'People with disabilities in Gaza witness nothing but death around them'

AMMAN — Muhannad Alazzeh, the first member of the Senate with disabilities in the history of Jordan, has recently delivered a lecture in which he uncovered the situation of people with disabilities in the war-torn Gaza Strip.

Delivering the lecture at Gilgamesh Art Café, Alazzeh described the people with disabilities in Gaza as the "forgotten" victims, whose story has been untold and their large-scale suffering ignored.  

Alazzeh has contributed to numerous laws, including the drafting of the Convention on the Rights of persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and the regional WHO law on disability. Since 2017, he has been serving as the Secretary-General for the Higher Council for the rights of Persons with Disabilities and represents Jordan on the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. 

According to WHO official statistics, persons with disabilities constitute 11.2 per cent of the population of Jordan. “If we include children under 5, the number rises to 15 per cent”, Alazzeh said, adding that globally, no community has less than 15 per cent of its population with some form of disability, including psycho-social, physical, intellectual and neurological disabilities. 

In Gaza, prior to October 7, around 21 per cent of the population was disabled, amounting to approximately 441 000 individuals, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Alazzeh highlighted the severe impact of Israeli airstrikes on Gaza, noting that many victims were disabled and were unable to escape. "Those who survive the injuries will continue their lives with permanent physical, visual, or hearing disabilities”, he said, adding that "certainly all of them will endure temporary or permanent psychosocial disabilities."

Heavy explosive weapons

The lack of medical support in Gaza exacerbates this situation, often resulting in amputations that could have been avoided with proper treatment, according to a Handicap International’s report.

“The Israeli forces have been ignoring human rights conventions protecting disabled people in armed conflict. The Israeli military has established ‘safe zones’, but access to these areas has been inconsistent, and the information for evacuation is often vague and not communicated to be inclusive of people with disabilities."

"Deaf people are unable to perceive evacuation orders and are unable to hear rockets coming towards them," a report published in ReliefWeb said.  

The report also highlighted the struggle of older Palestinian people of Gaza to obtain their necessary medications. “There is not a ‘risk’ that these individuals will be left behind – it is already happening”, Lise Salavert, humanitarian advocacy manager at Handicap International, was quoted as saying in international press. 

“People with disabilities are separated from their families, their friends, their support network”, Salavert said. “The massive use of heavy explosive weapons in Gaza, at this intensity, has robbed civilians of arms and legs, pierced spinal cords, inflicted trauma to brains, to eyes. Bombs destroy the integrity of people's bodies, their minds, and their sense of autonomy”.   

Introducing warfare terminologies, Alazzeh referenced the Lieber Code, established in 1863 during the American Civil war, which is one of the earliest comprehensive codifications of the laws and customs of war. It aimed to provide guidance on the treatment of prisoners and civilians during wartime.

“The citizen or native of a hostile country is thus an enemy and as such is subjected to the hardships of the war," Alazzeh said, explaining the conceptual bases for those funding these war crimes. He explained that civilians are collateral damage in achieving larger goals. This perspective, ascribed to military theorist Francis Lieber, effectively legalises massive civilian casualties.  

"As civilizations have progressed, so has the distinction between private individuals belonging to a hostile country and the hostile country itself with its men in arms, leading to greater acknowledgment that unarmed citizens, particularly those with disabilities, should be spared." 

The CRPD, an international human rights treaty of the United Nations, aims to protect the rights of disabled people. “Article 11 mandates that states parties shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection and safety of disabled people in situations of armed conflict."

But Alazzeh questioned the value of this convention in Gaza, highlighting the ethical and political hypocrisy of some governments. “These double standard practices must deepen our beliefs in the human rights principles because they are our tools to identify and bring the war criminals accountable."

Regarding the international humanitarian law and ethics of the war, Alazzeh mentioned the concept of proportionality. “Israel claims that any action is proportionate as long as it accelerates the achievement of their war goals."

 Since 1952, an Israeli “civil wrongs liability” law has overridden any international regulation. “This law allows any damage or mass killing to be justified as 'self-defence', 'protection from the enemy', with a broad interpretation of what constitutes an enemy."

As of July 18, at least 38,848 persons were killed, including 15,000 children, 39 per cent, and more than 89,459 people were injured, Alazzeh said, citing UNICEF and UN figures. “How many injured will be left with disabilities? How many of them will develop new disabilities?” 

“Being a person with a disability in a war means being the last one to understand what is happening, the last one to evacuate, the last one to reach the shelters, if they exist, the last one to receive basic aids, if there is any, the last one to be rescued under the rubbles, the last one to access medical services and ultimately, the last one to be buried.”

Mohammad Bhar

The suffering of the people with disabilities in Gaza can be told in the story of Mohammad Bhar.

Mohammad, a Palestinian man with Down’s syndrome and autism, was reportedly attacked by an army dog in Gaza, and left on his own by Israeli soldiers.

His mother, Nabila Bhar was quoted in international press as saying that the family was left inside their house for seven days amid a military operation by the Israeli army on June 28.

Nabila said Mohammad was sitting on a couch when the dog attacked him, mauled his chest and his hand, adding that she screamed at the soldiers to stop the dog from attacking her son.

“Mohamed had Down’s syndrome. His appearance showed that he was injured and innocent. He was unable to move, and only spoke simple words,” she said.

The mother said that they family were ordered to leave at gun point, while Mohammad was left alone to die of his injury. 

Down Syndrome International (DSi), a global network for individuals with Down Syndrome, condemned the murder of 24-year-old Bhar.

Zero services

Alazzeh said that public services for people with disabilities in Gaza were "scarce" before the war. "Now, with the constant forced displacement of people and strain on humanitarian organisations, the availability of care for disabled people has tragically worsened."

“They [people with disabilities] struggle with basic necessities like safety, food, housing, and access to essential items for maintaining their health. People suffering from chronic diseases could not take their medical equipment with them while evacuating their houses," Handicap International said.  

"The reality of the post-war in Gaza for disabled people can already be discerned: thousands of new disabilities and the exacerbation of pre-existing ones," Alazzeh said. 

"Relief and humanitarian agencies must be prepared to address this reality by initiating psychosocial and medical rehabilitation programmes that make life possible for those who have witnessed nothing but death around them."