Palestinians with ‘life-changing injuries’ will need rehabilitation for years to come, WHO warns

As fighting continues inside Gaza, a new report estimates at least one quarter of those wounded will be left with permanent disability

Large swathes of people in the Gaza Strip with “life-changing injuries” will require ongoing rehabilitation services for years to come, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned.
As fighting continues inside the besieged enclave, a new report has estimated that at least one quarter of those injured – some 22,500 people – will require ongoing trauma rehabilitation and suffer with permanent disability.
The projection, estimated using injury data from emergency medical teams in Gaza, found that those with severe limb injuries, up to 17,500, are the main driver of rehabilitation needs, with spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury and major burn injuries also significant contributors.
“The huge surge in rehabilitation needs occurs in parallel with the ongoing decimation of the health system,” said Dr Richard Peeperkorn, WHO Representative in the occupied Palestinian territory.
“Patients can’t get the care they need. Acute rehabilitation services are severely disrupted and specialised care for complex injuries is not available, placing patients’ lives at risk.”
The report found that at least 4,050 limb amputations have occurred. In January, UNICEF estimated that around 1,000 children in Gaza had lost one or both their legs – equivalent to 10 children losing legs every day.
Only 17 of 36 hospitals remain partially functional in Gaza, while primary health care services are frequently suspended or rendered inaccessible.
Gaza’s only limb reconstruction and rehabilitation centre – located in Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, central Gaza and supported by WHO – became non-functional in December 2023.
The current crisis in Gaza is unique because the medical system has all but collapsed, with most hospitals damaged or completely destroyed by the unrelenting Israeli attacks and evacuation orders forcing the displacement of health workers.
The report added that many of those injured are suffering with more than one injury.
Federico Dessi, the Regional Director for the Middle East for Humanity & Inclusion (HI), also known as Handicap International, told The Telegraph that many surgeons don’t have time to treat multiple fracture wounds.
“Some fractures are left untreated, which then means that they can’t heal if the bone is not connected, it cannot fix itself,” he said.
On a recent visit to Gaza, Mr Dessi met a man who, injured around three months before, was left in debilitating pain and permanently disabled when doctors only had time to treat one of his two leg fractures.
“Three months later, he was still sitting, laying on his bed in a little shack … once a month he would go back to the hospital and ask if they had time to put him on the list,” he said. “I was in Rafah and the hospital then closed down.”
The WHO report states that in-patient rehabilitation and prosthetic services are no longer available in Gaza. It added that the demand for assistive products, such as wheelchairs and crutches, far exceeded the available equipment.
Mr Dessi said that even those people suffering with injuries or disabilities able to access such equipment are still severely limited.
“They spend 99 per cent of their time stuck in the room or the tent where they live. Even if they can move around, with crutches or a wheelchair, they move around maybe 50 metres here and there,” he said.
“Most of the streets are damaged, most of the camps are on the sandy beach, so you cannot really move with a wheelchair, you can’t really go anywhere…they’re stuck.”
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