Nurses in Bologna treat amputee Shaymaa Shady, 5, one of a group 16 young Palestinians airlifted to hospitals in Italy. Shaymaa had her first amputation in January after an explosion in Gaza, where her prospects for recovery are not good as war strains the health-care system.Nariman El-Mofty/The New York Times
First came the crushed bones, seared skin and soft tissue gouged by shrapnel from Israel’s intense bombing campaign in Gaza, which has injured many more than it has killed.
Then came the infections. For some, amputation has followed. Others have died.
Roughly a third of Gaza’s hospitals have continued to provide acute care through more than six months of war, with medical personnel working to provide life-saving interventions to those not killed by aerial attacks.
But doctors and aid workers say the often lengthy healing process has created a new set of medical difficulties, as the wounded struggle to secure proper medication and maintain hygiene in crowded camps.
Palestinian health authorities have counted nearly 34,000 dead but say more than 76,000 people have been injured.
Hospitals able to provide surgeries, set broken bones and stop bleeding have little space to keep patients after their initial care.
“Those that are lucky with lesser wounds might heal. But those who have serious wounds or untreated fractures – they can only worsen,” said Federico Dessi, a regional director for French aid group Humanity & Inclusion who recently returned from 12 days in Gaza. “That can lead to an amputation, or sometimes even to death if they get septicemia.”
Palestinian journalist Sami Shehada, wounded in an Israeli strike, lies on the floor at Deir Al-Balah’s Al-Aqsa hospital.Doaa Rouqa/Reuters
Some lose limbs because they are too badly damaged. For others, amputation is a