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ONE STEP AT A TIME

Rehabilitation in Gaza

By UK-Med

February 18^th, 2026

Inside a tent at the field hospital in Al Mawasi, Gaza Strip, the rehabilitation team are performing miracles.

For them, it is simply part of the job. For their patients — many arriving unable to walk or in need of intensive support after terrible injuries — it is a lifeline. A first, tentative step on the long road back to independence and dignity.

Hanaa's Dilemma

Hanaa, a physiotherapist with UK-Med since June 2024, is a mother of four children aged between three and twelve. Like most families in Gaza, they have been displaced multiple times during the conflict. Recently, they were able to return to their home in the Middle Area.

But coming to work each day is not simple.

“I leave my home — and my heart and my mind are with my children due to the continued attacks,” she says.

She leaves at around 5:00am, travelling “with the moon”. The journey to the field hospital can take up to two hours. Meanwhile, her children make their own risky journey to school, walking close to the so-called yellow line. Hanaa is grateful they are learning again, but the distance between them weighs heavily.

Despite this, she continues to show up — for her patients.

When asked about a case that stays with her, she begins to tell the story of 22-year-old woman. Huda sustained injuries which rendered her monoplegic; losing the ability to move one of her legs.

Huda: Learning to walk again

Originally from Rafah, Huda — like 95 per cent of Gaza’s population — has been displaced many times, now living in a tent with twelve family members. She is a widow and mother to a young son.

At the start of the conflict, her husband was killed while trying to buy flour for their family. Their baby was just four months old. A stray shell struck him on his way home. He died from his injuries at Nasser Medical Complex before she could say goodbye.

“I felt a pain I could not tolerate,” she recalls. “But I had to stay strong for my son.”

From Rehabilitation to Recovery

Last year, tragedy struck again. As she rocked her child in their tent, a stray bullet tore into her leg. The impact destroyed tissue and left her leg feeling instantly heavy. At her first consultation in an overwhelmed health facility nearby, the injury was dismissed as minor.

A whole month later, she arrived at the UK-Med field hospital and had surgery to remove the bullet. When she was referred to physiotherapy, she was using a wheelchair.

Through consistent rehabilitation and her own determination, movement slowly returned. Today, she can walk.

It is not perfect, she says — but it is progress. She continues to attend regular check-ups, each step a reminder of how far she has come

A New and Growing Threat

Traumatic injuries remain a constant and visible reality in Gaza. But alongside them, new and unexpected complications are emerging.

Overcrowding, limited access to clean water and unsanitary conditions have contributed to a rise in cases of Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS), a rare autoimmune disease that attacks the peripheral nerves and can lead to paralysis. Often triggered by bacterial infections such as Campylobacter jejuni, GBS can cause sudden, frightening weakness and pain.

Seven-year-old Mohammed is one of those affected.

You would not know it from the expression on his face as he jumps across the physiotherapy tent.

His father explains that Mohammed had been playing happily on the beach with his siblings. The next morning, he woke up unable to walk. Soon he was stumbling and falling.

“At first, I didn’t take it seriously,” his father admits. “I had never seen anything like it.”

But Mohammed’s condition deteriorated rapidly. At Nasser Medical Complex, doctors diagnosed GBS — and explained that cases were becoming increasingly prevalent. After a week in hospital, he was discharged.

Through word of mouth, his family learned about UK-Med’s physiotherapy services.

In July 2025, Head of Physiotherapy Osama allocated Mohammed a wheelchair. He was lucky. GBS has an approximately 5 per cent mortality rate, with young children and vulnerable adults the hardest hit. If the disease had progressed unchecked, severe cases develop life-threatening breathing difficulties requiring ventilation – a result of the body’s continued attack on the nervous system.

Since then, he has attended rehabilitation sessions three times a week. Working with physiotherapist Ghadeer, Mohammed now steps, hops and jumps through carefully designed exercises. Frustration sometimes flickers across his face — but it quickly fades with encouragement. The session ends with him sitting proudly in a large chair, wiggling his toes, while his father watches on.

Recovery is slow. But it is happening.

Rehabilitation as Essential Care

UK-Med has integrated rehabilitation as a core part of its response in Gaza, recognising it as essential to comprehensive healthcare. Rehabilitation helps prevent further complications, reduces the risk of long-term disability, and gives patients the best possible chance of rebuilding their lives.

The scale of need is immense.

A 2025 World Health Organization report estimated that nearly 42,000 people in Gaza are living with life-changing injuries from the conflict — including more than 10,000 children. Major limb injuries form the largest group requiring rehabilitation, alongside amputations, burns, spinal cord injuries and traumatic brain injuries.

But rehabilitation needs extend beyond war wounds.

People living with chronic conditions and disabilities must continue to receive care in an extraordinarily challenging context. The rise in Guillain-Barré Syndrome shows that physical trauma is not the only driver of need. The medium- and long-term consequences of famine, disease, displacement and disrupted health services are also reshaping the rehabilitation landscape.

Unmet need - and solutions

One of the team’s biggest challenges is the shortage of equipment — crutches, walkers, wheelchairs and other assistive devices are in high demand.

Yet the team continues to innovate. They fashion dumbbells from concrete and tins. They create makeshift equipment from whatever materials are available. They adapt, improvise and persist.

Because for every patient who arrives unable to stand, the goal is the same: one foot in front of the other.

In Gaza today, that first step is an act of hope.

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