Gaza amputees face life in war zone with little hope

Farah Abu Gainash hoped to become a teacher but can Israeli air strike last year injured her so badly she lost her left leg, throwing all her future plans into doubt and adding the 21-year-old to a list of thousands of new amputees in devastated Gaza.

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Still living in temporary shelter, Abu Qainas attends physiotherapy sessions at a prosthetics centre in the territory where she waits in a wheelchair for an artificial limb that could allow her some freedom again.

"That day I lost more than just my leg. My dreams vanished," she said.

"I longed to attend university and teach children.

But this injury has stolen that future." Israel's military campaign has since killed more than 50,000 Palestinians in Gaza, local health authorities say, and left most of the tiny, crowded coastal territory in ruins and nearly all its people homeless.

Many thousands more have suffered injuries that will change their lives for decades to come.

But amid a conflict that has left the medical system barely able to function, estimates for how many Palestinians have lost limbs vary.

"Across Gaza, it is estimated that 4,500 new amputees require prosthetics, in addition to the 2,000 existing cases requiring maintenance and follow-up care," the UN humanitarian agency OCHA reported last month.