More than 22,500 people – a quarter of those wounded in Gaza since Israel’s offensive began – have life-changing injuries, requiring rehabilitation services “now and for years to come”, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) reported on Thursday.
These include severe limb injuries, amputations, spinal cord trauma, traumatic brain injuries and major burns.
Dr. Richard Peeperkorn, WHO Representative in the occupied Palestinian territory, highlighted that the surge in rehabilitation needs is occurring alongside the wholesale collapse of Gaza’s healthcare infrastructure.
“Patients can’t get the care they need. Acute rehabilitation services are severely disrupted and specialized care for complex injuries is not available, placing patients’ lives at risk. Immediate and long-term support is urgently needed to address the enormous rehabilitation needs.”
Services such as wound care, physical therapy, and psychological support are either inaccessible or entirely unavailable, leaving thousands at risk of further complications, disabilities or even death.
According to the UN health agency, only 17 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals remain partially functional, primary healthcare and community-level services are frequently suspended, due to insecurity, attacks and repeated evacuation orders.
Gaza’s only limb reconstruction and rehabilitation center, located in the Nasser Medical Complex and supported by WHO, has been non-functional since December 2023 due to lack of supplies and staff, and was further damaged in a February 2024 raid.
As the US-backed Israeli genocidal war on the Gaza Strip entered day 343 on Friday, aerial and artillery strikes continued to pound and target different areas and massacre more civilians.
The Ministry of Health in Gaza said on Thursday that the Israeli occupation army committed three massacres in different areas of the Gaza Strip during the past 24 hours, killing 34 citizens and injuring 96 others.
It added in a statement that an unidentified number of victims are still under the rubble of bombed buildings or lying on roads.
The ministry said that the death toll from the ongoing Israeli bombardment and shooting attacks, which started on October 7 last year, climbed to 41,118 and the number of the wounded surged to 95,125.
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