35,000 ‘Partially or Completely’ Deaf in Gaza Due to Israeli Bombings. Gaza: 35.000 sorderas por bombas israelíes ENG ESP

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35,000 ‘Partially or Completely’ Deaf in Gaza Due to Israeli Bombings – Report

January 9, 2026
By Palestine Chronicle Staff  

Due to Israel’s ongoing blockade, not a single hearing aid has entered the Gaza Strip for nearly a year, according to one of the doctors.

An estimated 35,000 children and adults “have partially or completely” lost their hearing due to bombings during Israel’s two-year genocidal assault on the Gaza Strip, according to a Le Monde report, citing a survey by a local non-profit organization.

“Hearing loss can result from injuries to the head or neck, brain trauma causing ruptured eardrums and damage to the auditory system. But it can also be caused by exposure to sound waves, even if a person was not physically injured,” Dr. Ramadan Hussein, an audiologist working with the Atfaluna Society for the Deaf, reportedly said.

“These hearing disorders are, most often, irreversible,” he stressed.

‘Power of Explosion’

One such child whose hearing was affected by the bombings is a 12-year-old girl by the name of Dana. She was resting in her room in Gaza City when an Israeli missile hit the building just across from hers, the report said.

Dana’s father stressed that the explosion “was extremely violent”, with the door to her room torn off and the windows blown out. Although she survived the blast, Dana lost her hearing.

Specialists at the Atfaluna organization confirmed that Dana is suffering from “a very severe hearing loss”.

They said that “Because of the power of the explosion, the auditory nerve was severely damaged, perhaps even completely destroyed.”

No one in the Abou Amro family knows sign language. To communicate with 12-year-old Dana, who has become deaf, her desperate parents have resorted to shouting. Only Alina, her 4-year-old little sister, has managed to connect with her by speaking directly into her ear. "Alina has become our interpreter. Otherwise, we have no way of understanding Dana's needs. It is a tremendous suffering," said their father, Ziad, age 52, reached by phone. Israel still bans journalists from entering the Gaza Strip.

Dana was not born deaf. In early September, she was resting in her room in Gaza City when the building just across from hers was hit by Israeli missiles. "The explosion was extremely violent, the door to her room was torn off and the windows were blown out," her father recounted.

The young girl survived, but in the days that followed, her family noticed a change in her behavior: Dana no longer reacted as before, no longer understood when she was spoken to. Her parents took her to consult specialists from the Atfaluna Society for Deaf Children, a pioneering organization that has operated in Gaza since 1992 and whose 132 employees have not stopped working, despite the destruction of the group's main center in the enclave. 

Five-Day-Old Baby

In another case, a baby who was just five days old was thrown and buried under the sand when an Israeli missile struck one meter from his family’s tent in the al-Mawassai area of Khan Yunis, the report said.

His mother, Safa al-Qara, said, “We found him thanks to his feet sticking out. He was in a terrible state; we thought he was going to die.” Four months after his birth, his mother noticed that “something was wrong.”

She said that only movement “got his attention, not sounds.” He was subsequently diagnosed with a zero level of hearing.

The report stated that he urgently requires a hearing aid or cochlear implant to avoid sever developmental delays – an impossible task in the besieged enclave with Israel having blocked the entry of some medical equipment and medicines.

“For nearly a year, not a single hearing aid has entered the Gaza Strip,” Dr. Hussein warned, adding that “even those who already have them will soon be unable to use them, because batteries are also banned.”
Infrastructure Destroyed

In addition to the shortages, laboratories to make custom ear molds and much of the infrastructure needed to treat hearing disorders has been destroyed by Israel’s ground offensive, the report stated. Many specialists in this field have also already left the enclave due to the genocidal war.

Dr. Hussein warned that “Forced displacements, continuous bombings, famine and the lack of medicine affect pregnant women and fetuses and can lead to the birth of children with disabilities, including hearing loss.”

At the same time, with the worsening conditions in displacement camps, malnutrition and the lack of primary care, there is the risk of infections.

Fady Abed, the director of Atfaluna, warned that even minor infections, “like ear infections, can cause permanent hearing loss if not treated in time,” the report stated.

Staggering Death Toll

Starting on October 7, 2023, the Israeli military, with American support, launched a genocidal war against the people of Gaza. This campaign has so far resulted in the deaths of over 71,300 Palestinians, with more than 171,000 wounded. The vast majority of the population has been displaced, and the destruction of infrastructure is unprecedented since World War II. Thousands of people are still missing.

In addition to the military assault, the Israeli blockade has caused a man-made famine, leading to the deaths of hundreds of Palestinians—mostly children—with hundreds of thousands more at risk.

Despite widespread international condemnation, little has been done to hold Israel accountable. The nation is currently under investigation for genocide by the International Court of Justice, while accused war criminals, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, are officially wanted by the International Criminal Court.

Photo: Basem Al-Habel, a Palestinian influencer who is hard of hearing, turned to social media to document the war in Gaza using sign language, Gaza, August 5, 2025. EBRAHIM HAJJAJ / REUTERS

NOTE
An anthropologist who works with deaf communities in the Arabic-speaking Middle East argues that ending Israel’s war on Gaza and occupation of Palestine is a matter of disability justice.

By Timothy Y. Loh    
26 Sep 2024

On March 6, 2024, I woke up to the horrific news that the Israeli military had bombed the building of the Atfaluna Society for Deaf Children (ASDC) in Gaza City, part of the ongoing war on Gaza that began last October. In one photo that made the rounds on my social media feeds, Israeli soldiers pose in full gear, gripping their rifles, in front of the school while the building burns behind them. Another depicted the aftermath of the military assault: windows shattered, rubble strewn, letters missing from the school’s sign—a shadow of its former self.

Off The Grid Missions, a Deaf-led disaster response organization that posted the pictures, wrote in a caption, “While this is not the first school Israel has attacked using bombs and white phosphorous, this was an attack on what was once a safe and empowering place for Deaf and Disabled children and directly affects our community and the people we serve.” At the time, they did not know the whereabouts of the children and staff. [1]

As one of perhaps only two schools for deaf people in Gaza, the bombing of the ASDC was a devastating loss. [2] The ASDC, established in 1992, is not just an educational institution but a nonprofit organization that provides a whole host of services to deaf Gazans, including vocational training, audiology and speech therapy, community training and awareness-raising programs, and even a restaurant.

 Photo: Deaf students communicated at a school for the deaf in Palestine in 2019. The mural (in Arabic) reads: “Your community loves you.”  Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto/Getty Images

 

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