In Gaza, childhood no longer means playing in streets or dreaming of the future—it means learning to live without a leg, an arm, or sometimes both. The United Nations has confirmed what Palestinians have long known: the Strip now holds the largest number of amputee children ever recorded in modern history.

This grim distinction is not the result of a natural disaster or an isolated event. It is the outcome of months of relentless bombardment, a total blockade, and an international community that has yet to act decisively. Every day, around ten children in Gaza lose one or more limbs. They are not soldiers, not fighters—just children caught in a war zone with no way out.

According to local health authorities, over 4,700 amputations have been documented, nearly 900 of them children. These young survivors are often denied the most basic tools of recovery—wheelchairs, crutches, prosthetic limbs—because the materials needed to make them are blocked at the borders, labelled as “dual-use” items that could pose a security risk.

The limited humanitarian aid allowed in can barely scratch the surface. Only one in five of the injured children receives any meaningful rehabilitation support. The health system, particularly in the north, has all but collapsed. Mothers are losing unborn children, hospitals are overwhelmed, and newborns are dying within hours of life.

More than 50,000 people have been killed since October 2023, including over 15,000 children. Behind each number is a name, a family, a future extinguished or forever changed.

Gaza’s children are not just numbers in a report. They are living proof of a crisis that the world continues to watch but fails to stop. And unless that changes—now—the cost will be measured in more than lost limbs. It will be measured in lost humanity.