1,134 Gaza Children Lost Limbs and Cannot Get Treatment Abroad

Photo: Palestinian Information Center

More than 1,100 children in Gaza have lost a limb in Israeli attacks, and most of them still cannot get the treatment they need. A rights group says travel curbs and closed crossings are keeping them from care abroad, while Gaza itself has almost no prosthetics service left to help them at home.

The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor report, covered by Al Jazeera on Wednesday, puts the number at 1,134 children who have undergone limb amputations because of Israeli attacks. The Geneva-based group says Israeli limits on travel, including medical evacuations, are stopping hundreds of those children from reaching specialist treatment outside Gaza.

One mother told the group what that means in real life. Fidaa Ahmad Al-Shaer, 36, said her 11-year-old son was left paralysed and lost a hand when an Israeli artillery shell landed near him. He needs several operations abroad and a prosthetic limb, but he cannot get through the closed crossings.

The gap between need and care is stark, and the figures tell it plainly:

• 1,134 children in Gaza have had limbs amputated, according to Euro-Med.
• About 2,300 amputees of all ages were assessed for treatment between September 2024 and May 2026, yet only around 500 received a permanent prosthetic limb.
• Only eight certified prosthetics and orthotics professionals are working in Gaza.
• No equipment to set up or fit out rehabilitation centres entered Gaza between May 2024 and mid-April 2026, while 18 shipments of rehabilitation supplies were waiting for approval.

For a growing child, a prosthetic limb is not a one-off fix. It has to be checked, adjusted and replaced as the child grows, and that needs follow-up care, physiotherapy and working clinics. Euro-Med warns that without that care, children face lasting pain, trouble moving, and a much harder road back to school and normal life.

The group also points to a wider toll on these children. It cites figures showing 71,846 children in Gaza had lost one or both parents as of October 2026. That figure covers all children who lost a parent, not only amputees, but it shows how many injured children are now without the adult help they need to get to appointments and keep up treatment.

Euro-Med accuses Israel of war crimes over the pattern it describes, and it has called for medical evacuations to be opened, for rehabilitation equipment to be allowed in, and for specialist teams to be given entry permits to work and train local staff. The Palestinian Information Center report on the same findings adds that UNICEF reported more than 340 children killed since the ceasefire was announced, with hundreds more wounded.

This is not the first time Gaza's injured children have been left waiting. PakInsight Hub earlier reported on Israeli strikes killing four in Gaza as the ceasefire failed to hold, and on Gaza doctor Adam Hamawy winning a Congress seat in New Jersey, while Palestinians faced intimidation after a record election win.

Sources

• Al Jazeera: Israel restricting treatment for 1,100 child amputees in Gaza
• Palestinian Information Center: Euro-Med warning on Gaza child amputees

What happens next: the test now is whether medical evacuations reopen and rehabilitation supplies are allowed in, so the waiting children can finally get treatment.

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