Disability in Palestine

Jordanian field hospital in southern Gaza provides prosthetics to 333 amputees. (Feb, The Jordan Times)

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Communication, inclusion and psychological wellbeing among deaf and hard of hearing children: A qualitative study in the Gaza Strip:

“Key themes identified in the analysis included lack of accessible communication, community exclusion, negative attitudes towards hearing impairment and deafness and the impact on deaf and hard of hearing children's sense of self”. (2023, PLOS Global Public Health)

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Overview

In war zones, disabled people must fend for themselves “Despite facing neglect and discrimination, disabled Palestinians and others in Sudan, Lebanon, and the Congo are advocating for themselves and their communities to demand solutions and systemic change.” (2023, Reckon)

War is devastating – but for the disabled and their families, it is a unique horror “My family’s experience in the Iran-Iraq conflict gave me an insight into what many disabled Palestinians experience today:”

“I remember clearly when the sirens sounded my mother would gather us all in one room, away from the windows. Electricity would be cut and then we would huddle together and wait for the planes or rockets to be shot or driven away. My siblings and I did not fully understand the gravity of the situation – another beautiful aspect of being a child – we enjoyed the adventure and excitement without the fear that adults carried.” (2023, National News)

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Israel-Palestine Conflict

‘Forgotten by the world’: Disability deepens sisters’ struggle in Gaza: “Scared and confused, Aseel and Afaf live in a crowded displacement tent, lacking all forms of support, even food.” (Jun, Aljazeera)

Al-Jaleel Rehabilitation Centre to be demolished by Israeli authorities. “This appalling decision will deprive persons with disabilities and injuries from essential health services.” (Jun, Humanity & Inclusion)

Israeli forces bomb prosthetic limbs hospital in north Gaza “The hospital was one of very few in the Strip which provided rehabilitation services for hearing, balance and prosthetics.” (May, The New Arab)

Israeli soldiers assault intellectually disabled man in West Bank raid. (Mar, Aljazeera)

Israeli Defense Forces close center for disabled children in Palestine. As part of enforced evacuation of an UNRWA-run camp. “The Centre was offering life-changing therapies on a weekly basis to around 65 children and their families.” (Mar, Zenit)

Palestinian Disability Coalition Launches Media Campaign Highlighting War Crimes Against Persons with Disabilities. (Feb, Palestine News Network)

Israeli Authorities Block Health Care Workers from Entering Gaza.

“Israeli authorities denied an orthopedic surgeon entry into Gaza last week, preventing her from providing crucial treatment to children with disabilities.” (Feb, Human Rights Watch)

The forgotten victims: Gaza's disabled Palestinians in the face of Israel's brutal war. (Jan, Wafa News Agency)

Gaza’s Seniors Desperately Need Medical Care Including Evacuations (Jan, FPIF)

Explosive weapons left 15 children a day with potentially lifelong disabilities in 2024. (Jan, Save the Children)

Gaza’s Genocide and the Fragility of Israel’s Disability Rights Claims:

“The horrific violence against Palestinians is casting a harsh light on the deep contradictions between Israel’s supposed advocacy for disability rights and the devastating reality on the ground, where the production of impairment is wielded as a weapon of the settler colonial regime.” (Jan, Irish Centre for Human Rights)

Gazans With Disabilities Face ‘Impossible Times’ of Chaos and War A family fled carrying a 9-year-old girl for hours on their backs. Sisters with visual impairments pleaded for help as Israeli airstrikes fell. “It’s a nightmare,” one wheelchair user said. (2024, New York Times)

Gazans injured in war live with disabilities but little medical support. “Tens of thousands require long-term rehabilitation, WHO officials said.” (2024, ABC News)

The Intersection of Disability and Genocide profile of Khaled Sulaiman, a 26-year-old disabled man. (2024, Disability Visibility Project)

What is life like for Palestinians with disabilities during Israel’s genocide? (2024, MEMO)

“They Destroyed What Was Inside Us” A report on Children with Disabilities Amid Israel’s Attacks on Gaza. In the words of Ghazal, a 14-year-old girl with cerebral palsy in Gaza:

“From the day the war broke out, they destroyed what was inside us. They demolished my house and my room, which held all my memories. They took everything that helped me to live, like my devices, my boot, and my wheelchair. How can I go back to how I was without all this?” (2024, Human Rights Watch)

Gaza's Deaf Community in the Face of Genocide “An anthropologist who works with deaf communities in the Arabic-speaking Middle East argues that ending Israel’s war on Gaza and occupation of Palestine is a matter of disability justice.” (2024, Sapiens)

