Statement by the Rehabilitation Sector at the Palestinian NGOs Network (PNGO)
Persons with Disabilities in the Gaza Strip Between Systematic Starvation, Lack of Assistive Devices, and Absence of Healthcare
In each passing day of the Israeli genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, the humanitarian catastrophe endured by persons with disabilities and older persons continues to deepen due to the direct and systematic targeting of life-sustaining infrastructure and health, agricultural, and institutional capacities. As the war enters its 650th day, the Israeli occupation continues to impose a comprehensive blockade, ongoing for over 100 consecutive days, during which the entry of food supplies, nutritional supplements, medicines, and assistive devices has been prevented, in grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention and the principles of international humanitarian law.
What is happening in the Gaza Strip constitutes the most horrifying human-made famine in modern history, deliberately imposed by the Israeli occupation on Gaza’s civilian population. These ongoing assaults have resulted in the killing of over 60,000 Palestinians and the injury of more than 140,000 others, including 101 people who died of hunger. Among the victims was Mohammed Al-Sawafiri, a young man with a disability, who died from severe malnutrition.
This campaign of extermination has also caused more than 32,000 new disability cases, 70% of them among children and women, raising the number of persons with disabilities in the Gaza Strip by 55%—bringing the total to over 90,000 persons with disabilities, in addition to 107,000 older persons, comprising approximately 12% of the remaining population in Gaza. All of them have been abandoned to hunger and disease, deprived of the most basic elements of survival.
The current policies for the distribution of food and flour in the Gaza Strip, which contradict humanitarian principles, deprive more than 200,000 people—including children, women, men, older persons, and persons with disabilities—of their right to food and expose them to extreme danger. This constitutes a flagrant violation of Article 11 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), which obligates state parties to take all appropriate measures to ensure the protection and safety of persons with disabilities in situations of risk, including armed conflict and humanitarian emergencies.
The Israeli occupation’s actions against the people of Gaza in general—and against persons with disabilities and older persons in particular—represent a gross violation of international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions, and amount to systematic breaches of human dignity and justice.
In light of this dire reality, the Rehabilitation Sector at the Palestinian NGOs Network warn of the continued, deliberate famine being imposed by the Israeli occupation, and the tightened blockade preventing the entry of medications, assistive devices, and essential hygiene supplies—measures that gravely endanger the lives of persons with disabilities and deepen their suffering.
The Rehabilitation Sector at the Palestinian NGOs Network call on all state parties to international conventions and all international and humanitarian organizations to uphold their legal and moral responsibilities by taking immediate and effective measures to compel the occupying power to end the war, lift the blockade, and cease the systematic starvation policies. The demand also includes ensuring the protection of the rights of persons with disabilities and older persons, and the guarantee of their safe access to food, medicine, and healthcare services, under conditions that preserve their dignity and ensure their safety and survival.
