff. The first patient I attended was the injured girl named Tala, who was four years old. She lost one leg for bombing and cried and screaming intensely. Her mother, who was also seriously injured, couldn’t help her calm her. I couldn’t do much for the girl, except to change her bandage and give her painkillers.
Then I saw a young man named Abdallah who was seriously injured and unconscious. Upon arrival at the hospital, the rest of the leg was amputated. My father told me that Abdallah’s grandmother and one of his siblings had been killed.
I returned to the hospital in December 2024, where I came across two girls, Hanna, 3 years, and Misk, 1 year and 8 months, who lost their limbs and mother in Israeli attacks a few months earlier. Hanan had both legs amputated, while her sister Misk lost one of them. Their aunt I spoke with, she told me about the fight to take care of them.
Misk just learned to walk when her bombing injured her foot. Hanan was old enough to understand and notice the legs of other children, asking why her missing.
These are just a few stories about thousands of children whose childhood shortened Israeli bombs. They are not able to run and play with their peers, suffering heavy traumas in a place that cannot be given to them by basic care.
Before this genocidal war, Gaza had already fought with a large number of amputated, victims of previous Israeli wars and attacks on peaceful demonstrations.
But there were some facilities and organizations. Hamad Hospital for rehabilitation and prosthetics managed to provide the prosthetics amputitors. Different initiatives provided psychosocial support and healing programs to overcome trauma and stigma. But not all of that now. Hamad Hospital was destroyed in the first few weeks of the genocidal war.
Decillary hospitals and improvised clinics can hardly provide care for chronic diseases, which is less for people with disabilities. Rafah border crossing is now closed once more and none of the injured can travel to treatment. The urgent need for thousands of prosthetic limbs and auxiliary devices such as crutches and wheelchairs, but they are not allowed.
With the proportion of the destruction suffered by the Gaza Health Sector, it will take years to restore – and that is if Israel stops blocking assistance as a form of collective penalty. At this time, amputated will inevitably suffer not only because of lack of care and rehabilitation, but also from a deep psychological trauma that will remain ungrateful. This will be a quiet epidemic of gauze.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s and do not reflect the editorial position of Al Jazeere.