For Gazans with disabilities, Israel’s genocide shows no mercy:

“Feeling but not hearing the bombs, displaced without their specialized equipment, mauled by army dogs: this is how Palestinians with physical and cognitive impairments are surviving and dying amid Israel’s onslaught.” (2024, +972)

Voice Notes from Palestine. Featuring testimonies of Gaza students living with disabilities. (Short video, 2024, AOAV)

Gaza’s Lost Generation The physical toll of Israel's war on Gaza has been disastrous, especially for children, with the strip's future permanently altered. (2024, Tahrir Institute)

New Gaza camp offers relief for Palestinians with disabilities amid war “A newly opened camp for displaced Palestinians with disabilities is providing some much needed help for around 100 vulnerable people in the town of Deir Al-Balah in the central area of the war-ravaged Gaza Strip, Reuters reports.” (2024, MEMO)

How the War in Gaza Makes Life Nearly Impossible for Disabled People. An interview with a Humanity & Inclusion advocacy officer based in the West Bank:

“Some children think that their legs might grow again. This is one of the saddest things that we hear on a regular basis.” (2024, Mother Jones)

Bassem al-Hebl, a deaf 27-year-old aspiring journalist from Gaza on reporting in sign-language. (2024, Middle East Eye on X)

Gaza man with Down's syndrome attacked by IDF dog and left to die, mother says:

“The Israeli military has admitted that a Palestinian man with Down's syndrome who was attacked by an army dog in Gaza was left on his own by soldiers, after his family had been ordered to leave.” (2024, BBC)

Shellshocked, attacked, left to die – this is the reality for disabled people in Gaza. “We endured months of hell to get our son, who has cerebral palsy, out of danger. For most, there is no escaping the horror”. (2024, the Guardian)

Statement on the death of Muhammed Bhar in Gaza “we have received distressing updates about the conditions for children with Down syndrome, many of whom are reportedly severely malnourished.” (2024, Down Syndrome International)

“In Gaza, we have been left behind” a blog from Haitham Saqqa on his experience of the war, and working with Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP):

“I am a person with a disability, I believe in the rights of people with disabilities, and promote this belief through education and training. However, I now decline offers to speak to media or other organisations, not because I do not believe in my cause but because I feel words are empty.

“Between January and March, there were no wheelchairs in Gaza. No one knows how the stocked wheelchairs were distributed, and people were using any available wheelchairs to transport water. This lack of wheelchairs made many people with disabilities unable to move around, so it was hard for organisations like MAP to assess their humanitarian needs or make any available services accessible to them. Even if wheelchairs were available, the scale of Israeli military violence has caused so much destruction that the streets are almost impossible to navigate on a wheelchair.” (2024, Medical Aid for Palestinians)

My House Will Always Be Open - Stories from the Gaza Siege. The story of a disabled child and an older woman. “My mother put me in a wheelchair and pushed me for more than 10 kilometers amidst Israeli tanks and military vehicles,” (2024, Palestine Chronicle)

Israel targets disabled Palestinian children’s futures “Israeli forces have critically injured thousands of Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip, creating lifelong disabilities” (2024, Defense for Children International - Palestine)

Data and resources on the situation in Gaza for Persons with Disabilities a compilaton of data and challenges faced by persons with disabilities. (2024, Breaking the silence on Gaza)

HI mourns tragic death of staff member in Gaza (2024, Humanity and Inclusion)

What it means to be Deaf and Palestinian in Gaza (2024, Overland)

“Everything has changed for her” “Palestinian children with disabilities targeted in Israeli genocide campaign” (2024, DCI Palestine)

Palestinian NGO summary of “severe repercussions” of Israeli aggression in Gaza on the lives of people with disabilities:

“hundreds of people with disabilities have been martyred and thousands injured. Additionally, ten thousand citizens have sustained various disabilities due to the Israeli aggression, along with tens of thousands of displaced individuals with disabilities facing difficult displacement conditions and severe psychological trauma.” (2024, Palestinian NGOs Network)

Gaza Mother Searches for Her Disabled Family among Rubble “For months, I have been searching for my deaf-mute son and his family, his wife and their two daughters, but I had no luck.” (2024, Palestine Chronicle)

Abeer Harkali; A life shaped by the Israeli Army. the harrowing story of a wheelchair user who, before the war, had been a founding member of a wheelchair-users Dabke band. (2024, Accessless)

Gaza mourns deaf activist Hashem Ghazal killed by Israel “Tributes have poured in for Hashem Ghazal, an accomplished carpenter and leading disability activist in the Gaza Strip, who was killed in an Israeli strike.” (2024, The New Arab)

Worsening suffering of people with disabilities especially the deaf and mute. (Short video, in Arabic, 2024, Al Jazeera)

Palestinians with disabilities fear being killed first statement from the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2024, OHCHR)

Open letter to the international disability rights community on Gaza “As a human rights movement, the disability rights community cannot remain silent.”

“For Gazans with disabilities, the circumstances could not be worse: the complete collapse of basic vital services, displacement, starvation, disease, and indiscriminate bombing have created a nightmare scenario in which their very survival is jeopardized. Israel’s restrictions on humanitarian aid exacerbate the challenges they face, limiting access to food, medicine, assistive devices and other vital supplies. While no official numbers are available, many children and adults with disabilities have been killed, including long-time disability rights defenders Bader Mosleh and Hashem Ghazal.” (2024, A collective of human rights activists)

'He didn't understand, he was terrified': Disabled Palestinian man shot dead by IDF in Gaza hospital. “The 39-year-old, who had severe learning difficulties, had fled to the nearby Al Khair hospital with his parents and siblings after the apartment block where they lived was hit by an artillery strike.” (2024, ITV News)

How Israeli army brutality killed a disabled Palestinian man “Ezz al-Din al-Banna was paralysed from the waist down, but Israeli soldiers beat and dragged him across the ground anyway” (2024, Middle East Eye)

The Children Who Lost Limbs in Gaza (2024, New Yorker)

Gazan Para-Cyclists deliver aid on bikes “With their dreams of competing at the Paris Paralympics shattered, the Gaza Sunbirds have pivoted to a full blown aid operation.” (2024, New Internationalist)

People with disabilities and the war of starvation experiences of disabled people in Gaza. (In Arabic, 2024, Al Araby)

Inclusive Needs Assessment: Situation of the Conflict-affected Persons with and without Disabilities in the Gaza Strip (March 2024). (2024, Atlafuna)

Israeli army forces family to leave 94-year-old grandmother behind Her daughter says she 'cannot move, eat, or drink alone'. (2024, Middle East Eye) Social media reports she's been found dead.

Humanity & Inclusion's office in Gaza City destroyed

“The building is completely destroyed. No HI staff were present, but we do not have information about potential other victims in the surrounding areas. No alert or warning was given to HI, even though the coordinates of the building were duly communicated to the notification system put in place by the United Nations and Israeli forces to avoid the inadvertent targeting of humanitarian premises.” (2024, Humanity & Inclusion)

Remembering Ibrahim Abu Thuraya: disabled Palestinian, rights activist, freedom fighter. “Despite of the prominence of his case — no one in the international disability rights community took any interest in him or the circumstances of his killing.” (2024, Hernan Bonomo)

Double burden on people with disabilities displaced in Gaza. (In Arabic, 2024, Wafa)

Impact of the conflict on people with disabilities in the Gaza Strip. Thematic report summarising available information. (2024, acaps)

Patients with chronic illnesses in Gaza failing to get treatment “The lack of medicine, food and water means thousands of people with asthma, kidney disease or diabetes are unable to treat or control their conditions” (2024, the Guardian)

Gaza's child amputees face further risks without expert care “More than 1,000 children had undergone leg amputations, sometimes more than once or on both legs, by end-November, according to U.N. children's agency UNICEF” (2024, Reuters)

'Mercy' flights provide critically wounded and sick Palestinians a chance to survive “Commercial planes are retrofitted with stretchers and beds to ferry patients on a four-hour trip from Egypt to Abu Dhabi to receive medical care.” (2024, NBC News)

A young man with hearing disability and his family in the Gaza war, who have been displaced six times. (Signed, with Arabic and English subtitles, 2024, AlJazeera Arabic)

Video shows Israeli soldier shooting mentally disabled Palestinian in West Bank:

“When Tarek Abu Abed told the men that he did not have identification, an argument ensued that culminated in Tarek being shot, according to his brother.” (2023, CNN)

How do deaf people live in the Gaza strip during the war? A short video (In Arabic, 2023, BBC)

Disabled NZ resident battling to get out of Gaza “Despite Ghada Alree being unable to walk and reliant on family for mobility, New Zealand initially told her this week they would not allow her mother to be added to a list with her for evacuation from Gaza to Egypt.” (2023, NZ Herald)

