Urgent Humanitarian Appeal: Community Based Rehabilitation in Gaza
Urgent Humanitarian Appeal:
Community Based Rehabilitation in Gaza
Thousands of wounded and disabled people in Gaza are trapped in a humanitarian catastrophe, with no access to critical rehabilitation and care. Juzoor for Health and Social Development is proposing an urgent Community-Based Rehabilitation (CBR) initiative to restore dignity, independence, and mobility to some of Gaza’s most vulnerable – those suffering from life-altering amputations, complex injuries, and disabilities.
A Crisis Like No Other
Gaza’s healthcare system is in shambles, struggling to cope with a massive surge in rehabilitation needs amid its ongoing collapse. After 15 months of relentless Israeli bombardment – followed by a fragile ceasefire on January 19, 2025 – only 16 of Gaza's 36 hospitals remain partially operational.1 Nearly two-thirds of primary healthcare clinics remain closed,2 and Gaza’s only limb reconstruction and rehabilitation center is non-functional,3 making it nearly impossible to provide both urgent and long-term care for people in need of such care. Among those most affected are 30,000 individuals suffering from life-changing injuries,4 including amputations requiring immediate and sustained rehabilitation. The World Health Organization (WHO) warns that severe limb injuries are the key driver of the intensifying need for rehabilitation services, with many patients suffering from multiple, complex injuries. The systematic destruction of Gaza’s health infrastructure – described as a “human rights catastrophe…unfolding before the eyes of the world” – has resulted in critical shortages of rehabilitation personnel and essential assistive devices such as wheelchairs and crutches.
Children are among the most affected – traumatized, displaced, orphaned, and suffering from severe disabilities. “This is the biggest cohort of pediatric amputees in history,” warn medical professionals,5 as thousands of children in Gaza have lost legs or arms, with harrowing accounts of many having been operated on without anesthesia. Even before this unprecedented genocidal campaign, tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza were living with chronic conditions and disabilities. The ongoing crisis has exponentially worsened their vulnerability, cutting them off from essential rehabilitation and healthcare. Immediate and coordinated intervention is critical to prevent further suffering of those in urgent need ... Read the full appeal >>