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

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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)
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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)
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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.

 


US says Israel to open new Gaza crossing as aid deadline looms

Children stare at the destruction following an Israeli strike in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on November
Updated 49 min 25 sec ago
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US says Israel to open new Gaza crossing as aid deadline looms

  • The US has given Israel until November 13 to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza
  • Letter calls for a minimum of 350 trucks per day to be allowed into Gaza

WASHINGTON: Israel has informed the United States that it will open an additional crossing for aid into Gaza, the State Department said Thursday, as a US-imposed deadline looms next week.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin have given Israel until November 13 to improve the humanitarian situation in the war-besieged Gaza Strip or risk the withholding of some military assistance from the United States, Israel’s biggest supporter.
They made the demands in a letter before Tuesday’s election of President-elect Donald Trump, who has promised to give freer rein to Israel.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said that Israel, after recently reopening the Erez crossing, has informed the United States that they “hope to open an additional new crossing at Kissufim” in “the next few days.”
“We have continued to press them, and we have seen them, including in the past few days since the election, take additional steps,” Miller told reporters.
He stopped short of saying how the United States would assess Israel’s compliance with the aid demands.
In the letter, Blinken and Austin had urged Israel to “consistently” let aid through four major crossings and to open a fifth crossing.
Kissufim, near a kibbutz across from southern Gaza that was attacked in the October 7, 2023 Hamas assault that sparked the war, has mostly been in disuse except by the military since Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005.
The letter called for a minimum of 350 trucks per day to be allowed into Gaza. Miller said 229 trucks entered on Tuesday.
Outgoing President Joe Biden has repeatedly pressed Israel to improve humanitarian aid and protect civilians, while mostly stopping short of using leverage such as cutting off weapons.
Miller said Blinken hoped to keep using the rest of his term to press for an end to the wars in Gaza and Lebanon.


France mulling new sanctions on Israeli settlers, minister says in West Bank

Updated 07 November 2024
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France mulling new sanctions on Israeli settlers, minister says in West Bank

  • “France has been a driving force to establish the first sanction regime at the European level,” Barrot said
  • Barrot renewed France’s commitment to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

RAMALLAH: France is mulling new sanctions on those enabling the expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, regarded as illegal under international law, Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on a visit to the territory on Thursday.
“France has been a driving force to establish the first sanction regime at the European level targeting individuals or entities, either actors or accomplices of settlement activities,” Barrot said after talks with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in Ramallah.
“This regime has been activated two times already and we’re working on a third batch of sanctions targeting these activities that again are illegal with respect to international law.”
Barrot renewed France’s commitment to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and warned settlement activities “threaten the political perspective that can ensure durable peace for Israel and Palestine.”
Before meeting Abbas, Barrot visited the adjacent town of Al-Bireh, where Israeli settlers set fire to 20 cars on Monday, damaging a nearby building.
After speaking with residents and local officials at the scene, Barrot noted that the attack took place in a part of the West Bank where the Palestinians were supposed to enjoy both civil and security control under the Oslo Accords of the 1990s.
“These attacks from extremist and violent settlers are not only completely inexcusable, not only contrary to international law, but they weaken the perspective of a two-state solution,” Barrot said.
Ramallah and Al-Bireh governor Laila Ghannam expressed outrage that settler attacks were “taking place in full view and hearing of the entire silent international community.”
“Perhaps today, with the visit of the French foreign minister, there will be a spotlight here,” she told AFP.
Speaking in Jerusalem earlier Thursday, Barrot said he saw prospects for ending Israel’s wars in Gaza and Lebanon after Donald Trump’s re-election, citing the Republican’s “wish to see the end of the Middle East’s endless wars” as well as recent “tactical successes” for Israel.


Moroccan population grows to 36.8 million in 2024

The Moroccan population grew by 2.98 million since the last census in 2014. (AFP)
Updated 07 November 2024
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Moroccan population grows to 36.8 million in 2024

RABAT: The Moroccan population grew to 36.82 million by September 2024, according to the preliminary results of a national census, the spokesman for the government said on Thursday.
Compared with the most recent census in 2014, the Moroccan population grew by 2.98 million or 8.8 percent, spokesman Mustapha Baitas told reporters.
The number of households grew to 9.27 million by September 2024, up 26.8 percent compared to 2014, while the number of foreigners living in the country increased to 148,152, up 71.8 percent, he said.


