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Child Amputees in Gaza Use Makeshift Prosthetics as Israel Restricts Medical Supplies (www.dropsitenews.com)
submitted 11 months ago by to c/worldnews@lemmy.ml
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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/39484565

Abdel Qader Sabbah and Sharif Abdel Kouddous
Nov 25, 2025

DEIR AL-BALAH, GAZA STRIP—Ten-year-old Rateb Abu Qleiq sat in a rusted chair in front of his tent in Deir al-Balah. As he spoke, he unconsciously swung his right leg, which was amputated just below the knee, back and forth—the stub tracing a short arc in the air. On his lap he cradled a makeshift prosthetic, nothing more than a piece of plastic sewage pipe outfitted with an orange covering secured by a piece of string.

“My leg is gone,” Rateb told Drop Site. “This pipe doesn’t make up for my leg.”

Rateb was severely wounded in an Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis earlier this year that killed his mother and brother. His right leg was crushed and had to be amputated. He has undergone five surgeries in his abdomen since the attack.

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[–] 8 points 11 months ago

In September, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities reported that at least 21,000 Palestinian children had been disabled in Gaza since October 2023. Earlier this month, the Ministry of Health announced that over 6,000 amputation cases had been registered, with children comprising 25% of the total, making Gaza home to the highest number of child amputees per capita in the world.

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