1,134 children have undergone amputation in the Gaza Strip as of October 9, 2026.
Israel’s ongoing barbaric assault on Palestinian children has created an unending nightmare in the Gaza Strip. Not only have Israeli attacks left a staggering number of children in the besieged enclave with amputations, but Israel continues to deny them the resources and medical assistance they need to regain some semblance of normalcy.
In the absence of prosthetics and adequate medical care, children have been forced to rely on PVC pipes and other makeshift devices simply to regain a modicum of mobility. An 11-year-old boy who lost his mother and brother in an Israeli bombing now uses plastic pipes to get around.
“I was on my way with my mother and siblings to visit our relatives in Khan Yunis when we were bombed on 26 June 2026,” the boy identified only as R.Q. told Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor. “My mother and my younger brother were killed, and I was seriously injured and taken to hospital, where I underwent several surgeries. Doctors had to amputate my leg to save my life.”
“When I came out of the operating room and realised my leg was gone, I felt very sad. I could no longer play football with my friends and cousins as I used to,” he said. “I tried to find a way to walk, making a substitute for my amputated leg from a plastic pipe despite the pain and repeated falls. All I hope for is to leave for treatment and get a prosthetic limb that will help me walk and return to playing football with my friends.”
R.Q. is among 1,134 children who have undergone amputation as of October 9, 2026. As the Israelis continue to prevent the rehabilitation of Gaza’s healthcare infrastructure and prohibit the entry of prosthetics into the territory, amputee children have been forced to endure untold suffering.
According to a May 2026 WHO report, fewer than one in four amputees, including both children and adults, received permanent prosthetics in the Gaza Strip.
‘All of them are amputees’
The Euro-Med Monitor report cited another heartbreaking testimony from the mother of a double-amputee child, who wished she had died rather than endure her current predicament.
“On the night of 17 May 2025, we woke to the news that my sister-in-law, Nisreen Mahmoud Madi, 38, and her children had been injured when shell fragments struck their displacement tent in Al-Mawasi, Khan Yunis,” Aya Fawaz Madi, 28, said.
“The attack resulted in the amputation of Nisreen’s left foot and several fingers on her right hand. Doctors also amputated the foot of her 17-year-old daughter, Rahaf. Her daughter Sila, 8, was injured in both feet, and doctors amputated her right foot. Later, after attempts to save it failed, they had to amputate her left foot as well, leaving the child without either foot.”
“The mother and her children now struggle every day to survive. All of them are amputees, unable to move, and in need of treatment, rehabilitation, and prosthetic limbs,” Madi added.
“What makes Sila’s suffering worse is the deterioration of her mental health since she lost the ability to move. She now repeatedly says she wishes she had died rather than live paralysed and unable to move like her friends.”
‘He was an active child’
11-year-old Mousa used to help his family by going to the murderous Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s “aid” distribution centres in Rafah until he was struck in the spine by Israeli fire, which paralysed him, and an exploding bullet led to the amputation of his right hand.
“My son Mousa, 11, used to go to the American aid centre [Gaza Humanitarian Foundation] in Rafah to bring flour and food for his younger siblings, especially because his father is stranded abroad and he is my eldest child,” 36-year-old Fidaa Ahmad Al-Shaer said.
“On Thursday morning, 7 August 2025, he went to the centre as usual. While he was waiting for it to open, an Israeli artillery shell landed nearby and injured him. Shrapnel struck his back, fracturing the seventh thoracic vertebra (T7) and damaging his spinal cord. An exploding bullet also struck his right hand, which had to be amputated,” Al-Shaer added.
“Since then, Mousa’s life has changed. He was completely paralysed and became bedridden. Before that, he was an active child who helped me fetch water and meet the family’s needs. He now needs surgeries, medical rehabilitation, a prosthetic limb, and a referral for treatment abroad, but the closure of the crossings prevents him from travelling. All I hope for is that he can leave for treatment, regain his ability to move, and live.”
No relief in sight
Euro-Med Monitor reported that restrictions on medical evacuations were trapping hundreds of children with amputations in Gaza, while shortages of essential equipment and trained medical personnel were further compromising the care available within the besieged territory.
In September, reports emerged that the Israelis had barred the entry of more than 900 wheelchairs donated by two Australian charities to help injured children in Gaza. The wheelchairs were instead gathering dust in a Jordanian warehouse. The shipments had arrived in February and October 2025.
Another report last month revealed that parents of amputee children were enduring extreme hardship getting them to school amidst the rubble of Gaza. “Every day, we try to get there together before the first lesson begins, as if I were taking part in a daily marathon,” a mother told Ultra Palestine about the hardship she faced in getting her son to school. “I may even find myself forced to keep him at home, as most of the streets have been destroyed and are now covered in sand and riddled with potholes, making it difficult for him to get around in his wheelchair.”
The Israelis, nevertheless, continue to deny Gaza’s amputee children the chance to rebuild their lives, regain their independence, and enjoy even a semblance of the childhood that their genocidal assault has so violently stolen from them.
Amputee orphans
The report highlighted that the problem for many amputee children is compounded by the killing of their parents.
“Children who have undergone amputation and lost parental care face added challenges in accessing treatment, attending rehabilitation, getting around, and meeting their daily needs,” the Euro-Med Monitor report said. “Their care may fall to relatives who are also displaced and dealing with poverty and housing loss.”
Over the past three years of Western-enabled savagery, the Israelis have orphaned 71,846 children — a figure that defies belief and reflects the scale of horrors being faced by children in Gaza.
“Without stable family care and specialised support services, these children are at greater risk of dropping out of treatment and education and experiencing neglect, isolation, and exclusion,” the report added.
Another part of Israel’s genocide
Euro-Med Monitor asserted that inflicting these life-changing injuries and then preventing their treatment “falls within the genocide Israel is committing against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.”
The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry in a report on October 26 stated that the Israelis have deliberately targeted Palestinian children in a bid to harm all Palestinians.
“The Commission finds that the targeting of children by the Israeli soldiers and settlers in the West Bank is deliberate,” the UN report said. “Similar to cases of sexual violence, the Commission finds that Israeli authorities knew and intended the conduct against children to form part of the attack against the broader civilian population.”
The Euro-Med Monitor report also concluded that this wanton attack on children affects Palestinian society’s ability to recover.
“The effects of amputation and interrupted treatment reach beyond the injured children to their families, who must care for them while facing the loss of housing, income, and basic services,” the report said. “The harm also affects the Palestinian community as a whole: the scale of the injuries, lack of treatment, and destruction of the institutions and resources needed to care for the injured undermine the foundations of Palestinian society’s survival and its capacity to recover.” — Palestine will be free