Israeli Forces Attack Gaza Church Just Days Before Christmas The patriarchate said that the Convent of the Sisters of Mother Theresa, part of the church compound was home to 54 disabled people. “The 54 disabled persons are currently displaced and without access to the respirators that some of them need to survive,” (2023, Huffpost)

Amputations, nerve injuries and fractures - New report on injuries caused by heavy bombing. (2023, Humanity & Inclusion)

New catastrophic plight in Gaza: Israel’s attacks leave more than 5,000 Palestinians disabled. (2023, Euro Med Monitor)

12-year-old Dunia lost her leg in an Israeli airstrike that killed her whole family. Dunia speaks in her recovery. She was killed a few weeks later. (2023, Defense for Children)

Gaza: Israeli Attacks, Blockade Devastating for People with Disabilities “The Israeli military’s major ground offensive in Gaza adds immeasurably to the serious difficulties for people with disabilities to flee, find shelter, and obtain water, food, medicine, and assistive devices they desperately need,” (2023, Human Rights Watch)

Horror in darkness: the plight of the visually impaired seeking refuge in UNRWA's schools.

“As a person with visual impairment, hearing the shelling around without being able to see it or know where it’s coming from. You are left to imagine that you are the target, your world engulfed in darkness and fear.” (2023, AOAV)

People With Disabilities in Gaza Suffer in Israel-Hamas War “People are homeless; some separated from their families, support systems and mobility devices, Shaheen said. Those with chronic illnesses, who need medical care, cannot receive it because hospitals are overflowing with critically injured patients, while others don’t have the funds to buy supplies such as catheters at pharmacies” (2023, Time)

I'm from Gaza but can't return home.

“I called a friend of mine the other day who has a physical disability, who has been sheltering at an overcrowded United Nations Relief and Works Agency school, within the evacuation zone. Over a lot of background noise, she told me, “I lost my wheelchair. If we are ordered to evacuate, I will not be able to run like everyone. I am so terrified.”” (2023, USA Today)

Inclusive Humanitarian Action - Gaza a factsheet, exploring the risks faced by disabled people and response needed. (2023, Handicap International)

“The planes bomb us. We are deaf so it scares us.” short video on the situation of Ahmed Abu Odeh and his wife Walaa, both deaf. The couple and their children are trying to survive Israeli airstrikes in Gaza. (2023, AJ+)

‘Where will I leave these children, on the street?’ The struggle for survival faced by disabled Palestinians in Gaza. (2023, CNN)

Palestinians with disabilities face hardship short video on the challenges disabled people are facing. (2023, Aljazeera English)

A Palestinian with disability among those reported killed by Israeli Forces in the Jenin Camp on the West Bank. (In Arabic, 2023, Alhurra)

The harsh reality of disabled people trying to survive war Families forced to carry those with disabilities for several kilometres after having to abandon their homes in northern Gaza and head south. A piece by Gazan journalist Maha Hussaini. (2023, Middle East Eye)

Israel continues to attack hospitals in Gaza. “The Psychiatric Hospital, the only one of its kind in the Gaza Strip, is also no longer able to treat its patients.” (2023, Aljazeera)

UN expert demands unconditional humanitarian access and relief for people with disabilities:
“This region has increasing disability rates among the population because of exposure to repeated armed conflicts in addition to the current bombardment of the Gaza strip, and all relief teams and international bodies must take this into account.” (2023, Relief Web)

Trapped and traumatised, Gaza's disabled face death sentence (2023, The New Arab)

Attacks on healthcare and Impacts on Physical Rehabilitation and Mental Health Services. (2023, Humanity & Inclusion)

Crip Call to Action: why disabled people living in the US need to be calling for a long lasting ceasefire in Israel-Palestine. (2023, Disability Visibility Project)

'This is my fifth war': Gazan man with disability. “I don't want my brothers to keep carrying me, they are tired of carrying me.” (2023, Straits Times)

Interview with Deaf Palestinian Tayyeb Badwe:

“How do they provide updates? They have a WhatsApp group and also use Telegram to provide news and updates. It includes a sign language interpreter as well, who is based in Gaza. They also use social media but if they don’t have internet connectivity, I don’t know how they can provide updates. But how do they know about incoming bombs? Deaf people depend on hearing family members who live with them for alerts on when to evacuate. Or if a deaf person lives by themselves, they will get messages on their phones from hearing family members who keep tabs on them.” (2023, The Daily Moth)

Deaf Gaza residents struggle to survive Israeli siege and bombing “Instagram videos from deaf people who live in Gaza who are trying to survive with dwindling water, food and constant bombardment from the Israeli military.” (2023, The Daily Moth)

