Geneva.- At least 21,000 children in Gaza have suffered some type of disability since the start of the war in October 2023, according to a report by a UN
committee, which also denounces a collapse of the care systems for people with disabilities in the Gaza Strip and many obstacles in the West Bank.
The United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities points out in this report that these 21,000 children suffer disabilities as a result of "deficiencies", without specifying whether they have been caused by wounds, injuries, illnesses or other factors.
It also specifies that of the 40,500 children who have suffered war wounds (another 18,000 have been killed) at least a quarter, that is, about 10,000, suffer from "permanent disabilities".
The report laments the lack of adequate attention to children with disabilities in Gaza due to the lack of medical equipment, which has sometimes forced limb amputations without anesthesia.
Children with disabilities in Gaza suffer from "psychological stress, depression, panic attacks, continuous crying and trauma", indicates a report that exemplifies the case of a 14-year-old girl refugee in Rafah who lost her wheelchair in an evacuation and, due to exhaustion, asked her parents to leave her there.
Attention Collapse
The document underlines that almost two years of conflict, in which hospitals and rehabilitation centers have also been targeted, have caused a breakdown of community services that previously served around 52,000 people with disabilities (out of a total of 90,000 in the Gaza Strip) before the war and currently barely reach around 2,500.
The United Nations committee, in charge of ensuring compliance with the international convention that protects people with disabilities, denounces in the report the death of many of them due to famine, malnutrition, lack of access to water or diseases caused by this lack of basic needs.
It also underlines that the disabled are victims of indiscriminate killings, both from bombings of civilian areas including shelters, schools, and hospitals, and in incidents where individuals or crowds have been shot, including those that occurred at humanitarian aid distribution centers.
Human rights violations against people with disabilities also extend to the West Bank, where the report denounces the killing of at least seven of them in attacks by Israeli settlers or Israeli security forces, as well as impediments to accessing rehabilitation centers due to military blockades on communication routes.
The committee of experts also denounces the "routine exclusion" of people with disabilities in humanitarian aid distribution operations, or the physical and psychological mistreatment of some of them in Israeli detention centers.
The report recalls that 94% of hospitals in Gaza have been destroyed, which, coupled with the reduction in medical personnel, leads to a lack of care that in many people leads to an increase in their levels of disability.
The report was prepared following meetings of committee members with Palestinian civil organizations and other actors from August 13 to 15, in which neither the Israeli government nor the de facto authorities in Gaza (Hamas) participated.
Recommendations
In light of the dramatic situation, the committee requests in its final recommendations that evacuations of people with disabilities who are currently in Gaza be implemented, and Israel is urged to end the blockade of humanitarian assistance.
It also asks Israeli authorities to "end the militarized distribution of aid and avoid shooting at civilians in aid distribution areas," and to lift restrictions on the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) and other institutions that help disabled people.
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