Gaza's Children Pay the Price: 10,000 Chickenpox Cases, Most Amputees in the World as Israel Builds Giant Wall

The United Nations has reported that escalating Israeli military operations are driving living conditions in Gaza to a critical low, with repeated attacks severely damaging infrastructure and leaving many residents without access to clean water, food, and medical care [202380]. The UN human rights office added that Israeli attacks are still killing civilians despite a ceasefire agreement, stating that "nowhere is safe" for Palestinians in the territory [201245]. Since October 7, 2023, Israeli bombings have given Gaza a devastating record: the World Health Organization reports that the territory now has the highest number of amputee children per capita in the world [200646]. These children face forced displacement and a severe lack of medical care in a devastated territory [200646].

Health officials in Gaza report that chickenpox cases detected among children have reached nearly 10,000 [200684]. Lack of access to vaccines, malnutrition, crowded shelters, and disruptions to health services are increasing the risk of a wider outbreak [200684]. The violence continues to claim lives: three Palestinians died in Israeli shelling in Gaza City [199187], and a single Israeli airstrike killed 12 people, including a family of six [201521]. The dead include Firas al-Masri, his wife, and their four children; the Israeli military stated that the strike targeted a Hamas operative [201521]. In another incident, at least eight people were killed during a funeral in Gaza, with Israel's military saying it targeted a "terrorist cell" from the Islamic Jihad militant group [198653]. The Israeli military also admitted it was "aware of the claims that several uninvolved individuals" had been harmed in a separate strike that killed seven people [198587].

The Israeli military is building a large sand wall across Gaza, dividing the territory into separate zones [201305]. Satellite images show the new barrier, which is several meters high and stretches for kilometers, following the "Yellow Line" border drawn after the October 2025 ceasefire with Hamas [201305]. Israel has since expanded its control, now occupying more than 60% of the Gaza Strip [201305]. About 2 million Palestinians are crowded into the western zone [201305]. The Associated Press reports that 23 kilometers of the barrier have been built, passing through areas destroyed by Israeli bombing [201305]. The Israeli army told the AP that the wall creates a "security zone" with surveillance technology meant to stop "infiltrations" by Hamas fighters [201305]. Residents of Mawasi displacement camps told EFE that Israeli troops fired at them during construction, killing a 9-year-old boy, Moataz, while he was with his mother in their tent [201305]. His uncle showed EFE bullet holes in the plastic roof, saying the bullets hit the boy in the heart [201305]. Violence has continued since the Israeli bombing campaign ended in October 2025, with more than 1,100 Palestinians killed by Israeli attacks, many near the Yellow Line [201305].