Nuseirat

Confined to a wheelchair in her parents’ home, Haneen al-Mabhouh speaks quietly about the life she hopes to reclaim — the chance to walk again, to rebuild her family, to hold another child. For now, she says, everything is suspended. Without a leg and without access to further treatment, her future feels frozen.

Her life was shattered by an Israeli airstrike in July 2024 that struck her family home in central Gaza while they slept. All four of her daughters were killed, including her infant who was just five months old. Her husband suffered severe burns. Trapped under the rubble, al-Mabhouh’s legs were crushed, forcing doctors to amputate her right leg above the knee.

“For more than a year now, I have not lived like other people,” she said. “For more than a year, I have lived without my children.”

Despite a ceasefire that has now been in place for two months, thousands of Palestinians who lost limbs during nearly two years of bombardment say little has changed for them. According to the World Health Organisation, between 5,000 and 6,000 people in Gaza have undergone amputations since the war began — roughly a quarter of them children.

Survivors are struggling to adapt to permanent disability amid severe shortages of prosthetic limbs and prolonged delays in medical evacuations out of the territory.

The WHO confirmed that a shipment of essential prosthetic materials recently entered Gaza, the first significant delivery of its kind in nearly two years. Until then, very few ready-made prosthetic limbs or the materials needed to manufacture them had been allowed in since the war began, according to Loay Abu Saif, who heads the disability programme at Medical Aid for Palestinians, and Nevin Al Ghussein, acting director of Gaza City’s Artificial Limbs and Polio Centre.

Israel’s military aid coordination body, COGAT, did not respond to questions about how many prosthetic supplies have entered Gaza or the policy governing such shipments.

Al-Mabhouh recalls that she was sleeping with her baby in her arms when the bomb struck their home in Nuseirat. For weeks after the blast, as she underwent surgeries in hospital, she was unaware that all her daughters had been killed.

Her injuries remain extensive. One hand has limited movement. Her remaining leg is badly damaged and stabilised with metal rods. Doctors say she needs a bone graft and advanced treatment unavailable inside Gaza.

She was placed on a medical evacuation list 10 months ago, but permission to leave has yet to come.

While waiting, she depends entirely on her parents for daily care. She cannot dress herself unaided and struggles even to hold a pen. Grief for her children is constant.

“I never heard my baby say ‘mama’, never saw her first tooth or her first steps,” she said.

She longs to have another child one day, but says that remains impossible until she receives treatment.

“I have the right to live, to rebuild my life, to walk again,” she said. “But now my future is paralysed. Everything I dreamed of was destroyed.”

The ceasefire has brought only a modest increase in medical evacuations for the more than 16,500 Palestinians whom the United Nations says urgently need treatment abroad for war-related injuries or chronic illnesses.

Since the ceasefire began in October, 235 patients have been evacuated — fewer than five a day. Before that, the average was closer to three daily.

Israel said last week it was prepared to allow patients and other Palestinians to leave Gaza through the Rafah crossing into Egypt. However, the move remains uncertain, as Egypt has insisted that Rafah must also be opened for Palestinians to enter Gaza, in line with the ceasefire agreement.

Dr Richard Peeperkorn, the WHO’s representative in the occupied Palestinian territory, said one major obstacle is the shortage of countries willing to receive evacuated patients. He added that additional evacuation routes are urgently needed, particularly to hospitals in east Jerusalem and the Israeli-occupied West Bank, which are equipped to treat complex cases.

For those waiting, daily life has ground to a near halt.

Yassin Marouf, 23, lies inside a tent in central Gaza. His left foot has been amputated. His right leg is barely intact, held together with rods.

He and his brother were hit by Israeli shelling in May while returning from a visit to their family home in northern Gaza, from which they had been displaced. His brother was killed instantly. Marouf lay wounded for hours as a stray dog attacked his shattered leg.

Doctors say his remaining leg may also need to be amputated unless he can travel abroad for specialised surgery. He cannot afford painkillers and struggles to reach hospitals regularly for wound care.

“If I need to go to the bathroom, two or three people have to carry me,” he said.

Mohamed al-Naggar, 21, had been studying information technology at the University of Palestine before the war. Seven months ago, shrapnel tore through his left leg during an airstrike on the house where his family had taken shelter. Surgeons amputated his leg above the knee, while his right leg and other parts of his body remain riddled with shrapnel.

Despite multiple surgeries and physical therapy, he remains largely immobile.

“I want to travel, get a prosthetic, finish my education and live like young people everywhere else,” he said.

The WHO estimates that around 42,000 Palestinians have sustained life-altering injuries during the war, including amputations, spinal cord damage, traumatic brain injuries and severe burns.

While access to assistive care has improved slightly, the overall shortfall remains severe. Gaza lacks basic equipment such as wheelchairs, walkers and crutches, and has only eight trained prosthetists capable of producing and fitting artificial limbs, the WHO said.

The Artificial Limbs and Polio Centre in Gaza City — one of only two prosthetics facilities still operating — received its last substantial supply shipment just before the war erupted in 2023, Al Ghussein said. A smaller delivery arrived in December 2024, but supplies are again close to exhaustion.

The centre has managed to provide prosthetic limbs to around 250 patients since the war began.

No ready-made prosthetic limbs have entered Gaza, according to Abu Saif of MAP. While Israel does not explicitly ban them, he said bureaucratic procedures lead to prolonged delays that ultimately stall delivery.

For Ibrahim Khalif, a prosthetic leg would mean the chance to work again. He lost his right leg in January when an airstrike hit Gaza City as he went out to find food.

He hopes to return to manual labour or cleaning jobs to support his pregnant wife and children.

ALSO READ: Rukhsana's story inspires Mewati women to fly with education

“I used to provide for my family,” Khalif said. “Now I just sit here, thinking about who I was — and who I’ve become.”