As Gaza endures its 21st month under relentless bombardment, a new human rights report confirms a grim reality: there is no safe place left for the elderly or people with disabilities. The Global Protection Group, a coalition of UN bodies and international civil society organisations, warns that these groups are being systematically failed by a world that has turned away.

The report paints a harrowing picture of collapse. With shelters reduced to rubble and hospitals stripped of power, the most vulnerable are left without wheelchairs, hearing aids, or even a hand to hold. The infrastructure meant to protect them no longer exists, and neither, it seems, does international protection.

Since the beginning of the war, more than 134,000 people have been injured, with nearly a quarter suffering permanent disabilities. The elderly are often unable to flee airstrikes. Children with disabilities are now being added to Gaza’s growing list of amputees, ten lose their legs every single day.

Over 35,000 people have suffered hearing loss from the never-ending blasts. But in Gaza, the silence is no relief , it is the sound of abandonment.

What the report makes clear is this: targeting civilians already at the margins of society is not collateral damage. It is a war crime. And every day without accountability only deepens the cruelty.