Gaza Herald – Haneen Al-Mabhuh sits in her wheelchair, hanging the remnants of her dreams on a chance to travel abroad for treatment, an opportunity that may never come amid war and blockade.
She dreams of walking again, rebuilding a family, and holding a child who might fill part of the immense void left in her heart. But she says her life stopped the moment she lost her leg under the rubble of her home in central Gaza.
“I just want to walk again”
With a voice heavy with pain, Haneen says: “It is my right to live, to have another child, to regain what I lost, and to walk again, just to walk again.” She adds: “The Israeli occupation destroyed my dreams.”
A night that changed everything
In July 2024, Haneen was asleep in her home in Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, holding her five-month-old baby daughter, when an Israeli airstrike bombed the home.
Within moments, the home was reduced to rubble. All four of her daughters were killed, including the infant she was holding. Her husband suffered severe burns. Haneen’s legs were crushed under the debris, and doctors were later forced to amputate her right leg above the knee to save her life.
For weeks, she remained in hospital receiving treatment, unaware that her youngest daughter had been killed.
A body scarred, a future suspended
Haneen’s suffering did not end with the amputation. She underwent multiple surgeries and continues to struggle with limited movement in her arm, while her remaining leg is severely damaged and stabilized with metal supports.
She urgently needs bone grafts, tissue reconstruction, and specialized treatment not available in Gaza. Her name has been on medical evacuation lists for ten months, yet she has not received permission to leave the territory for treatment abroad.
She says what hurts most is not only physical pain, but the feeling that her future has been “paralyzed” and that the war has taken her entire life at once.
Thousands of amputees in Gaza
The World Health Organization estimates that between 5,000 and 6,000 Palestinians in Gaza have undergone amputations due to the war, with children making up around 25% of cases.
Survivors face extreme difficulties adapting to life due to a severe shortage of prosthetic limbs and manufacturing materials, as well as slow medical evacuation processes.
According to the head of the disability programme at Medical Aid for Palestinians, Louay Abu Saif, Israel has largely prevented the entry of prosthetic limbs and the materials needed to produce them inside Gaza throughout most of the war.
Collapsed health system and thousands waiting for evacuation
The crisis extends far beyond amputees. The United Nations estimates that around 16,500 Palestinians are still waiting for medical evacuation for urgent treatment outside Gaza, including patients with chronic illnesses and severe injuries.
Despite the ceasefire agreement, medical evacuations have improved only marginally.
In an October 2025 report, the WHO stated that around 42,000 Palestinians have suffered life-changing injuries, including amputations, brain injuries, spinal cord damage, and severe burns.
The organisation also warned of a severe and ongoing shortage of essential mobility aids such as wheelchairs, crutches, and walkers, noting that only eight prosthetics specialists currently operate inside Gaza.
