Israel has disabled at least 21,000 children in Gaza, UN committee reports
Gaza - At least 21,000 children in Gaza have been disabled since Israel launched its all-out assault on the Palestinian territory, a United Nations committee said Wednesday.
Around 40,500 children in Gaza have suffered "new war-related injuries" in nearly two years, with more than half of them left disabled, said the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
Reviewing the situation in the Palestinian territories, it said Israeli evacuation orders during the army's siege of 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 Israeli 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.
Israel maintains brutal aid blockade in Gaza
While the private US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has four distribution points across the 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% 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," 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% 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."
The committee 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.
The report came just days after the International Association of Genocide Scholars passed a resolution adding to growing consensus that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, while the UN has officially declared a famine in the territory.
Cover photo: Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP