Gaza's amputees face life in war zone with little treatment, less hope

“I endured a whole year of suffering,” recalls Gaza resident Riham, a 32-year-old teacher, who lost her leg following a devastating airstrike. “I couldn’t go anywhere. I couldn’t walk. Even going to the bathroom was a struggle. I would stumble and fall,” she remembers. 

Riham’s trauma was more than physical – there were mental scars too 

 “I was like a mad woman,” she said. “Spending most of my days crying over my condition – even my ability to get a glass of water.”  

More than 5,000 people have had their upper or lower limbs amputated in Gaza since the war began.  

The blockade preventing aid from entering Gaza has only made the crisis worse. Amputations are performed under extremely difficult conditions. With medical supplies depleted, doctors have been forced to carry out amputations without anesthesia or to remove limbs that could have been saved if medicines were available. Too often, children endure these operations without pain relief, and doctors have no choice but to amputate limbs infected from wounds that would normally be treatable.  

But thanks to the generosity of our donors, Riham’s story didn’t end there. Thanks to generous supporters like you, she found hope. Riham received a prosthetic limb and the therapy she needed through our incredible local partner - the Artificial Limbs and Polio Centre.  

For Riham, her prosthetic limb means more than being able to walk unaided – it means living with dignity, hope, and being able to continue to support her family. 

“I felt my life was dark and without purpose”, she says.  “But when I was treated and the prothesis was fitted I felt like a human being again.” 

You can help restore dignity in Gaza, where the healthcare system has collapsed. Hospitals are overwhelmed and critically short of medical supplies, fuel, and clean water. Many facilities have been damaged or destroyed, and medical staff are exhausted, working in unsafe conditions. We receive regular updates from our local partners. The scale of suffering in Gaza defies words – and we know there are so many others in dire need.  

That’s why I’m asking you to please give generously today – to help those in desperate situations when disaster strikes, and to change lives wherever the need is greatest. 

Supporting those living in war zones is just one part of our work around the world. From the Holy Land to Papua New Guinea, Pakistan or settlements in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh for Rohingya communities forcibly displaced from Myanmar, our network responds to conflict, disaster, and the climate crisis.