Gaza’s children and elderly are bearing the brunt of the devastation inflicted by Israel’s war on the enclave, as the United Nations warns of a sharp rise in amputations, long-term disabilities and severe hunger.
More than 40,000 children have been injured since the conflict began, and nearly 90 percent of Gaza’s population has been displaced, often multiple times.
Amid worsening conditions, aid workers are also reporting a sharp rise in malnutrition among children, and growing hardship for elderly people, who are even less able to access food, care and essential medical support than the general population.
One in 10 Gaza children tested in UNRWA clinics malnourished
On Tuesday, UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said: “One in 10 children screened in UNRWA medical facilities is malnourished.” He warned that child malnutrition is rising rapidly in Gaza amid severe shortages of food and medical supplies.
“Salam, a seven-month-old baby, died of malnutrition last week,” he added, addressing the growing urgency of the crisis.
He added that more than 870 Palestinians have been killed while trying to access food from aid distribution points set up by the highly criticised GHF, a private contractor backed by Israel and the United States.
Before the war began on October 7, 2023, about 500 trucks of humanitarian aid entered Gaza every single day.
That number collapsed following Israel’s assault on the besieged enclave, dropping to fewer than 80 trucks per day.
In March, Israel imposed a nearly three-month blockade, halting aid deliveries altogether.
On May 27, the GHF assumed control of aid operations, replacing 400 local distribution points with just four “mega-sites”.
These locations have become scenes of deadly violence, as Israeli forces have reportedly opened fire on Palestinians gathering for food, many of whom must walk several kilometres to reach the sites.
The more than 870 people who have been killed trying to collect aid from GHF points include at least 94 children and 11 elderly people. Despite mounting criticism, GHF remains the sole provider of food in the Gaza Strip.
Since January 2024, UNRWA has screened more than 240,000 boys and girls under the age of five in its clinics, adding that before the war, acute malnutrition was rare in Gaza.
“As malnutrition among children spreads across the war-torn enclave, UNRWA has over 6,000 trucks of food, hygiene supplies, medicine, medical supplies outside of Gaza. They are all waiting to go in,” UNRWA’s communications director, Juliette Touma, said in a press statement on Monday.
More than 139,000 people injured, including at least 40,500 children
As of July 1, 2025, more than 139,000 Palestinians have been injured in Gaza since the war began, and more than 40,500 of them are children, according to the Global Protection Clusters July report.
At least 58,479 people have been confirmed killed since the start of the war in October 2023, with an estimated 11,000 more buried under rubble, their bodies unrecovered due to restrictions on rescue teams or because it is simply impossible to reach them.
Roughly one in four of the injured are expected to require long-term rehabilitation care.
Children are especially vulnerable: 10 children lose one or both limbs each day, and 15 children per day are left with potentially life-altering disabilities.
By the end of 2024, more than 5,200 children were known to require significant rehabilitation, and at least 7,000 were living with permanent disabilities. The true number is believed to be far higher due to the collapse of Gaza’s health system.
Children with disabilities are among those most at risk in Gaza’s child protection caseload.
Of the 5,160 cases registered, 849 (16.5 percent) involve children with physical, sensory, intellectual or psychosocial disabilities.
Nearly half of these cases (49 percent) are children aged seven to 12, with a slight majority being boys (53 percent). These children face increased risks of violence, neglect, exclusion from essential services and deep social isolation in the current crisis.
Conditions like loss of hearing and vision are also on the rise. Based on screenings conducted between 2023 and this year by the Atfaluna Society for Deaf Children, UNRWA said about 35,000 people are at risk of temporary or permanent hearing loss due to constant bombardment and explosions.
The war has also severely affected older adults in Gaza. Of 111,500 people aged 60 and above, 97 percent report health problems, 96 percent have chronic illnesses and 86 percent live with disabilities – conditions made worse by medicine shortages, deteriorating hygiene and the destruction of health facilities.
At least 3,839 older people have been killed since the war began.
90 percent of the population of Gaza displaced
Across Gaza, 90 percent of the total population has been forcibly displaced – many of them multiple times; some 10 times or more. Since mid-March 2025, more than 665,000 people have been uprooted, often finding themselves with little or no access to food, water, shelter, healthcare or any basic life necessities.
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), more than 86 percent of Gaza’s territory is either within an Israeli-imposed no-go zone or under active forced evacuation orders.
Older people and those with disabilities face extreme hardship as a result of displacement. Many cannot flee at all due to mobility challenges, illness or the loss of assistive devices – with more than 83 percent reporting that their wheelchairs, walkers, hearing aids or prosthetics have been lost or destroyed.
The terrain has become highly dangerous and inaccessible: Israeli forces have built sand mounds at checkpoints, making movement nearly impossible for families with someone who has a mobility impairment. At the same time, high levels of unexploded ordnance contaminate many of Gaza’s roads and disproportionately endanger those with physical, sensory or cognitive disabilities.
These conditions increase the risk of separation from caregivers, especially for children with disabilities and the elderly, who may struggle to communicate, understand evacuation orders or move independently. Once separated from family or other caregivers, these people face a significantly higher risk of injury, death, abuse and exclusion from vital services, compounding the dangers of war with profound long-term harm.