A long road to freedom for disabled people in Palestine

*The author is a New Zealand-based activist who has asked to remain anonymous to protect their safety during upcoming international travel to countries that are hostile to activists.

The announcement of a ceasefire in Palestine this week was an eruption of joy and emotion for Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank and a hopeful breath of relief for onlookers.

As we watched the 42 boats of the Sumud Flotilla try to break the seige, officials gave speeches calling for peace at the United Nations Security General Assembly. More and more countries are recognising Palestine as a sovereign state and it feels like a build up of energy moving towards the two year anniversary of the October 7 attacks on Israel that triggered the genocide against Palestinians.

The ceasefire represents a fragile sense of hope; while it’s only the first step towards lasting peace in the region, it means people can bury their family members, reunite with prisoners who had been kept illegally, go back to their home towns, and simply exist without the ever present fear of attacks. However, Israel has already killed nine Palestinians and halved the original number of aid trucks agreed to enter.

As much as the ceasefire was a day of hope and elation, the genocide doesn’t end now, just as it didn’t begin on October 7 2023. We must remember this genocide within the context of the decades of violence inflicted on Palestine since the State of Israel was established in 1948, displacing 700,000 Palestinians and giving Israel control over most of the territory. After so much trauma, peace is not an easy ask.

The genocide in Gaza has been a mass disabling event, creating and worsening disabilities throughout the population. Not only did the proportion of disabled people in the population rapidly increase throughout the genocide, those with disabilities were most severely affected by the conflict. The conditions were dire for everyone, but for those who rely on medicine, mobility aids, healthcare and carers, survival became nearly impossible.

Anyone with a disability will understand how life can be exponentially more difficult, without the access to the right support. In a war zone, this struggle becomes acute. Hospitals were intentionally destroyed and health professionals and first responders killed, leaving the population without access to vital healthcare. Basic medical aid is still severely restricted and it will take years and significant funding to restore the healthcare infrastructure. 

Disabled people often can’t evacuate at short notice, leaving them in severe danger of bombings and attacks. Over 83% of disabled people in Gaza still don’t have the assistive devices they need, and in inaccessible environments were sometimes completely reliant on family to find food and carry them in evacuations. d/Deaf and hard-of-hearing people couldn’t hear warnings of bombings, and the lack of visual warning made them vulnerable to being caught in danger. People who relied on electricity or medicine to maintain their health were left desperate. For the 1.9 million Palestinians in Gaza displaced from their homes, those with disabilities are still affected by the extreme heat, cold and unsanitary conditions that come from living without adequate shelter. This risk in particular remains, with most houses left destroyed and families without the income to rebuild.

Not only is the situation catastrophic and often deadly for disabled people, the conflict created more disabled people. As of the beginning of the year, more than 28,000 Palestinians had become disabled since October 7 2023. Injuries causing disability include limb amputations, eye injuries, brain injuries, paralysis, burns and hearing loss from explosions.

If your definition of disability includes psychological injury, the rates shoot up even further, with the majority of the population experiencing depression, anxiety or PTSD. Newly disabled people didn’t have access to the medical care, rehabilitation or support that normally allows people to adapt to a new disability. Needless to say, the mass disabling of so many people, and the simultaneous destruction of healthcare facilities is cruel beyond description. 

As the ceasefire allows us to imagine an end to the conflict, disabled people in Gaza may not yet see an end to their struggle. Palestine is a long way from having a functioning health system and support for its large disabled population. The largest group of child amputees in modern history call Gaza home, and they look forward to an uncertain future forever marked by this conflict. The psychological trauma will be disabling to many for years to come, and I pray to see the international community come together to awhi Palestinians throughout their long recovery. 

It is easy to feel overwhelmed by the extent of the catastrophe. We must resist the feeling of helplessness, as this leads to apathy, which leads to complicity. I feel sure the ceasefire is in no small part due to the global outcry by so many ordinary citizens. We must uphold this energy, stand in solidarity with the international disabled community and highlight the plight of disabled people in Gaza, and in conflict-torn regions worldwide. We must advocate for disabled Palestinians rights to be upheld as aid returns to the region. The ceasefire does not mark the end of the battle for liberation, but the beginning. 

Despite the ceasefire, the occupation continues and hostages remain. At home – and everywhere – our voices must be heard in preparing for and responding to humanitarian disasters, as they usually affect us most severely. Strengthening our own communities makes us more resilient in the face of disasters. May we also remember Palestinians as not just victims, but resilient, joyful, beautiful people with dreams, hopes and the same right to liberation we all enjoy. Disabled and non-disabled, Palestinians and New Zealanders – we are all connected by a common thread of humanity. As we hopefully celebrate a potential end to the genocide, a heavy grief remains in accepting that the scars, physical and mental, will last for generations to come.

There is always something you can do:

• Donate to reputable charities such as UNRWA, or the Palestine Childrens Relief Fund who are working on the ground
• Follow Palestinian journalists and Al Jazeera for news on Gaza - bearing witness and staying informed is so important to resist complicity. 
• Protest! Boycott Israeli companies! Contact your representatives! - follow the Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa. They have a list of actions you can take on their website and their Facebook page and newsletter keep you updated on protests around the motu.

Read disabled Palestinians’ own stories:

• ‘Forgotten by the world’: Disability deepens sisters’ struggle in Gaza
• Disabled Palestinian refugees share harrowing experiences amid Gaza war
• Disabled Palestinians are facing horrors piled upon horrors. I think of their suffering every day

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