An official in the Gaza Ministry of Health announced on Friday that 4,500 amputations of the upper and lower limbs had been recorded since the start of the genocide committed by Israel for the 16th consecutive month. Director of the Health Information Department Zaher Al-Wahid confirmed: “We have recorded 4,500 amputations as of the end of 2024 as a result of the ongoing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip.”
As per a Middle East Monitor report, Al-Wahid explained that around 800 Palestinian children’s cases have been documented, representing 18 percent of the total number of recorded amputations. The Palestinian health official stated that 540 women were also among these cases, representing 12 percent of the total number.
Al-Wahidi added: “These numbers reflect the extent of the humanitarian catastrophe that Palestinian civilians are suffering, especially the most vulnerable groups, which are children and women.”
Doctors and government officials expect the number of amputations, especially among children, to be several times the announced number, as it is difficult to present accurate statistics considering the ongoing genocide and the subsequent destruction of civilian facilities.
Al-Wahidi stated that the numbers are likely to rise as the genocide continues, putting further pressure on the healthcare system, which is already suffering a shortage of medical supplies due to the ongoing siege imposed on the Strip for over 18 years.
Since the start of the genocidal war on 7 October, 2023, the Israeli army has targeted the healthcare sector in Gaza, bombed and besieged hospitals, threatened to evacuate them and prevented the entry of medical supplies, especially in the northern areas of the Strip, which it invaded again on 5 October.
Al-Wahidi stressed that the health sector is in dire need of medical and humanitarian support to face the escalating crisis, calling on the international community to take urgent action to stop Israeli violations and ensure the protection of civilians.
With the increase in amputations among children, Director of the Financing and Partnerships Division of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Lisa Doughten said in October 2024: “Gaza is home to the largest cohort of child amputees in modern history.”
At the time, Doughten quoted the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) reporting that 10 children in Gaza lose one or both legs every day as a result of the genocide.
UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini described the tragic situation experienced by the children of Gaza as a “pandemic of disabilities” sweeping the Strip amid a shortage of prosthetic limbs and psychological and physical rehabilitation centres that restore hope to amputees.
A number of prosthetic limbs are provided as part of relief aid provided by countries and medical delegations to the Gaza Strip, the report added.
