Israel restricting treatment for 1,100 child amputees in Gaza: NGO

Israeli restrictions on travel and medical evacuations prevent children in Gaza from being treated abroad.

Israel is restricting child amputees in Gaza from seeking treatment abroad, a human rights organisation has claimed.

The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said that Israeli restrictions on travel also include medical evacuations, preventing hundreds of children from seeking specialised treatment abroad.

The monitor reported on Wednesday that 1,134 children in Gaza had undergone limb amputations due to Israeli attacks, but few are receiving the long-term medical care they need.

The World Health Organization said 2,300 amputees – both children and adults – were assessed for treatment between September 2024 and May 2026.

But only 500 – or less than a quarter – received permanent prosthetics.

“Only eight certified prosthetics and orthotics professionals are currently available in Gaza,” the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said.

There isn’t enough equipment to manufacture, fit, maintain and adjust prosthetic limbs in the strip, the Geneva-based organisation reported.

“Continued denial of treatment, rehabilitation, and appropriate education risks turning the harm these children face now into lifelong deprivation,” the organisation warned.

“Gaps in medical follow-up and failure to adjust prosthetic limbs as the children grow may cause further complications, chronic pain, and increased difficulty moving.”

Fidaa Ahmad Al-Shaer, 36, told the human rights organisation that her 11-year-old son was paralysed and lost a hand after an Israeli artillery shell landed near him. He needs multiple surgeries abroad and a prosthetic limb but can’t get through the closed crossings.

The organisation accused Israel of war crimes, saying “deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction, in whole or in part, are acts listed in Article 2 of the Genocide Convention”.

“The amputation of children’s limbs and the obstruction of their treatment and rehabilitation form part of this pattern,” the group added.

The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said Israeli restrictions prevented Palestinians from importing the equipment needed to manufacture prosthetic limbs in Gaza. The organisation added that specialised teams require entry permits to the strip to work and train local teams.