Israel escalates attacks on Lebanon as strikes hit near Beirut airport

A rescuer and a member of the Malaysian battalion of UNIFIL treat a soldier wounded in an Israeli airstrike near Sidon. (AFP)
Updated 07 November 2024
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Israel escalates attacks on Lebanon as strikes hit near Beirut airport

  • Drone strike near Sidon kills three and injures Lebanese soldiers and UN peacekeepers
  • Former Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah’s uncle and family members also killed

BEIRUT: At least 10 people were killed in Lebanon on Thursday in Israeli drone attacks on roads across the south, Mount Lebanon and Bekaa.

Former Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah’s uncle and his family members were also killed by strikes in southern Lebanon.

In Baalbek-Hermel, dozens of victims were laid to rest. They died trapped under the rubble of several flattened buildings, some adjacent to the Baalbek Temple.

In the afternoon, an Israeli strike targeted Tyre.

An Israeli drone hit a car on the Araya road in Mount Lebanon, killing the driver, a 30-year-old woman, making her Israel’s first female target.

Doaa Mattar’s family said that they lost contact with their daughter at the time of the raid.

A relative said that Mattar had taken her friend’s car to drive her family from Beirut to Bhamdoun.

Her body was taken to Hezbollah’s Al-Rassoul Al-Azam Hospital, while two injured passersby — a man and his grandson — were transported to the Sacre Coeur Hospital.

Hours later, another Israeli drone targeted a car on the Awali River road at the entrance to the city of Sidon, south of Beirut.

The strike killed three people inside the vehicle, injured three Lebanese soldiers at a nearby checkpoint and damaged several cars, including a passing UNIFIL convoy bus.

It resulted in five minor injuries among Malaysian UNIFIL soldiers and two civilian injuries.

Meanwhile, Beirut’s southern suburb experienced a violent night of airstrikes that continued until the early hours of Thursday morning, targeting Haret Hreik, Burj Al-Barajneh, Tahwitat Al-Ghadir and Ouzai.

One of the strikes came close to a runway at Beirut airport, causing damage to facilities.

However, airport operations continued, with Middle East Airlines switching to alternative runways for landing minutes after Israel issued evacuation warnings.

All planes heading for Beirut landed shortly before midnight ahead of the Israeli-imposed deadline.

The airstrikes on the southern suburb of Beirut caused extensive damage to residential buildings, shops, schools, social facilities and health centers.

A week of relative calm in Beirut’s southern suburb was shattered as warning sirens caused recently returned residents to flee north.

Many families were forced on to the streets, waiting in their vehicles at a safe distance from the targeted areas.

The Israeli military claimed to have conducted precision strikes against Hezbollah command centers and military infrastructure in the Lebanese capital, according to military spokesman Avichay Adraee.

Israel’s systematic destruction of southern Lebanese towns continued with renewed intensity. Israeli forces reportedly rigged and detonated entire neighborhoods in the border town of Mays Al-Jabal.

Israeli warplanes conducted strikes on the outskirts of Yahmar Al-Shaqif near the Litani River, hitting the town center and eastern areas. The predominantly Christian town of Rmeish, whose residents have steadfastly refused to leave, was also targeted.

In Jbaa, located in the Tuffah region, airstrikes caused significant damage. A separate strike on Bazouriye killed four members of Nasrallah’s extended family, including his uncle, cousins and their grandson.

Reports indicate that Israeli forces used internationally prohibited cluster bombs in their targeting of agricultural fields.

The scope of destruction has reached unprecedented levels in Nabatieh, where medical facilities, businesses, institutions, warehouses and residential buildings have been severely damaged.

Footage shared on social media revealed that entire neighborhoods had been turned into rubble.

Violent clashes erupted on Wednesday evening between Hezbollah fighters and Israeli forces near Rmeish and Yaroun, opposite the Dovev settlement.

Exchanges of fire were also reported near Aita Al-Shaab when Israeli forces attempted to advance into Lebanese territory.

The death and injury toll continues to mount, with the Bekaa region alone reporting 60 casualties, with dozens wounded.

Scenes of mass burials echoed those from Gaza. Among the dead are multiple generations of families, including the Abu Asbar family, who lost parents, children, grandchildren and in-laws during a single Israeli strike.

The attacks have also threatened Lebanon’s cultural heritage, with damage reported near the historic Baalbek Castle complex and the century-old Al-Manshieh building, known for its cultural artifacts.

