4-year-old Gazan girl bears pain of amputation, dreams of playing and running again

Four-year-old Jamalat Dabban sits beside her doll inside a displacement tent in the Gaza Strip, waiting for a prosthetic leg that could help her walk, play and run again.

The little girl lost her left leg in an Israeli attack on a neighboring tent in May, forcing her to adapt to a life in which even the simplest movements require help.

Inside the small tent pitched on sandy ground, her mother, Rasha, carries her in her arms, combs her hair and helps her move around. The family was displaced from Beit Lahia in northern Gaza and has been living in the tent since.

Since the amputation, Jamalat has learned to move across the sand using her hands. At times, she tries to pull herself up by holding onto one of the tent poles.

Going outside, playing with other children and running have become difficult tasks.

Before she was injured, Jamalat was "a very active child who loved to play," her mother told Anadolu.

"But my daughter has lost many parts of her childhood," Rasha said, adding that Jamalat now needs constant assistance, even for basic daily movements.

- Attack on neighboring tent

The family had been living in Beit Lahia before being displaced to the tent where Jamalat was injured.

"We were an ordinary family. It was an ordinary day. We had breakfast and sat in the tent, and suddenly the neighboring tent was directly targeted," Rasha recalled.

"My daughter was injured and lost her leg."

The attack occurred May 11, according to Rasha. She and her son were also injured, but their wounds were treatable. Jamalat's injuries, however, were so severe that doctors had to amputate her left leg.

- 'Give me my leg back'

Inside the tent, Jamalat holds her father's phone and scrolls through old photographs.

She stops at one showing herself with her brother before the injury.

In the photograph, both of her legs are visible.

Jamalat stares at the image for a long time before pointing to the leg in the picture, as if trying to make sense of what happened to her body.

Rasha said her daughter asked her to give her leg back so she could move around and play with her brother.

The girl still does not fully understand that the loss is permanent, her mother said.

Even after her wound healed, Jamalat again asked her mother to return her leg.

"What did this child do to deserve what happened? Her only fault is that she is a child living in Gaza," Rasha said.

- Thousands of amputations

Jamalat's case is one of thousands of amputations in Gaza since the start of Israel's genocide, while amputees face difficulties obtaining prosthetic limbs and rehabilitation services.

Hosni Muhanna, media and public relations officer at Gaza's Prosthetics and Paralysis Rehabilitation Center, told Anadolu that the center is facing growing pressure as the number of amputees and people with paralysis continues to rise.

He said the Health Ministry has recorded more than 6,000 amputations among cases documented through the Sehhaty system, launched in partnership with the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Children account for about 25% of the center's beneficiaries, increasing the need for rehabilitation and prosthetic programs that can accommodate their changing needs as they grow, according to Muhanna.

He said the blockade and restrictions on bringing essential materials and supplies into Gaza have limited the center's ability to deal with the growing number of patients and lengthened waiting lists for prosthetic limbs and assistive devices.

Prosthetic manufacturing is also facing severe shortages of materials and equipment, including plaster used in key stages of the manufacturing process, he added.

In February, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the UN and its partners had been able to bring only about 300 prosthetic limbs into Gaza since December 2025, despite more than 6,000 recorded amputations.

Muhanna urged international organizations and rights groups to work toward opening crossings and allowing raw materials, equipment and components needed to manufacture prosthetics into Gaza, enabling the center to expand its services to those injured.

The conditions of 2,277 amputees in Gaza were assessed between September 2024 and May 2026, according to the World Health Organization. Of them, 18% were children, while 76% had undergone lower-limb amputations.

Since a US-brokered ceasefire took effect Oct. 10, 2025, Israeli attacks have killed 1,303 Palestinians and injured 4,336, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Since October 2023, the Israeli army has killed more than 73,400 victims and injured over 174,400 in its genocidal war on Gaza.