The UN Committee calls for urgent humanitarian aid as tens of thousands of Gaza children are left disabled by war. Image: Ali Jadallah/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images.
(The Post News) – On September 3, the United Nations committee revealed that approximately 40,500 children in Gaza have suffered war-related injuries, with 21,000 of them left disabled.
In the nearly two years since the war between Israel and Hamas began, the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities warned that strikes sent by Israel during the conflict have created a severe child health crisis. While Israel often issued evacuation orders before bombardments, the UN said these measures were ineffective for people with hearing loss or visual impairments, leaving many unable to escape danger.
According to the report, disabled people fleeing had to navigate war debris and collapsed infrastructure, with some forced to crawl without the aid of assistive devices such as splints, wheelchairs, canes, or prosthetics. The committee also noted that Israel’s restrictions on humanitarian aid disproportionately affected the 157,114 injured and disabled people in Gaza. The loss of assistive devices affects 83% of disabled people, restricting their mobility and access to essential care.
UN Committee Calls for Humanitarian Aid
For this reason, the committee is urging the delivery of “massive humanitarian aid to persons with disabilities,” including assistive devices that Israeli authorities previously classified as “dual-use items” and blocked from aid shipments. It stressed that all parties must implement protection measures for disabled individuals to prevent “further violence, harm, deaths, and denial of rights.”
The UN committee called on Israel to adopt and implement steps to safeguard children with disabilities during attacks and to ensure evacuation procedures accommodate their needs.
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