The United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) says that more than half of children injured since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip are living with a disability left by the war.
Specifically, at least 21,000 children were injured and have been living with some kind of disability ever since, while an estimated 40,500 children are suffering from “war-related injuries.”
Israel, according to the Committee, should take special measures to protect children with disabilities from attacks and implement evacuation protocols that take into account persons with disabilities.
As the CDPH estimates, Israeli evacuation orders in Gaza “often do not reach” people who have hearing or vision disabilities, which “makes evacuation impossible.”
Experts also speak of "disabled people forced to flee in dangerous and undignified conditions, such as crawling through sand or mud without mobility aids."
The Commission reports that at least 83% of people with disabilities have lost their assistive devices and that most are unable to find alternatives such as animal-drawn carts.
Physical barriers, such as collapsed buildings or infrastructure, and loss of mobility aids, also prevent these individuals from reaching new aid distribution points.
Experts express concern that aids such as wheelchairs, walking aids, canes, splints and other prosthetic limbs, which Israeli authorities consider to be “dual-use items,” are not included in aid shipments.
The commission also said that restrictions on humanitarian aid entering the Gaza Strip had a disproportionate impact on people with disabilities, many of whom "are left without food, drinking water or sanitation and dependent on others for their survival."
According to the Commission, at least 157,114 people were injured, of whom at least 25% are at risk of suffering from some type of disability for the rest of their lives, from October 7, 2023 to August 21 of this year.
