Gaza: Rehabilitation needs outpace aid access

Violence has persisted in Gaza despite the ceasefire agreement brokered in October 2025, with more than 1,400 Palestinians killed over the past year. Since October 2023, 75,000 people have been killed and 175,000 injured. Access to humanitarian aid remains severely restricted, as Israeli authorities continue to block key entry points.

136 days: This is the average wait for pending shipments of assistive products (World Health Organization).

Nearly the entire population of Gaza is living in overcrowded, squalid camps, confined to roughly 40 percent of the Strip. People describe extreme overcrowding shelters, unsafe drinking water, and widespread rodent infestations. Infectious diseases remain widespread, and people face a risk of flooding as winter approaches.

Rehabilitation desperately needed in Gaza

The work done by HI is essential, as rehabilitation can determine whether someone walks again, lives independently, and takes part in daily life.

Only eight certified prosthesis and orthosis professionals are currently available in Gaza. HI is one of the very few expert NGOs in the territory. In addition, getting to a clinic is hard: infrastructure is damaged, fuel is short, and transport is costly.

HI supports physical rehabilitation professionals working out of primary health centers. These teams also reach people in homes, tents, repurposed schools, and universities. HI also manages two prosthesis and orthosis centers.

The number of people living with new, often life-changing injuries continues to increase, and for people with disabilities, reaching care and services is very difficult:

“Reaching care is a challenge in itself. Many roads are damaged or blocked by rubble, there is no public transport, and private transport is often unaffordable. For wheelchair users, a journey to a clinic can be very difficult, and sometimes impossible. Many people have also lost their wheelchairs and other assistive devices: a United Nations report found that 83% of people with disabilities in Gaza had lost theirs. Insecurity compounds these barriers. The ceasefire agreed in October 2025 has not translated into safety on the ground. Since then, Israeli airstrikes and fire have killed more than 1,400 people and injured nearly 5,000, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health. For people in Gaza, this is not a ceasefire in any meaningful sense.”

- Mara Bernasconi, Advocacy Manager for the Middle East

Prosthetic supply on the brink

HI supports two main prosthesis and orthosis workshops in Gaza where patients receive temporary lower-limb devices, with a recent expansion to more permanent prostheses. Because machinery could not be imported, local metalworkers took an innovative approach and built some of the equipment themselves.

Metal parts are the hardest to bring in. No rehabilitation equipment entered Gaza between May 2024 and 14 April 2026 (WHO). Pending items include wheelchairs, prosthetic limbs, and personal care supplies.

145 people have been identified and supported through HI's prosthetics and orthotics services in 2026.

Many patients have also lost loved ones, been displaced, and are living with profound psychological distress. HI always pairs rehabilitation with psychosocial support and peer groups, because recovery is both physical and psychological.

Explosive ordnance is everywhere

The scale of explosive ordnance (EO) contamination across Gaza is unprecedented. HI runs awareness campaigns to help people protect themselves from a contamination that is everywhere: in the streets, in bombed houses, in abandoned fields, and beyond:

• 57,000 risk education sessions were organized
• 703,000 people have been reached since 2023
• 723 frontline humanitarian staff have also received safe messaging

Last update

These figures cover the period from September 2025 to July 2026:

• Risk education and conflict preparedness: 164,500 people reached
• Rehabilitation: 6,900 patients reached
• Prosthesis and orthosis fitting: 850 sessions provided
• Mental health: 11,800 sessions provided
• Inclusive education: 13,150 children reached
• Recreational activities: 10,170 children reached
• The total number of individuals reached across all sectors was 185,000 people.