The struggle for survival faced by disabled Palestinians in Gaza Since Israel’s complete siege on Gaza began, Hazem Saeed Al-Naizi, the director of an orphanage in Gaza City, had been gripped with fear, worried about when food, water and other basic necessities might run out for the dozens of children and young people in his care, most of whom are living with disabilities.
When a strike hit a mosque near the Mabarat Al-Rahma orphanage on October 27, blowing out windows, scattering the building with debris, igniting a fire and filling the air with smoke, Al-Naizi said he was confronted with the agonizing decision of whether to evacuate the children and young people.
“There was chaos in the place, children crying, and smoke and fire spread,” Al-Naizi told CNN, sharing videos of the aftermath.
“We quickly moved the children to a safe place and extinguished the fire to get rid of the smoke that almost killed us all.
” On November 2, as the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) closed in on Gaza City, Al-Naizi said he had no choice but to move the 40 people out of the orphanage — eight of them infants — loading them, along with non-perishable food and batteries, into three large buses.
It took about two hours to evacuate the group, according to Al-Naizi, as many of the children had to be carried.
They were only able to travel about two kilometers before having to set up temporary shelter.
“Many roads are closed because destroyed buildings have been reclaimed and the roads are not suitable for traffic,” Al-Naiji said.
“They couldn’t flee south of Gaza City.
For Palestinians trying to escape the fighting, living with a disability can be a virtual death sentence,” disability advocates and advocacy groups told CNN.
They said people who are deaf or blind are less likely to know about evacuation orders and cannot hear or see the strikes.
Others with intellectual disabilities may be unable to communicate their whereabouts to relatives or rescue workers, while people with physical disabilities who rely on wheelchairs and other assistive devices are unable to navigate rubble, let alone walk miles south.
Carers like Al-Naizi face an impossible choice — stay put and risk being killed or flee somewhere with no promise of safety.
“Where will I leave these children, on the street?
” Al-Naizi said.
“We have no hope, except that this war will end soon.
” Israel launched its military campaign with the stated aim of destroying Hamas and to save the more than 240 hostages taken during the militant group’s brutal October 7 attack, which Israeli authorities said killed around 1,200 people.
Israel’s relentless aerial bombardment and ground assault has so far killed at least 11,470 people, including 4,707 children, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, citing medical sources in the Hamas-controlled enclave.
More than two-thirds of the 2.
2 million people in the Gaza Strip have been internally displaced since the war began.
Many of them are now living in overcrowded shelters where food, water, medicine and sanitation are running out as aid pours in.
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, more than 15% of internally displaced persons are people with disabilities.
The flow of Palestinians, including women, children, and the elderly, is increasingly heading south along the daily evacuation corridor announced by the IDF.
It was previously reported that Palestinian civilians who had complied with evacuation orders had been killed in Israeli airstrikes, with UN human rights chief Volker Türk reminding the harsh reality that “nowhere is safe” in Gaza.
It’s highlighted.
Turkey and human rights groups said Israeli attacks on civilians amounted to war crimes, as did forced evictions.