17 000eye injuries during the war on Gaza

Thousands of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip face the risk of permanent blindness due to the ongoing Israeli blockade and the prevention of the entry of necessary medical equipment. This comes amidst an unprecedented surge in eye injuries deliberately inflicted by the Israeli army during the war, despite the passage of 90 days since the ceasefire agreement.

Dr. Abdul Salam Sabah, a consultant ophthalmologist and director of the Ministry of Health’s eye hospital in the Gaza Strip, warned that those with eye injuries face a real risk of losing their sight due to the lack of appropriate treatments and equipment. He noted that the hospital records daily cases of vision loss among injured and ill patients as a result of the inability to perform necessary surgical interventions, due to the continued Israeli blockade and the prevention of medical supplies from entering the Strip.

In an interview with the Qatar News Agency (QNA),Dr. Sabah revealed that the number of war injuries in Gaza has exceeded 171,000, according to Ministry of Health statistics. He explained that approximately 11% of these injuries are eye injuries, amounting to nearly 17,000 cases. He further clarified that children constitute 20% of these injuries and are the most vulnerable to vision loss due to their weaker immune systems, which foreshadows a rise in the number of visually impaired individuals in the community. He also noted that the number of those who have actually lost their sight during the war has exceeded 3,000, with no final, accurate statistics yet available. He expects the true numbers, once officially recorded, to be much higher and shocking. He stressed that many injuries require urgent medical intervention, especially those involving eye penetration and shrapnel, which can lead to serious infections and even eye eruption. He emphasized that delaying immediate intervention in