UNRWA: Israel’s War Leaves over 80% of Gaza’s Disabled without Essential Devices
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) says more than 83% of Palestinians with disabilities in Gaza are deprived of basic assistive devices as Israel’s ongoing assault deepens the humanitarian catastrophe.
UNRWA reported on Friday that Palestinians with disabilities lack critical items such as wheelchairs, hearing aids and batteries, with supplies almost entirely exhausted under Israel’s blockade and bombardment.
According to the Global Protection Cluster, people with disabilities in Gaza face “immense challenges” and rely heavily on others for survival.
Without assistive devices, accessing healthcare, food and shelter becomes nearly impossible.
“They lack everything – food, assistive devices, healthcare,” the agency said.
UNRWA estimates that one in four Gazans has acquired a new disability due to Israel’s genocidal campaign, requiring treatment and rehabilitation.
Ammar Dwaik, head of the Palestinian Independent Commission for Human Rights, said an average of 15 children become disabled every day.
At least 35,000 people have suffered “significant hearing damage” from repeated Israeli bombings, and rights groups warn Gaza now has the highest number of child amputees in modern history.
“In a normal situation, people with disabilities suffer the most. And in wartime, of course, the situation is heightened further,” said Muhannad Salah Al-Azzeh, a member of the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, during a dialogue in Geneva.
He noted that those without family support cannot even reach aid supplies.
Hector Sharp, a UNRWA representative in Geneva, said that even healthy people risk their lives seeking aid, while for the disabled, the situation is almost impossible.
“Reaching [distribution points] and needing to physically compete for this aid is difficult for all Palestinians, but all the more so for people with disabilities to whom aid is being effectively placed out of reach,” he said.
Meanwhile, the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Fund operates only a few distribution centers, bypassing UN and NGO networks.
This forces Palestinians, including the disabled, to walk long distances and compete for meager rations — a system critics say is designed to deepen suffering under Israel’s siege.
