At least 21,000 children disabled due to Israel's war on Gaza - UN
According to CRPD, displacement orders issued by Israel in Gaza have posed challenges for vulnerable groups, particularly those with hearing and visual impairments.
More than 21,000 children in Gaza have been disabled since Israel launched its war on the territory in October 2023, a United Nations (UN) committee has revealed.
In a statement on Wednesday, the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) announced that approximately 40,500 children in Gaza have been injured since the war erupted, with more than half left permanently disabled.
According to CRPD, displacement orders issued by Israel in Gaza have posed challenges for vulnerable groups, particularly those with hearing and visual impairments.
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"Evacuation orders were often inaccessible to people with hearing or visual impairments, rendering evacuation impossible," CRPD said.
"Reports also described people with disabilities being forced to flee in unsafe and undignified conditions, such as crawling through sand or mud without mobility assistance."
Similarly, the CRPD warned that the situation for children in Gaza is worsening, noting that famine has already been declared across the enclave.
Referencing recent data from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) system, CRPD also warned that up to 132,000 children under five could face death from severe hunger by June 2026 if aid does not reach them.
Restrictions on humanitarian aid have further worsened the crisis, according to the UN Committee.
"People with disabilities faced severe disruptions in assistance, leaving many without food, clean water, or sanitation and dependent on others for survival," said the Committee, which added that the aid delivery system in Gaza has shrunk dramatically.
The US and Israel-backed GHF now manages just four aid stations in Gaza, a sharp drop from the nearly 400 that the former UN system once maintained
Further, the CRPD noted that repeated shootings at aid lines have deterred disabled people from accessing supplies. Similarly, mobility challenges have been compounded by the destruction of assistive devices.
According to the Committee, 83 per cent of disabled people in Gaza have lost items such as wheelchairs, walkers, and prosthetics, most of which are now unaffordable. It also criticised Israel's policy of categorising these tools as "dual-use items," effectively blocking their entry in aid shipments.
Calling for urgent intervention, the CRPD urged the "delivery of massive humanitarian aid to persons with disabilities" and pressed all parties to ensure protections to prevent "further violence, harm, deaths and deprivation of rights."
CRPD also urged Israel to establish evacuation procedures that accommodate people with disabilities and to ensure they are "allowed to return safely to their homes and are assisted in doing so."
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