Gaza health official: We recorded 4,500 amputations due to Israeli aggression

Zaher Al-Wahidi, Director of the Health Information Unit at the Palestinian Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip, reported that 4,500 cases of amputation of upper and lower limbs were recorded until the end of 2024, as a result of the ongoing Israeli attacks on the Strip, since Israel began its war of genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza more than 15 months ago.

Al-Wahidi told Anadolu Agency on Friday that the percentage of amputation cases recorded among children in the Gaza Strip is 18% of the total number of cases, with about 800 Palestinian children. He added that 540 amputation cases were recorded among Palestinian women, which makes their percentage 12%.

Al-Wahidi explained that the figures related to amputations of wounded limbs in the Gaza Strip "reflect the extent of the humanitarian catastrophe that Palestinian civilians are facing, especially the most vulnerable groups (...) children and women." Doctors and government officials expect the number of amputations, especially among children, to be "several times the announced number," as it is impossible to issue accurate data in light of the ongoing war of genocide committed by Israel against the Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip and the accompanying destruction of civilian facilities.

The official at the Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip indicated that the numbers are likely to rise as the Israeli war continues, which will increase pressure on the health system, which is already suffering from a shortage of medical supplies due to the ongoing blockade on the Strip for more than 18 years. It is noteworthy that the Israeli occupation has tightened its blockade on the Gaza Strip and the Palestinians in it, starting on October 7, 2023, and prevented the entry of all basic supplies, including medical supplies and medicines, before allowing small quantities that are not enough to support the health system.

It is worth noting that the occupation would not support this system, otherwise it would not have continued to strike it since the first days of its war on the Gaza Strip. Al-Wahidi stressed that the health sector is in dire need of medical and humanitarian support in order to confront the escalating crisis amid the ongoing Israeli war, calling on the international community to take urgent action to stop Israeli violations and ensure the protection of civilians.

As the number of amputations among children continues to rise, Lisa Dutton, an official with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), reported last October that the Gaza Strip has become “home to the largest group of child amputees in modern history.” Dutton quoted the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) as saying that 10 children in the Gaza Strip lose one or both legs every day as a result of the war of extermination that Israel is committing against them.

The tragic situation of the children of the Gaza Strip has been described by UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzaretti as a "disability pandemic" sweeping the Strip, amidst the lack of the necessary prosthetic limbs or psychological and physical rehabilitation centers that give hope to amputees. A number of prosthetic limbs are provided as part of relief aid provided by countries and medical delegations to the Gaza Strip. In a related context, and throughout the months of the ongoing war, the Israeli occupation army targeted the Hamad Hospital for Rehabilitation and Prosthetics in Gaza City (north) and put it out of service, knowing that it is the only hospital specialized in this field, in addition to the Prosthetic Limbs and Paralysis Center affiliated with the Gaza City Municipality, according to the Ministry of Health.

(Anatolia, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed)