How people with disabilities in Gaza are coping with the agony of Israel-Hamas war

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Updated 26 January 2024
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How people with disabilities in Gaza are coping with the agony of Israel-Hamas war

  • Even prior to Oct. 7, some 21 percent of households in Gaza had at least one member with a disability
  • Aid official says Israeli bombing and aid blockade deny people with disabilities basic rights and dignity

LONDON: Israel’s offensive in the Gaza Strip has spared no one, burying entire families under the rubble of their own homes, paralyzing essential healthcare facilities and traumatizing the Palestinian enclave’s population of 2.3 million — of whom, according to the Euro-Med Monitor, at least 130,000 were living with permanent disabilities before the conflict.

Amid the persistent bombardment, a growing segment of Gazan society — people with physical and mental disabilities — must simultaneously navigate a largely inaccessible community and endure barriers to a dignified, meaningful life.

“They also face direct threats to not only their dignity, but also their very human rights,” Lise Salavert, humanitarian advocacy manager at Handicap International, a charity working with disabled and vulnerable people in extreme circumstances, told Arab News.

“There is not a ‘risk’ that these individuals will be left behind — it is already happening.”




This photo shows injured Palestinians arriving at al-Shifa Hospital following Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City on Oct. 16, 2023. Gaza’s hospitals and health infrastructure have been devastated by the war. (AP/File)

Describing the war on Gaza as a “horrendous catastrophe,” Salavert said that while the whole population of Palestine suffers, “in Gaza, around 300,000 people with disabilities are facing additional, acute challenges.

“In this specific context, they face challenges to stay safe, to eat, to be housed, and to access the basic and specific items they need to stay healthy.”

Since the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, in which militants killed more than 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took 240 more hostage, Israel has carried out its deadliest assault on the Gaza Strip to date.

Israel’s retaliatory attacks are reported to have killed so far more than 25,100 people, wounded another 60,000, and displaced more than 85 percent of the enclave’s population.




Palestinians walk through destruction from the Israeli bombardment in the Nusseirat refugee camp in Gaza Strip on Jan. 19, 2024. (AP)

As the intense bombardment has reduced swathes of Gaza to rubble, Palestinians have been forced to evacuate their homes and flee often multiple times in search of safety.

Critics say the vast destruction is evidence that Israel’s attacks are disproportionate and fail to limit civilian casualties. Israel says it does not target civilians and blames Hamas for conducting military operations and launching rockets from crowded residential areas.

While the Israeli military has ordered civilians to evacuate to designated “safe zones,” power outages, prolonged communication blackouts and lack of access to technology have prevented many from accessing such information.

Even when these instructions were accessible, they were found to be confusing. Investigations by global media organizations have revealed that Israel had frequently issued vague evacuation instructions and had later targeted areas it had deemed safe.

However, for many persons with disabilities, especially those with motor challenges, fleeing the Israeli offensive has been all but impossible.




Displaced Palestinians move their belongings to a makeshift tent camp in Rafah near the border with Egypt in the southern Gaza Strip on Sunday. (AFP)

“People with disabilities are separated from their families. Their friends. Their support networks,” said Salavert. “Some cannot physically evacuate their homes, should they choose to. Others cannot process or access evacuation orders.

“Deaf Gazans cannot hear incoming rockets — not knowing to take cover. Many have lost their assistive devices, their medicines.”

Israel’s 16-year blockade of the Gaza Strip has also deprived people with disabilities of necessary assistive devices, such as wheelchairs and artificial limbs. And now, with the limited humanitarian aid reaching the enclave, this group’s distinct needs remain unmet.

INNUMBERS

• 130,000 People in the Gaza Strip living with permanent disabilities before the war.

21% Households in Gaza with at least one person with a disability before the war.

9,000 Number of children injured during the war, many of whom have lost limbs.

(Source: Euro-Med Monitor, Handicap International)

The fear of having to survive this war with a disability haunts almost everyone in the Gaza Strip. A report released last month by Handicap International revealed that the injuries Palestinians have sustained during the onslaught include fractures, peripheral nerve injuries, amputations, spinal cord and brain injuries, and burns.

Many of the 9,000 children injured in Gaza have been grappling with the loss of one or more limbs, according to the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF. Even before the war, 21 percent of Gaza’s households included at least one person with a disability.




A wounded girl is transported on a wheelchair to a hospital in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on November 6, 2023. AFP)

Salavert believes the massive use of heavy explosive weapons in Gaza, at this level of intensity, “has no precedent in recent times.”

She told Arab News: “These bombs have not only crumbled hospitals and fractured schools. They have robbed civilians of arms and legs. They’ve pierced spinal cords. They’ve inflicted trauma to brains, to eyes.

“These bombs have robbed civilians of sound, as eardrums rupture. Inside, hidden from view, the blast waves from bombs damaged organs.

“Bombs destroy the integrity of people’s bodies, their minds, and their senses of identity, autonomy and dignity. Bombs also prevent those bodies from being healed … when healing is even possible … in ways that can prevent long-term effects from injuries.”

Further exacerbating the calamity is the lack of access to healthcare and humanitarian services.




This photo taken on August 3, 2021, shows Palestinian amputee players compete during a football match at the Yarmouk Stadium in Gaza City on August 3, 2021. Israel’s 16-year blockade of the Gaza Strip and its ongoing military offensive have deprived people with disabilities of necessary assistive devices, such as wheelchairs and artificial limbs. (AFP)

Hospitals have been overwhelmed with wounded, while many have reportedly been damaged in the fighting. According to World Health Organization figures, 304 attacks have directly impacted healthcare infrastructure and personnel, affecting 94 facilities and 79 ambulances.

Israel’s blockade of Gaza has also prevented necessary medication, such as painkillers, antibiotics and anesthetics, from reaching the enclave, meaning healthcare professionals are unable to offer their patients pain relief or treat infections.

According to Handicap International’s December report, many of those injured in Gaza may needlessly develop long-term disabilities that could have been avoided.

“Many people injured by bombing and shelling experience fractures, requiring urgent orthopedic care to prevent irreversible complications such as pain, muscle contractions and deformities,” Florence Daunis, the NGO’s operations director, said in the report.

The impacts of these wounds are also borne by the survivors’ relatives, mostly women, who find themselves forced into “a lifelong, avoidable role as caregiver,” Salavert told Arab News.




A Palestinian woman watches over her 14-year-old daughter Lama Al-Agha at the Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza Strip, on October 31, 2023, where she is being treated for injuries arising from an Israeli strike. Lama's sister Sarah is in an adjacent bed not shown in the photo, were wounded in an October 12 strike that killed Sara's twin Sama and brother Yahya, 12, says their mother, sat between the two hospital beds. (AFP)

Compounding the suffering of caregivers are the dire economic conditions and the toll on mental health caused by the war and the pressure of supporting disabled loved ones.

“These weapons are imposing post-traumatic stress disorders, anxiety and depression on the majority of the 2.3 million inhabitants of Gaza — half of them children,” said Salavert, who expects the mental health toll of the war to persist for generations to come.

She warned that Israel’s use of weapons such as 2,000-pound bombs were “planting seeds of despair and resentment” in Palestinians.

With Israel vowing to continue military operations in the Gaza Strip for “many more months” despite international calls for an immediate ceasefire, the enclave’s disabled population, who need a lot more than humanitarian assistance, face a grim fate.




An Israeli M109 howitzer artillery cannon fires 155mm shells at Gaza Strip as it continues its offensive against Hamas militants. Unfortunately, it is the civilians who suffer from the bombardment. (Shutterstock photo)

“Aid agencies like our own need safe, unimpeded access to all areas of Gaza and the West Bank, so we can reach these individuals,” said Salavert.

“Instead, war stands in the way, blocking assistive devices, physical therapy, psychosocial support and all the other assistance they have a right to. Persons with disabilities need the laws and policies built to protect them to be upheld.”

Before Oct. 7, an average of 500 aid trucks entered the besieged Gaza Strip daily, according to Handicap International. That number dropped during the period from Oct. 20 to Nov. 21 to fewer than 100 trucks.

After the reopening of Egypt’s Rafah border crossing in November, about 100-300 trucks per day entered Gaza. But “the needs have drastically increased,” said Salavert, adding that at least 500 trucks daily are needed to aid Gaza’s starving population.

Humanitarian organizations, including the World Food Programme, have warned of famine across Gaza if adequate aid is not restored.

Salavert called for safe, rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian assistance to meet the urgent needs of Gazan civilians, adding that aid should be allowed through all border crossings to ensure relief for the whole territory.

“Only a ceasefire could ensure that aid organizations provide the adequate support needed,” she said.

 


China, Kuwait sign agreement to expand solar power projects

Updated 18 March 2025
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China, Kuwait sign agreement to expand solar power projects

  • China to oversee expansion of Al-Shagaya, Al-Abdiliya plants
  • Shagaya part of Kuwait’s plan to generate 15% of its energy from renewable sources by 2030

LONDON: Kuwait and China signed a framework agreement this week which included a commitment to cooperate in renewable energy and solar plants technology.

The framework agreement was reached after six months of negotiations, according to Adel Al-Zamel, the undersecretary at the Ministry of Electricity and Water and Renewable Energy, who signed the agreement in Kuwait with Ren Jingdong, the deputy director of the Chinese National Energy Administration.

The agreement outlines a plan, overseen by the Chinese side, for the third and fourth zones of the Al-Shagaya and Al-Abdiliya solar plants projects. Each project will have a joint production capacity of 3,500 megawatts, with the potential to increase to 5,000 megawatts, the Kuwait News Agency reported.

Shagaya Renewable Energy Park, which is in a desert zone near the Kuwait-Saudi border, plays an integral part in Kuwait’s plan to generate 15 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2030.

Kuwait and China last month signed an agreement to develop the Mubarak Al-Kabeer port, which is part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative and will have a capacity to handle more than 8 million containers.

On March 22 the two countries will celebrate the 54th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations.

Kuwait’s Ambassador to China Jassem Al-Najem and other Kuwaiti and Chinese officials were present during the agreement’s signing ceremony.


In Lebanon, Israeli strikes point to a precarious ceasefire

Updated 18 March 2025
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In Lebanon, Israeli strikes point to a precarious ceasefire

  • The war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon marked the deadliest spillover of the Gaza war
  • The Israeli military has reported striking five Hezbollah members in three separate incidents in south Lebanon since Mar. 15

BEIRUT: As Israel resumes heavy strikes in the Gaza Strip, escalating Israeli attacks in south Lebanon have killed five Hezbollah members in the last few days, according to security sources in Lebanon, underlining the fragility of a US-backed ceasefire.
The war between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon marked the deadliest spillover of the Gaza war, rumbling across the frontier for months before escalating into a devastating Israeli offensive that wiped out the group’s command and many of its fighters, along with much of its arsenal.
While the ceasefire brought about a big reduction in the violence, each side accuses the other of failing to fully implement it. Israel says Hezbollah still has infrastructure in the south, while Lebanon and Hezbollah say Israel is occupying Lebanese soil by not withdrawing from five hilltop positions.
The Israeli military has reported striking five Hezbollah members in three separate incidents in south Lebanon since Mar. 15. In one of the incidents on Sunday, the Israeli military said it struck two Hezbollah militants “who served as observation operatives and directed terrorist activities.” Security sources in Lebanon said five Hezbollah members were killed.
The Israeli military said on Sunday that a gunshot hit a parked car in the Israeli community of Avivim, and that the shot most likely came from Lebanon. No one claimed responsibility.

STRIKES DESTROY PREFAB HOUSES
In Lebanon, Israeli strikes in two towns on Monday destroyed prefabricated houses brought to the area for people whose homes were destroyed in the war, security sources said.
Noting an increase in Israeli strikes in recent days, the UNIFIL peacekeeping force in south Lebanon “urges all actors to avoid any action that could upset the current delicate calm,” spokesperson Andrea Tenenti said.
“We continue to urge Israeli forces to fully withdraw south of the Blue Line, and we continue to support the Lebanese Armed Forces in their deployment in the south of Lebanon,” he added.
The Blue Line was drawn by the United Nations in 2000, when Israeli forces withdrew from south Lebanon, and separates the country from Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
The ceasefire agreed in November required Hezbollah to have no weapons in the south and Israeli troops to withdraw as the US-backed Lebanese army deployed into the region.
Israel said earlier this month it had agreed to US-backed talks with Lebanon aimed at demarcating the border. It also released five Lebanese held by the Israeli military in what it called a “gesture to the Lebanese president.”
Hezbollah officials have put the onus on the Lebanese state to liberate the remaining land still occupied by Israel. Still, leading Hezbollah official Ali Damoush said on Friday the group would not give up its arms while there was an occupation.
Analysts say Hezbollah would have to think very hard before taking any decision to escalate against Israel, noting that its overland resupply route to Iran was severed by the fall of its ally Bashar Assad in Syria and that many of its supporters are homeless because of the devastation caused by the war.
“So far, Hezbollah is keen not to respond and to leave the decision to the government and the Lebanese army,” said Qassem Kassir, a Lebanese analyst close to Hezbollah.


Syria says Israeli strikes aiming to undermine ‘stability’

Updated 18 March 2025
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Syria says Israeli strikes aiming to undermine ‘stability’

  • A foreign ministry statement denounced “in the strongest terms the recent Israeli air strikes on Daraa,” in southern Syria
  • It added that “these deliberate attacks, launched without reason, reveal Israel’s total disregard for international law and norms”

DAMASCUS: The Syrian Arab Replic's foreign ministry on Tuesday condemned a series of deadly Israeli strikes a day earlier, accusing Israel of seeking to sow instability in the country.
A foreign ministry statement denounced “in the strongest terms the recent Israeli air strikes on Daraa,” in southern Syria, on Monday which authorities said killed three civilians.
“This aggression is part of an Israeli campaign against the Syrian people and the stability of the country,” the statement said.
It added that “these deliberate attacks, launched without reason, reveal Israel’s total disregard for international law and norms” and “represent a direct threat to regional and international security.”
The Israeli military said it had struck “military targets” in southern Syrian including “command centers and military sites.”
On Tuesday afternoon, the Israeli military said it launched new air strikes targeting “two cannons” in the region of Khan Arnabah, in the south of Syria, close to the 1974 ceasefire line separating Israeli and Syrian forces on the Golan Heights.
Since the overthrow of president Bashar Assad on December 8, Israel has launched hundreds of strikes on military sites in Syria, saying it was acting to prevent the former Syrian army’s weapons falling into the hands of the new authorities whom it considers jihadists.
The toppling of Assad was led by Islamist-rebels, including those who once formed Al-Qaeda’s branch in Syria, though the new government has sought to distance itself from that past.
The Israeli military has also deployed to the UN-patrolled buffer zone on the Golan Heights, separating the Israeli-occupied part of the Golan from that still controlled by Syria.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has demanded the demilitarization of southern Syria and said his country would not tolerate the presence of forces from the new authorities south of the capital Damascus.


UN humanitarian chief appeals for aid access as Gaza faces ‘total’ blockade

People walk amid the rubble of a building destroyed in an overnight Israeli strike in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip.
Updated 18 March 2025
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UN humanitarian chief appeals for aid access as Gaza faces ‘total’ blockade

  • ‘Worst fears materialized’ after Israel resumes airstrikes, issues new evacuation orders
  • Renewal of hostilities has undermined gains during ceasefire, Security Council told

NEW YORK: The UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs warned the UN Security Council on Tuesday that the aid crisis in Gaza is worsening, as Israel resumed airstrikes across the territory and continued to block vital supplies.

“Overnight our worst fears materialized,” Tom Fletcher told council members.

“Airstrikes resumed across the entire Gaza Strip. (Reports) of hundreds of people killed. New evacuation orders issued by Israeli forces. Once again, the people of Gaza are living in abject fear.”

Fletcher added the situation had returned to chaos, undermining the modest gains made during a recent ceasefire.

Humanitarian efforts in Gaza were severely hampered following the resumption of hostilities, he said.

“Today, I am distressed to report that in addition to the intense airstrikes that have resumed, since March 2 Israeli authorities have cut off the entry of all lifesaving supplies — food, medicines, fuel, cooking gas — for 2.1 million people,” Fletcher said.

“Our repeated requests to collect aid sitting at Karem Shalom crossing have also been systematically rejected. No further hostages have been released. Only medical evacuations and humanitarian staff rotations continued. Even that came to a halt today.”

The blockade has worsened living conditions, with essential services such as clean water becoming increasingly scarce.

Fletcher highlighted that the shutdown of Gaza’s desalination plant has left 600,000 people without access to safe drinking water.

“The current suspension of aid and commercial materials is reversing the progress achieved during the brief ceasefire. Survival resources are now being rationed,” he said, adding that vegetable prices in northern Gaza have tripled, while bakeries have closed due to shortages of cooking gas and supplies.

The World Health Organization has warned that public health risks remain very high, including for communicable diseases resulting from overcrowding and poor sanitation.

Fletcher again raised concerns about the growing challenges facing humanitarian workers, with the new restrictions imposed on international NGOs since the Knesset legislation banning the aid agency UNRWA took effect on Jan. 30.

“UNRWA international staff are no longer able to rotate into and out of Gaza,” he said.

Fletcher said that on March 9, Israeli authorities introduced new registration rules for international NGOs delivering humanitarian aid to Palestinians in the territory. If enforced, these will impose strict conditions and significantly disrupt aid operations.

“The Israeli Knesset is also considering a bill to impose considerable taxation on donations from third states to Israeli NGOs, including humanitarian and human rights groups.

“If implemented, this would further erode the number of partners with the capacity to implement protection interventions.

“Many Israeli NGOs are engaged on legal cases involving home demolitions and forced evictions. They also provide protective presence activities related to settler violence.”

Fletcher underscored the success of the 42-day ceasefire, which allowed deliveries from more than 4,000 aid trucks per week, the release of 30 hostages, and the distribution of essential resources to over 2 million people.

“This proves what’s possible when we’re allowed to do our job,” Fletcher said. “We cannot accept a return to pre-ceasefire conditions or the complete denial of humanitarian relief.”

The UN official also expressed grave concern about escalating violence in the West Bank, where 95 Palestinians, including 17 children, have been killed since the beginning of the year, and over 40,000 Palestinians forced from their homes by Israeli military operations.

Fletcher called for immediate action, urging that humanitarian aid and commercial goods be allowed to enter Gaza, and that hostilities cease with the renewal of a ceasefire agreement.

He warned that without funding for the humanitarian response, which has received only 4 percent of the required financial support, the situation will worsen.

“Blocking food, water, and medicine for people who need them is unconscionable,” Fletcher said. “It goes against international humanitarian law and must be stopped immediately.”


Syria’s Aleppo International Airport reopens for domestic, international flights

Updated 18 March 2025
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Syria’s Aleppo International Airport reopens for domestic, international flights

  • The first passenger flight from Damascus landed after the country’s second major hub reopened for air traffic on Tuesday

LONDON: The Syrian Arab Republic reopened the country’s second major airport for flights after nearly three months of closure.

The first passenger flight from Damascus landed at Aleppo International Airport after it reopened for air traffic on Tuesday, amid an official ceremony attended by representatives of Syria’s new interim government, the SANA news agency reported.

The airport was closed in November during the offensive by rebel groups against the regime of Bashar Assad in early December.

Syrian authorities have conducted maintenance and restoration work over the past three months to resume air traffic to and from Aleppo, the country’s second largest city after the capital and an important industrial and trade center.

Authorities announced that Aleppo will begin receiving international flights, facilitating the return of nearly 10 million Syrian refugees currently living in Turkey and Europe. It will also enable the visits of local and foreign investors to the city, SANA added.

Alaa Sallal, the director of relations at the Syrian Civil Aviation Authority, said efforts are underway to expand Aleppo International Airport’s services “to turn it into a key air gateway in Syria capable of handling more flights and connecting the country to the world.”

In January, international flights to and from Damascus resumed for the first time since the fall of Assad with a direct flight from Doha — the first in 13 years.