Gaza Herald — At al-Wafa medical rehabilitation hospital, two young brothers lie beside one another, silent and unresponsive. Their mother, Aya Abu Auda, speaks to them gently, but neither reacts.
Five-year-old Elias Abu al-Jibeen and his eight-year-old brother Ismail were gravely wounded when Israeli forces bombed their displacement camp in Gaza City’s Tel al-Hawa neighbourhood on 31 August. The attack left Elias completely deaf, while Ismail’s hearing was severely damaged.
Just a year earlier, Abu Auda had escaped northern Gaza after Israeli missiles destroyed her home and killed her husband.
“I thought the worst was behind us,” she said. “But the pain followed us even in displacement.”
Inside the temporary tent where she sheltered with her children, shrapnel tore through their small bodies.
Ismail lost an eye, mobility in one arm and leg, and most of his hearing. Weeks later, his mother realised he no longer responded to her voice. A brain stem test showed he had lost 50% of the hearing in his right ear and 71% in his left.
Elias’ situation is even more devastating.
“Elias was in a coma for 18 days. When he woke up, he couldn’t hear, see, move or understand anything,” his mother said through tears.
A buildup of pus around his brain was surgically removed, restoring limited awareness. But he now lives with paralysis on one side, severe speech and vision difficulties, and total hearing loss in one ear. The other ear needs treatment that no longer exists in Gaza, due to Israel’s blockade and destruction of medical facilities.
“Most of the time, he just screams,” she said. “I try to guess what he needs, but there is nothing—no hearing aids, no equipment, nothing.”
Even after last month’s ceasefire, Gaza’s health system remains on the brink of total collapse, with only half of the hospitals partially functional, severe shortages of equipment, and 229 essential medicines completely gone, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
“The sound ripped through my ears.”
Hearing loss is spreading across Gaza as a direct result of months of heavy bombardment.
Sanaa Bahr, a 40-year-old mother, also suffered damage after being exposed to Israeli air strikes and explosive-laden vehicles while displaced.
She had fled her home in November 2023 and sought refuge near al-Quds Hospital.
“Suddenly, F-16s carpet-bombed the street,” she said. “Red flames entered the room. The sound ripped through my ears.”
Most audiology clinics had been destroyed, and specialists had fled south. She tried to endure the pain, but the bombardment never stopped. Months later, an explosive vehicle detonated near her, throwing her several metres and collapsing a door on top of her.
“My daughters talk to me, but I cannot hear them unless they sit beside me and shout,” she said, describing constant pain and ringing in her ears.
These explosive vehicles, armored personnel carriers packed with massive charges and detonated remotely, are used by Israeli forces to level large residential blocks. In Gaza, Palestinians call them “booby-trapped robots”, while the Israeli army refers to them as “suicide APCs.”
A wave of “massive auditory damage.”
Audiology specialist Yusra Basil from the health ministry confirms that Israeli F-16 missiles and explosive vehicles have caused widespread damage to hearing across the population.
“These blasts destroy auditory nerves and neural cells,” she explained. “Some cases suffer ruptured eardrums or destroyed middle-ear bones, leading to permanent or partial hearing loss, usually with constant tinnitus.”
She estimates that 4 in every 10 war injuries now involve hearing impairment.
Israel’s two-year war has killed more than 70,000 Palestinians, wounded over 170,000, and levelled Gaza’s health sector.
Rehabilitation centers were destroyed, staff displaced or killed, and essential audiology equipment wiped out.
“Nothing exists here to treat severe hearing loss,” Basil said.
“Cochlear implants, hearing aids, batteries, rehabilitation devices, Israel blocks them all from entering Gaza.”
A field study by Atfaluna Society for Deaf Children found that 35,000 people, including many children, have suffered temporary, partial, or permanent hearing loss due to Israeli explosions—triple the pre-war levels.
Without immediate global intervention, the organization warns, many cases that could be treated will soon become irreversible.
Infants and toddlers under two are at the highest risk, followed by children under twelve, ages when hearing is essential for developing speech, language, and cognitive skills.
Atfaluna itself was destroyed, and 83% of Palestinians with disabilities in Gaza have lost access to basic mobility and hearing tools, wheelchairs, crutches, and hearing aids.
“They can no longer access education, psychosocial support, or even basic services,” said the organization’s director, Fadi Abed.
“We have appealed to international agencies for hearing equipment, but Israel blocks almost everything.”
