A UN agency said that tens of thousands of Palestinian children have been maimed by Israeli attacks in Gaza over the past 23 months. Over 18,000 Palestinian children have been killed.
The UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) reported on Wednesday that over 40,000 Palestinian children have been injured by the Israeli war that began following the Hamas October 7 attack. Of those injured children, over half, 21,000, have been left with a disability.
In August, the UN agency for children (UNICEF) reported over 18,000 Palestinian children had been killed by the Israeli onslaught. Official death and injury tolls for Gaza are expected to be an undercount. Many bodies of murdered Palestinians do not reach hospitals or morgues, and their deaths are not recorded.
A statement from the CRPD warned that a lack of aid and famine are increasing the risk of death for disabled Palestinians. “In Gaza, the limited supply and access to specialised and life-saving services, medical equipment and assistive devices led to the deaths of children and older people with disabilities.” It continued, “Reports highlighted deaths due to famine, acute malnutrition, and deprivation of access to water in Gaza.”
The UN committee went on to explain that Israeli evacuation orders for Palestinians fail to accommodate disabled Palestinians. “The Committee found that early warning systems and evacuation consistently failed to protect people with disabilities,” the statement explained.
“It received information that warnings and evacuation orders, including signs of explosive ordnance and text messages, were often inaccessible to people with hearing or visual impairments, leaving them unable to evacuate.” It added, “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. The Committee was informed that 83% had lost their assistive devices and could not afford alternatives, such as donkey carts.”
Israel recently issued evacuation orders for Gaza City, a densely populated region of the Strip. Israeli leaders have called on the IDF to treat all civilians who did not obey the order as combatants.
