At least 22,000 people in Gaza suffering from ‘life-changing’ injuries: WHO
About a quarter of the people wounded in Gaza during Israel’s war – more than 22,000 people – have injuries that are “life-changing”, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Many of the injuries require amputations or years-long “rehabilitation services”, the UN health agency said in a statement. Referring to an analysis of the types of injuries, the WHO said “many thousands of women and children” are among those badly wounded.
It estimated there had overall been between 13,455 and 17,550 “severe limb injuries”, which it said were the main driver of the need for rehabilitation. Other life-altering injuries including spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury and major burn injuries, it said.
Six-year-old Palestinian girl Siwar Mahdi Ali and her father Mahdi Ali, at the European Hospital in Khan Younis, on February 26
No rehabilitation services for limb injuries in Gaza, says WHO
Thousands of Palestinians in Gaza have life-altering limb injuries, but the enclave’s only limb reconstruction and rehabilitation centre, located in Nasser Hospital, is non-functional, according to the WHO.
At the same time, people with limb injuries can no longer access “in-patient rehabilitation and prosthetic services”, and many struggle to get assistive products, such as wheelchairs and crutches, due to shortages, the WHO said in a statement.
“Amidst the ongoing hostilities, it is critical to ensure access to all essential health services, including rehabilitation to prevent illness and death,” it said. “WHO reiterates its call for a ceasefire, which is critical for rebuilding the health system to cope with escalating needs.”
Palestinian girl Noor Marouf, whose limb was amputated after being wounded in an Israeli strike, sits in a wheelchair at the European Hospital in Rafah
No space ‘for bodies to be buried’
Within the past couple of hours, the surge seems to be taking place in the eastern part of Khan Younis.
In addition to the four who were already killed in the European residential complex, very near the European Gaza Hospital, there are eight more from different locations in the eastern and central part of Khan Younis city.
Here at the hospital, the past few hours have been quite difficult seeing … collapsed parents crying over the bodies of their children and family members.
They have been taken one by one here from the courtyard of the hospital after performing final prayers before taking them to their final resting place, which is a challenge because right now graveyards in the central area are running out of space.
There are no more spaces for bodies to be buried and what people have been resorting to is opening an already closed grave and burying people on top of each other because there is simply no space left.
Palestinian killed while riding bicycle in southern Gaza: Report
An Israeli strike has killed a person riding their bicycle in Gaza’s Qizan Abu Rashwan area, near Khan Younis, reports Wafa.
The attack follows an earlier Israeli air raid on a residential home in eastern Khan Younis that killed four people, including two brothers, according to the agency.
Makeshift classroom set up on Gaza home rubble
Palestinian teacher Israa Abu Mustafa teaches inside a makeshift classroom in a tent she set up on the rubble of her house, in the Khan Younis camp, southern Gaza Strip.
More than 650,000 students in Gaza are being deprived of their right to education for the second academic year in a row due to Israel’s war on the besieged and bombarded territory.
At least 84 percent of schools in Gaza “require full reconstruction or significant rehabilitation before schooling can resume”, according to UNICEF.
Palestinian children walk past destroyed buildings as they head to class in the Khan Younis camp
