Gaza’s kids and aged are bearing the brunt of the devastation inflicted by Israel’s warfare on the enclave, because the United Nations warns of a pointy rise in amputations, long-term disabilities and extreme starvation.
Greater than 40,000 kids have been injured because the battle started, and almost 90 p.c of Gaza’s inhabitants has been displaced, typically a number of occasions.
Amid worsening situations, support employees are additionally reporting a pointy rise in malnutrition amongst kids, and rising hardship for aged folks, who’re even much less in a position to entry meals, care and important medical help than the overall inhabitants.
One in 10 Gaza kids examined in UNRWA clinics malnourished
On Tuesday, UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini mentioned: “One in 10 kids screened in UNRWA medical amenities is malnourished.” He warned that little one malnutrition is rising quickly in Gaza amid extreme shortages of meals and medical provides.
“Salam, a seven-month-old child, died of malnutrition final week,” he added, addressing the rising urgency of the disaster.
He added that greater than 870 Palestinians have been killed whereas making an attempt to entry meals from support distribution factors arrange by the extremely criticised GHF, a non-public contractor backed by Israel and america.
(Al Jazeera)
Earlier than the warfare started on October 7, 2023, about 500 vehicles of humanitarian support entered Gaza each single day.
That quantity collapsed following Israel’s assault on the besieged enclave, dropping to fewer than 80 vehicles per day.
In March, Israel imposed a virtually three-month blockade, halting support deliveries altogether.
On Might 27, the GHF assumed management of support operations, changing 400 native distribution factors with simply 4 “mega-sites”.
These places have change into scenes of lethal violence, as Israeli forces have reportedly opened hearth on Palestinians gathering for meals, lots of whom should stroll a number of kilometres to succeed in the websites.
The greater than 870 individuals who have been killed making an attempt to gather support from GHF factors embody at the very least 94 kids and 11 aged folks. Regardless of mounting criticism, GHF stays the only real supplier of meals within the Gaza Strip.
Since January 2024, UNRWA has screened greater than 240,000 girls and boys beneath the age of 5 in its clinics, including that earlier than the warfare, acute malnutrition was uncommon in Gaza.
Zainab Abu Haleeb, a five-month-old Palestinian lady recognized with malnutrition, in accordance with medics, lies on a mattress as she receives remedy at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, within the southern Gaza Strip, July 15, 2025 (Hussam Al-Masri/Reuters)
“As malnutrition amongst kids spreads throughout the war-torn enclave, UNRWA has over 6,000 vehicles of meals, hygiene provides, medication, medical provides outdoors of Gaza. They’re all ready to go in,” UNRWA’s communications director, Juliette Touma, mentioned in a press assertion on Monday.
Greater than 139,000 folks injured, together with at the very least 40,500 kids
As of July 1, 2025, greater than 139,000 Palestinians have been injured in Gaza because the warfare started, and greater than 40,500 of them are kids, in accordance with the World Safety Clusters July report.
Not less than 58,479 folks have been confirmed killed because the begin of the warfare in October 2023, with an estimated 11,000 extra buried beneath rubble, their our bodies unrecovered attributable to restrictions on rescue groups or as a result of it’s merely not possible to succeed in them.
Roughly one in 4 of the injured are anticipated to require long-term rehabilitation care.
Kids are particularly susceptible: 10 kids lose one or each limbs every day, and 15 kids per day are left with doubtlessly life-altering disabilities.
(Al Jazeera)
By the top of 2024, greater than 5,200 kids have been identified to require vital rehabilitation, and at the very least 7,000 have been dwelling with everlasting disabilities. The true quantity is believed to be far increased as a result of collapse of Gaza’s well being system.
Kids with disabilities are amongst these most in danger in Gaza’s little one safety caseload.
Of the 5,160 instances registered, 849 (16.5 p.c) contain kids with bodily, sensory, mental or psychosocial disabilities.
Almost half of those instances (49 p.c) are kids aged seven to 12, with a slight majority being boys (53 p.c). These kids face elevated dangers of violence, neglect, exclusion from important providers and deep social isolation within the present disaster.
Situations like lack of listening to and imaginative and prescient are additionally on the rise. Based mostly on screenings performed between 2023 and this 12 months by the Atfaluna Society for Deaf Kids, UNRWA mentioned about 35,000 persons are liable to non permanent or everlasting listening to loss attributable to fixed bombardment and explosions.
The warfare has additionally severely affected older adults in Gaza. Of 111,500 folks aged 60 and above, 97 p.c report well being issues, 96 p.c have continual diseases and 86 p.c stay with disabilities – situations made worse by medication shortages, deteriorating hygiene and the destruction of well being amenities.
Not less than 3,839 older folks have been killed because the warfare started.
90 p.c of the inhabitants of Gaza displaced
Throughout Gaza, 90 p.c of the full inhabitants has been forcibly displaced – lots of them a number of occasions; some 10 occasions or extra. Since mid-March 2025, greater than 665,000 folks have been uprooted, typically discovering themselves with little or no entry to meals, water, shelter, healthcare or any fundamental life requirements.
(Al Jazeera)
In keeping with the United Nations Workplace for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), greater than 86 p.c of Gaza’s territory is both inside an Israeli-imposed no-go zone or beneath energetic pressured evacuation orders.
(Al Jazeera)
Older folks and people with disabilities face excessive hardship on account of displacement. Many can’t flee in any respect attributable to mobility challenges, sickness or the lack of assistive units – with greater than 83 p.c reporting that their wheelchairs, walkers, listening to aids or prosthetics have been misplaced or destroyed.
(Al Jazeera)
The terrain has change into extremely harmful and inaccessible: Israeli forces have constructed sand mounds at checkpoints, making motion almost not possible for households with somebody who has a mobility impairment. On the similar time, excessive ranges of unexploded ordnance contaminate lots of Gaza’s roads and disproportionately endanger these with bodily, sensory or cognitive disabilities.
These situations enhance the danger of separation from caregivers, particularly for kids with disabilities and the aged, who could wrestle to speak, perceive evacuation orders or transfer independently. As soon as separated from household or different caregivers, these folks face a considerably increased threat of damage, dying, abuse and exclusion from important providers, compounding the hazards of warfare with profound long-term hurt.