Amnesty International Researcher Budour Hassan a blind journalist and researcher, describes the situation in Gaza and when asked about her own disability says “it's not about me”. (Video on Twitter, 2023, ABC News Live)

Plain language primer for solidarity with Palestine. (2023, Crip News)

Disabled athletes braving bombs to feed starving Gaza civilians. “A para-cycling volunteer team managed to feed 1,800 people in the blockaded strip” (2023, Express)

Statement on the situation of persons with disabilities in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory (2023, IDA and IDDC)

Urgent Call to Protect the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Gaza (2023, Disability Rights Fund)

“People with disabilities not spared by Israel’s war machine on Gaza Strip” “Bombs, lack of electricity and roads damaged by Israeli offensive make life impossible for disabled people in Gaza.” (2023, Aljazeera)

A disability lens on conflict: Israel and Gaza war Debrief feature on disabled victims of Hamas attacks, destruction in Gaza, and disability on different sides of the conflict. (2023, Disability Debrief)

Living through war experiences of blind women in Israel and Gaza. (Podcast, no transcript, 2023, BBC)

People with Disabilities in Gaza Languish after Israeli Airstrikes (2023, Human Rights Watch)

How do people with disabilities cope when Israel bombs Gaza? (2023, Electronic Intifada)

“Ten minutes is not enough for a person with a disability to evacuate their home safely” (2023, MAP)

An Israeli missile worsens the adversity of five disabled siblings (2023, Reuters)

Statement of Solidarity with Palestine: “Abolition and apartheid cannot co-exist. There is no disability justice under military occupation.” (2021, Abolition and Disability Justice Coalition)

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The number of persons with disabilities has doubled in Gaza Strip between 2007 and 2017. (2023, Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics)

Disability in the Occupied Palestinian Territories Analysis of Census Results 2017 using the Washington Group (WG) questions:

“Overall, 2.2% (or almost 18,000 persons) of those included in the census above 4 years of age (as defined by the WG) are people with one or more disability using the narrow definition of the WG” (Link to pdf, 2021, Disability Under Siege)

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Social Protection

#PensionsForPalestinians: The story of Mohammad, 68. (2023, Helpage)

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Overview

Disability-Inclusive Education in the occupied Palestinian territory (2023, Relief Web / HI)

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Higher Education

Accessible and Inclusive Higher Education for Palestinian Students with Disability: Policies and Practices Review:

“The results showed absence of factual information about Palestinian students with disabilities, lack of support to adopting in IHE in almost all existing policies and strategic goals, a mixture of practices facilitating and hindering implementation of core elements of IHE, and experience-based policies and practices proposed by the participants to make higher education more accessible and inclusive.” (2023, Apollo)

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Ahmed Yassin was a quadriplegic refugee who ran a charity. How did he end up founding Hamas? (2023, ABC News)

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Soldiers handcuff and arrest intellectually disabled teen (13) for two hours, and then arrest two of his relatives and abuse them. (2022, B'Tselem)

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Mental Health Guidelines for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children in Gaza Strip (2023, CBM)

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Gaza: Israeli Restrictions Harm People with Disabilities. Neglect by Hamas Authorities, Armed Conflict Cause Further Hardship:

“More than a decade of Israeli restrictions have robbed people with disabilities in Gaza of their freedom of movement, and often access to the devices, electricity, and technology they need to communicate or leave their homes. These policies, alongside the failure of Hamas authorities to address the lack of accessibility across Gaza and widespread stigma, contribute to making life in Gaza extraordinarily difficult for many people with disabilities.” (2020, Human Rights Watch)

Disability in Gaza: a review of policy, barriers to inclusion and a mapping of interventions:

“The intervention mapping found that although there are many interventions (including both disability mainstreamed and disability-specific interventions) in Gaza, these are mostly health-related and targeted at the individual level rather than addressing attitudinal or institutional barriers.” (Link to pdf, 2019)

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Meet the Para-Cyclists Riding for Gaza The Sunbirds’ story began with tragedy but has evolved into one of resilience. (2024, Foreign Policy)

Meet Fadi Deeb, Palestinian Paralympian from Gaza Who Lost 15 Relatives in Israeli Assault. (2024, Democracy Now!)

Meet the female wheelchair basketball team shooting for glory in Gaza (2023, Euronews)

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Addressing Stigma and Discrimination to eliminate violence against women with disabilities, policy paper. (Link to pdf, 2024, UN Women)

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