Sitting in her wheelchair, 37-year-old Randa Al-Sharafi is busy preparing bread for her hungry children. She kneads the dough, then collects some hay and wood with the help of her 11-year-old daughter, before lighting the clay oven to bake the bread.
This was not an easy task for Randa, who lost her legs after an Israeli airstrike hit the family home in Gaza City in November 2023.
This airstrike killed her husband, leaving Randa as the main provider for her three children despite her physical disability.
After receiving urgent medical care at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza, she was forced to flee with her children to the southern part of the Strip to escape the intensity of the bombing.
“My children were pushing my wheelchair in front of the Israeli soldiers at the Netzarim checkpoint that separates the north of the Gaza Strip from the south,” Randa tells The New Arab about the displacement journey.
“We were all crying and scared. We walked about four kilometres and saw bodies lying on both sides of the road.”
Today, Randa and her children, aged 7, 8 and 11, live in a tent inside a shelter west of Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
“I was a normal housewife, living my life with great passion. I used to take care of my children and my husband and go to the gym near my house to maintain my physical fitness. I love to relax on the beach and enjoy cooking,” Randa says about her life before the war.
“Today, I am just a paralysed person, living in a tent after my house was destroyed, and I support my children alone after my husband passed away.”
Khan Yunis on December 7 [Getty]
Randa does not have money to buy her needs from the market and is forced to wait in a long queue in front of the food distribution centre near her camp every day in her wheelchair to get food for her children.
“I refuse to send my children to stand in line at the food distribution centre because they are just small children, so I go to the food centre in my wheelchair, and sometimes the workers there take pity on me and give me food without me having to stand in line,” she says.
Randa has uncertainty about the future. “I do not know what my fate and the fate of my children will be. How will I provide for them in the absence of my husband? How will I provide them with a decent life? This war has changed our lives forever, and we will never go back to what we were.”
A bitter living reality
Sixteen-year-old Abdul Aziz Shomer was born with a disability leaving him wheelchair-bound since he was bound. He feels that he is a great burden on his parents and siblings.
“We have been displaced more than six times in this war and every time I was an obstacle to my family while escaping the bombing because of my inability to move,” the young boy tells The New Arab.
Abdul Aziz pointed out that life in the tents is very difficult for the physically disabled, because of the muddy floor that hinders the movement of a wheelchair, in addition to the lack of basic facilities for the special needs of the disabled.
“In the shelter camp where I live, there is only one public bathroom that serves about 80 people, and it is about 30 metres away from my tent,” he reveals.
“Because of the rough muddy ground, I cannot go there alone to relieve myself. Every time I need to use the bathroom, my brothers or some young men in the camp have to carry me, because there are no facilities for people with disabilities,” he adds.
Abdul Aziz has suffered from skin and digestive diseases due to the spread of rubbish and sewage around the shelter camp.
“My father had to push my wheelchair to take me to the hospital because the roads were very rough and full of garbage,” he said.
Abdul Aziz complains about the lack of psychological and social support for people with disabilities, saying, “No one cares about us. No one knocks on our doors to check on our living conditions, health or psychological state.”
With camps and shelters lacking adequate equipment and safe access for people with disabilities, they face great difficulty in escaping during repeated attacks.
They are also exposed to increased risks due to the collapse of infrastructure and the lack of warnings when homes and residential neighbourhoods are targeted.
The United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities called on Israel to abide by Article 11 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, by taking all necessary measures to ensure the protection and safety of persons with disabilities in situations of risk, including situations of armed conflict.
The committee said in its statement that persons with disabilities in Gaza “live in a state of extreme distress and expect to be the first or second to be killed due to the limited opportunities to flee or participate in evacuations due to their disabilities.”
Increase in disabilities amid war
According to a report issued by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, there were approximately 59,000 people with disabilities in the Gaza Strip before the outbreak of the Israeli war on 7 October 2023, constituting 2.6% of the total population of the Strip.
However, these numbers have increased dramatically due to the war, as a World Health Organization analysis published on 12 September 2024, found that the number of severe limb injuries resulting from Israeli airstrikes amounted to between 13,455 and 17,550, while the number of amputations amounted to between 3,105 and 4,050.
Dr Nahed Abu Taima, director of the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, told The New Arab that this war has created 12,000 new motor disabilities, including amputation or paralysis of limbs.
He explained that the significant increase in amputations is due to the Israeli army’s use of new types of weapons that lead to these serious injuries.
Dr Nahed explained that Israel has destroyed the health sector in Gaza, as 17 hospitals out of 36 are currently operating partially due to the deterioration of medical equipment and devices, the shortage of medicines and medical supplies, and the scarcity of fuel.
“This reality has reduced the hospitals’ ability to deal with the huge number of injured, which has increased the chances of amputating their limbs due to the delay in performing emergency surgeries for them,” Dr Nahed said.
Dr Nahed added that people with disabilities do not receive the care they need due to the Israeli army destroying the only centre for limb reconstruction and rehabilitation at Nasser Medical Complex in February 2024, in addition to killing about 40 physiotherapists during this war — which has killed more than 44,000 Palestinians and left another 105,000 injured, according to the latest statistics from the Ministry of Health in Gaza.
Disability and isolation
Dr Dardah Al-Shaer, a professor of social psychology, told The New Arab, “People with disabilities are living a terrible war due to their inability to independently move, meet their needs themselves, and get food for themselves.”
Dr Dardah explained that the war has made the physically disabled feel that they have become a burden on others, especially when they are repeatedly displaced from their places of residence.
“This displacement does not only mean leaving home but also means moving to a more difficult and harsh life due to the nature of tent life that further paralyses their movement and makes them unable to practice their lives in a normal way,” Dr Dardah added.
He explained that this feeling is magnified when the physically disabled person is the head of a family like Randa, “These fathers and mothers feel helpless, as they cannot fully meet the needs of their children or protect their families from war and bombing.”
Dr Dardah pointed out that the absence of psychological and social support for the disabled in times of war and crises exposes them to greater pressure and makes them feel hopeless and vulnerable to many physical and psychological diseases.
Rasha Jalal is an author and journalist from Gaza who covers political events and humanitarian issues
