Lose a limb or risk death? Growing numbers among Gaza's thousands of war-wounded face hard decisions
ABC News
Gaza's more than 54,500 war-wounded include a growing number of amputees who face hard choices and challenges as they try to survive in a war zone
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip -- The doctors gave Shaimaa Nabahin an impossible choice: lose your left leg or risk death.
The 22-year-old had been hospitalized in Gaza for around a week, after her ankle was partially severed in an Israeli airstrike, when doctors told her she was suffering from blood poisoning. Nabahin chose to maximize her chances of survival, and agreed to have her leg amputated 15 centimeters (6 inches) below the knee.
The decision upended life for the ambitious university student, as it has for untold others among the more than 54,500 war-wounded who faced similar gut-wrenching choices.
“My whole life has changed,” said Nabahin, speaking from her bed at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central town of Deir al-Balah. “If I want to take a step or go anywhere, I need help.”
The World Health Organization and the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza say amputations have become commonplace during the Israel-Hamas war, now in its 12th week, but could not offer precise figures. At the hospital in Deir al-Balah, dozens of recent amputees are in various stages of treatment and recovery.
