Life for Gaza's amputees is 'hellscape full of nightmarish scenes'
7 Min Read
"Israel" amputates the limbs of Palestinians of all ages and subsequently restricts their access to medical services and prevents them from receiving follow-up surgeries and prosthetics.
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A 13-year-old Palestinian amputee as a result of an Israeli airstrike at the Al-Nasr Hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza, in October (AFP/Getty Images)
Since October 7, the ongoing Israeli genocide has resulted in the killing of over 37,000 Palestinians in Gaza. The relentless aggression has caused widespread injuries, affecting more than 85,000 people, according to local health authorities. Aid workers on the ground have noted a disturbingly high number of amputations among casualties, including a significant toll on children.
A new report by The New York Times on Monday shed light on Gaza's amputees who are facing a struggle for survival and access to treatment amid the dwindling number of functioning hospitals. Israeli restrictions on access to medical services are only increasing the risk of infections and preventing patients from receiving necessary follow-up surgeries and prosthetics. Here are some of the horrific stories from a multitude of amputees in Gaza.
A kitchen table amputation without anesthetic
Dr. Hani Bseso's teenage niece Ahed was bleeding and crying, calling out for him as she drifted in and out of consciousness. Their home had been hit by an Israeli strike in December, as Israeli troops invaded the area. The situation was too risky to transport Ahed, who needed urgent medical attention, to the Al-Shifa Hospital, where Dr. Bseso, 52, worked in orthopedics.
Instead, he improvised with a kitchen knife, scissors, and sewing string, performing an amputation on Ahed's leg right on the kitchen table, where moments earlier her mother had been baking bread.
“My daughter; I am amputating her leg without anaesthesia.”
— TRT World (@trtworld) January 17, 2024
A Palestinian doctor named Hani Bseiso was forced to amputate the leg of his 16-year-old daughter Ahed on the family's kitchen table — without anaesthesia, due to Israel's blockade — after she was severely injured by an… pic.twitter.com/gTz6kx2YUU
“She was badly hit,” he told The New York Times. With “no tools, no anesthetic, nothing,” he detailed, “I had to find a way to save her life.”
Dr. Bseso could not sterilize the kitchen knife he used to perform his niece's leg amputation on that day in December, so he only used water and soap.
Due to relentless Israeli bombing, he was not able to transfer her to the hospital until four days later, where she underwent "several surgeries", according to Dr. Bseso.
“In different circumstances, she would have had some 20 percent chance to keep her leg,” Dr. Bseso said.
“In our circumstances,” he told NYT, “her chances were literally zero.”
The makeshift operation was recorded on video, and it went viral on the internet, serving as a stark symbol of the painful decisions faced repeatedly in the ongoing Israeli brutal aggression that has devastated the lives of Gaza residents, leaving many of them limbless.
Doctors expressed astonishment at the high volume of amputations in Gaza, a situation that exposes patients to infection in an environment where access to medical treatment and even clean water is severely restricted, as per the report.
Israeli total blockade force drastic amputations
Gaza's healthcare system is inadequately prepared as a result of the relentless bombing, total blockade, and "Israel's" systematic dismantling of the healthcare system in Gaza.
Numerous hospitals in the region have been completely incapacitated, while those still operational struggle with critical shortages of essential supplies such as anesthesia and antibiotics.
Surgeons explain that due to these shortages and the overwhelming number of casualties, they are often compelled to perform amputations that could have been avoided under better circumstances, as per the NYT report.
However, this decision is seen as a no-win situation, they added, because amputations necessitate intensive care and often additional surgeries.
Dr. Ana Jeelani, an orthopedic surgeon in Liverpool, England, who spent two weeks at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in central Gaza in March, said as quoted by NYT, "There’s no good options there," adding, “Everything requires follow-up that we do, and there is none.”
Amputating children's legs without anesthesia.
— oliver moore (@oliver_moore) December 12, 2023
And we talk about how we talk about this in the west. FFS.
Every single day is a heartbreaking day in this appalling, relentless, enormous attack on Gaza.
And there is no end in sight.
Therefor#BDS #BDSnow #BDS4Israel #BDSMovement https://t.co/2ZgKoLUBqY
Achieving complete sterilization is challenging. Supplies like bandages and blood bags frequently run out, while patients are forced to lie on unclean beds.
It’s “a perfect storm for infection,” Dr. Jeelani told NYT, highlighting that patients who survive their injuries are succumbing to infections.
However, “We have no choice, right?” she told NYT. “We’ve got no choice.”
'A hellscape filled with nightmarish scenes'
Describing the situation as "a hellscape filled with nightmarish scenes," Dr. Seema Jilani, a senior emergency health advisor for the International Rescue Committee, told NYT that her experience in Gaza during her two-week assignment there has left indelible images in her mind.
There was a 6-year-old boy, severely burned with his foot severed. A girl without both feet. A toddler who had lost his right arm and right leg, bleeding profusely. He required a chest tube urgently, but none were accessible. There were no stretchers available, and he had not received any pain relief.
Due to the Israeli airstrikes on #Gaza, thousands of Palestinian children have had to undergo amputation surgeries; hundreds were reported to have had these surgeries without anesthesia amid the brutal Israeli siege on the Strip.
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) December 30, 2023
Hospitals in Gaza are struggling to accommodate… pic.twitter.com/cFLWyZIMbJ
An orthopedic surgeon managed to stop the bleeding but postponed taking the child to the operating room, citing more critical cases that needed immediate attention.
“I tried to imagine what is more pressing than a 1-year-old with no hand, no leg, choking on his own blood,” she stressed. “So that gives you a scale, or an idea of the scale, of the kind of injuries we are seeing.”
Surge in traumatic amputations
Exact figures for the number of Palestinians who have suffered limb loss in the ongoing Israeli genocide are unavailable. UNICEF estimated around 1,000 Palestinian children had undergone amputations of one or both legs as of November, noting that this number has likely increased significantly in the past four months.
Dr. Marwan al-Hamase, director of the Abu Yousef al-Najjar Hospital in Rafah, has been caring for Gaza's injured for two decades. He noted that traumatic amputations, which previously occurred infrequently outside hospitals during past wars, are now occurring in significantly higher numbers.
'I am afraid to lose my second leg'
On March 1, a strike hit Saber Ali Abu Jibba’s donkey cart, immediately severing his left leg. His right leg was also severely injured, with doctors indicating that it may also require amputation.
“I am afraid to lose my second leg,” he told NYT while resting in a bed at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, his residual limb supported by a pillow and his right leg fixed with metal pins.
Many amputees from this brutal war face similar uncertainty, unsure of when or if they will receive the follow-up surgeries, prosthetics, and rehabilitation that were more accessible in the past.
'My life is gone'
Shadi Issam al-Daya, 29, is one of them, having lost both legs and his left hand.
“Thank goodness, I still have one hand to hold and carry anything,” he said as quoted by NYT, before adding, however, “I will not have any job in the future.”
Al-Daya, formerly a DJ in Gaza hotels, is married with a 9-month-old daughter named Alaa. He expressed how deeply his injuries have affected his family.
“My life is gone, my wife feels so miserable about what happened to me,” he stressed.
Al-Daya mentioned he would require additional procedures, not only for his left shoulder but also for his legs.
