Children Carrying Heaviest Burden of Israel’s Genocide in Gaza
From amputations to starvation and fetal deformities, Gaza’s children carry the heaviest burden of Israel’s genocide.
[15-year-old Obaida Atwan lost his right hand and foot in an airstrike in Khan Younis.]
In Gaza, childhood has become a battlefield.
In the uneasy silence of the ceasefire, the sound of war lingers in their bodies and minds. Tiny bodies carry wounds of wars they never chose. Some children sleep beside graves that hold their entire families. Others wake screaming in the dark, missing limbs, homes, or names they loved.
For two years, Israel’s genocide has reshaped life, and death, for an entire generation. The world may not yet grasp the full scale of this genocide until every testimony and number is documented.
Israel’s assault has left a deep, irreversible scar on Gaza’s 2.4 million people, especially on children, who make up nearly half the population. Their suffering is physical, psychological, and generational. Quds News Network spoke with officials, medical professionals, and families whose children have been permanently injured. Their accounts reveal how Israeli attacks, often carried out with US-made weapons, have devastated children’s bodies and futures, even before birth.
Scarred Tiny Bodies
As the skies over Gaza screamed with missiles, massacres followed. Thousands of children were slaughtered. Others survived, disfigured, amputated, or burned.
Zaher Al-Wihaidi, Director of the Information Unit at the Health Ministry, told QNN that around 170,000 people have been injured, nearly 44,000 of them children. Eighteen percent are in critical condition, requiring long-term rehabilitation for injuries such as amputations, fractures, burns, and brain trauma.
Twelve-year-old Hala Shukri Dahleez was playing on a swing when an Israeli missile struck nearby.
“My hair got caught in the swing chain,” she said. “When it flipped, my scalp was ripped off along with my hair.”
Her mother said repeated procedures failed to heal her scalp. Infections worsened, leaving Hala in constant pain.
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Al-Wihaidi confirmed that over 5,000 Palestinians suffered amputations, including 1,200 children. Fifteen-year-old Obaida Atwan lost his right hand and foot in an airstrike in Khan Younis.
“Before the war, he studied and played football,” said his father. “Now he’s in a wheelchair, trying to learn how to live again.”
Children like Obaida need prosthetics and rehabilitation, yet Gaza lacks even basic medical supplies due to the ongoing Israeli blockade.
[Mohammad Abu Akar was hit while fetching water with his family.]
Mohammad Abu Akar, another child amputee, was hit while fetching water with his family. His father Akram recalled the moment that changed everything:
“He keeps asking me, ‘When will my leg grow again?’”
Unable to find treatment in Gaza’s collapsed health system, Akram could only watch his son’s dreams fade.
Dima Abu Shakian, 11, was rescued from the rubble after eight hours. She woke from a three-week coma with burns, fractures, and missing toes, only to learn her entire family had been killed.
“All I hope is that she will one day walk again,” said her aunt.
A few injured children, including Obaida and Mohammad, were later evacuated abroad and fitted with prosthetics. But more than 1,200 others remain trapped in Gaza, waiting for the crossings to open. Their recovery is suspended between life and death.
Malnutrition Scars
Since the start of Israel’s genocidal campaign and the closure of crossings, Gaza has been pushed into famine. Food has become a memory. Families survive on lentils, if anything.
According to the Health Ministry, 650,000 children are at risk of death due to malnutrition, including 40,000 infants without baby formula. More than 5,200 children require urgent medical evacuation.
Ruba Omar, a community health worker at Ard El-Insan Benevolent Association, said that even children with wheat allergies are dying because alternatives like corn flour no longer exist.
“We recorded three deaths from wheat allergy alone,” she said.
[Eight-year-old Huda Abu Al-Naja has been diagnosed with acute malnutrition.]
Eight-year-old Huda Abu Al-Naja weighed 30 kilograms before the genocide. Her mother said Huda had never needed a doctor until the siege began.
“When food disappeared, she started losing weight, her hair fell out, her skin peeled,” her mother said.
Huda was diagnosed with acute malnutrition. After seven months of suffering, she died waiting for Rafah Crossing to open.
Seleen Wadi, a child under two, suffers from severe malnutrition and a critical deficiency of protein and albumin. Her frail body shows pronounced swelling in her feet. Her mother said Seleen cannot walk or perform any physical activity. “I pray she recovers if we can access food, fruits, mineral water, meat, and eggs,” she added.
At Nasser Medical Hospital, physical therapist Yara Mohammad surveyed displaced families in Khan Younis.
“We examined 400 children in a single day,” she said. “Twenty-three had malnutrition. Most couldn’t walk or crawl at the normal age.”
Yara explained that the blockade has also halted vaccinations. Israel prevented the entry of the rotavirus vaccine, which protects against chronic diarrhea, worsening malnutrition. “Even bananas, which help restore potassium, have vanished,” she added.
The Health Ministry reported 453 deaths from malnutrition, including 150 children. Only 80% of Gaza’s population remains vaccinated. Children now face the dual threat of hunger and disease.
[Seleen Wadi, a child under two, suffers from severe malnutrition and a critical deficiency of protein and albumin.]
Mark on Gaza’s Unborn
Even unborn children have not been spared.
Dr. Ziad Abu Taha, an obstetrician at Nasser Hospital, said Israel’s bombing, the blockade, and displacement have led to a surge in miscarriages, premature births, and birth defects. In 2025 alone, 400 cases of birth defects were recorded.
He explained that toxic chemicals from Israeli weapons cause anemia and hinder fetal growth. Babies are being born with brain and heart defects and hydrocephalus. Trauma and malnutrition among pregnant women have increased fertility problems and miscarriages.
Midwife Dina Qeshta from the Field Red Cross Hospital in Khan Younis said Israel’s destruction of Gaza’s only IVF and fertility centers has left many women without reproductive care.
“Power outages and overcrowded incubators force women to give birth in tents,” she said. “Many die before reaching hospitals.”
Meanwhile, medical sources reported a sharp rise in congenital malformations, linking the surge to the inhalation of toxic gases and radiation from Israeli bombardments.
[Dima Abu Shakian, 11, was rescued from the rubble after eight hours.]
According to Dr. Mohammed Abu Afash, Director of Medical Relief in Gaza City and northern Gaza, the rate of fetal deformities has exceeded 25%, a figure he described as “alarming, dangerous, and unprecedented.”
He cited shocking cases, including a fetus born with half a skull, and others suffering from eye and respiratory defects or missing limbs, in addition to a rise in early miscarriages and premature births.
Abu Afash warned of a serious threat to the lives of at least 150,000 pregnant women in the Strip due to toxic exposure and weakened immunity. He also noted the absence of diagnostic equipment to detect birth defects early, after Israel destroyed laboratories and clinics and blocked medical supplies.
Meanwhile, Dr. Marwan Al-Hams, Director-General of Gaza’s hospitals, said fetal deformities have surpassed normal global levels, recording about 200 cases per 1,000 births, compared to the World Health Organization’s average of 40.
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The Ministry of Health reported that more than 55,000 children were born over the past 18 months, including 144 documented cases of congenital malformations.
According to Dr. Munir Al-Bursh, Director-General of the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, these deformities are likely linked to new Israeli weapons tested directly on civilians, including women and children.
From amputations to starvation and fetal deformities, Gaza’s children carry the heaviest burden of Israel’s genocide. Their suffering did not end with the fragile ceasefire, it became their new normal.
[The above article has been first published in Quds News Network. Except the headline, the original content has neither been edited nor changed by ummid.com.]
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