The Palmyra Hotel, which has hosted decades of Baalbek festivals, also sustained damage.

Baalbek Mayor Mustafa Al-Shall said: “The enemy is targeting poor and residential neighborhoods, and it did not spare archaeological, heritage and historical sites. The number of martyrs in Baalbek is very high.”

One Israeli strike targeted soldier Raed Dandash, born in 2003, as he was driving his car in the town of Talia, in the Bekaa.

An official statement said: “Along with Raed, the strike killed his sister Nathalie and his brother Mohammed, while their mother was seriously injured.”

Airstrikes hit new areas in northern Bekaa, including the towns of Fakeha and Harfouch, killing one.

Lebanon’s officials were shocked by the attacks that targeted the vicinity of Baalbek Castle.

Culture Minister Mohammed Wissam Mortada sent an urgent appeal to UNESCO chief Audrey Azoulay through the head of Lebanon’s permanent mission to the organization, Mustafa Deeb, to “save the castle.”

Several MPs also sent a letter to Azoulay, calling on the international organization to “protect the common heritage of humanity.”

In the letter, MP Najat Saliba called for “the protection of historical sites in Lebanon, especially Baalbek, Tyre, Sidon and other valuable landmarks that are in grave danger due to the escalation of atrocities.”

She said: “These landmarks are priceless not only for our nation but for humanity. They are facing a growing danger with the escalation of the war. Their protection is a responsibility that needs to be assumed in order to preserve a part of human civilization that belongs to our common global and international heritage.”

One building destroyed by Israeli strikes bore an etching showing the year 1928. It was once frequented by French officers during France’s rule over the country.

The Israeli army announced that one of its soldiers “was killed in battles in southern Lebanon, while 60 Hezbollah members were killed during the past 24 hours.”

Hezbollah issued a statement calling on settlers in northern Israel to leave their settlements, warning that they had become become military targets.


Iran’s Pezeshkian says Tehran indifferent to US election result

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Iran's priority is to develop relations with Islamic and neighboring countries. (AFP/Fi
Updated 07 November 2024
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Iran’s Pezeshkian says Tehran indifferent to US election result

  • Pezeshkian says ‘it does not matter’ to Iran who won US election
  • Iran government spokesperson plays down importance of Trump

DUBAI: Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said the result of the US election did not matter to his country, state media reported on Thursday, amid heightened tensions with Washington over its support for Iran’s arch-enemy, Israel.
Donald Trump’s return to the White House following his election victory this week could mean tougher enforcement of US oil sanctions against Iran, which he initiated in 2018 after quitting a nuclear pact between Tehran and global powers.
The Biden administration has strongly supported Israel in its wars against the Iran-backed Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon as well as Israeli actions against Iran itself.
Some analysts believe Trump will give Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a greater free hand in dealing with Iran.
“To us it does not matter at all who has won the American election, because our country and system relies on its inner strength and a great and honorable nation,” Pezeshkian said late on Wednesday, quoted by the state news agency IRNA.
It was his first comment on Trump’s election victory.
“We will not be close-minded in developing our relations with other countries (while) we have made it our priority to develop relations with Islamic and neighboring countries,” Pezeshkian said.
It was not immediately clear if Pezeshkian was also referring to the United States, with which Iran does not have diplomatic relations. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say in all matters of state, has banned holding any direct talks with the United States.
An Iranian government spokesperson earlier played down the importance of the US election, while a Revolutionary Guards commander voiced readiness for confrontation.
The Iranian leaders’ main concern is the potential for Trump to empower Netanyahu to strike Iran’s nuclear sites, conduct assassinations and reimpose his “maximum pressure” policy through heightened sanctions on the country’s oil industry.
Some, however, suspect Trump will be cautious about the possibility of war.
In 2018, the then-Trump administration exited Iran’s 2015 nuclear pact with six world powers and reimposed harsh sanctions on Iran, prompting Tehran to violate the pact’s nuclear limits.
International sanctions over Tehran’s nuclear program forced Tehran to reach the 2015 pact under which Iran agreed to curb its nuclear program in exchange for lifting the punitive measures.
Trump’s tough stance could force Ayatollah Khamenei to approve talks “whether direct or indirect” with the United States, two Iranian officials have told Reuters.
In September, Pezeshkian said Tehran was ready to end its nuclear standoff with the West, which accuses it of seeking capacity to develop nuclear weapons. Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.