GENEVA: At least 21,000 children in Gaza have been left disabled since Israel launched the ongoing military offensive on October 7, 2023, a United Nations committee said on Wednesday.
The UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities reported that around 40,500 children had sustained new war-related injuries, with more than half suffering permanent disabilities.
Reviewing the situation in the Palestinian territories, it said Israeli evacuation orders during the army’s offensive in Gaza were “often inaccessible” to people with hearing or visual impairments, “rendering evacuation impossible”.
“Reports also described people with disabilities being forced to flee in unsafe and undignified conditions, such as crawling through sand or mud without mobility assistance,” it said.
Meanwhile, the committee said the restrictions on humanitarian aid being brought into the Gaza Strip were disproportionately impacting the disabled.
“People with disabilities faced severe disruptions in assistance, leaving many without food, clean water, or sanitation and dependent on others for survival,” it said.
Gaza aid restrictions
While the private US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has four distribution points across the besieged Palestinian territory, the UN system it has largely replaced had about 400.
Physical obstacles, such as war debris and the loss of mobility aids under the rubble, have further prevented people from reaching the relocated aid points.
The committee said 83 percent of disabled people had lost their assistive devices, with most unable to afford alternatives such as donkey carts.
It voiced concern that devices like wheelchairs, walkers, canes, splints and prosthetics were considered “dual-use items” by the Israeli authorities and were therefore not included in aid shipments.
The committee called for the delivery of “massive humanitarian aid to persons with disabilities” affected by the Israeli bombardment campaign, while insisting that all sides needed to adopt protection measures for the disabled to prevent “further violence, harm, deaths and deprivation of rights”.
The committee said it had been informed of at least 157,114 people sustaining injuries, with over 25 percent at risk of life-long impairments, between October 7, 2023, and August 21 this year.
It said there were “at least 21,000 children with disabilities in Gaza as a result of impairments, acquired since October 7, 2023”.
It said Israel should adopt specific measures for protecting children with disabilities from attacks, and implement evacuation protocols that take into account persons with disabilities.
Israel should ensure disabled people are “allowed to return safely to their homes and are assisted in doing so”, it added.
