Gaza cousins ​​face loss of youth and family tragedy after amputations | Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Abdullah Nattat was once an energetic young man working as a singer and performer, organizing weddings and entertaining children.

The 30-year-old now sits in a wheelchair, with both legs amputated.

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“Every year around this time, I was usually busy performing at the Christmas and New Year celebrations organized by hotels and restaurants in Gaza before the war,” Abdullah told Al Jazeera with a sad smile.

In September, as Israeli ground military operation began in northern Gaza, Abdullah was moved from Beit Lahiya in the north to an apartment belonging to relatives in central Gaza City.

There, while walking among a group of pedestrians near the as-Saraya intersection, an airstrike struck.

Abdullah survived, but his injuries will change his life.

“I was coming back from the market with a friend and had bought some things for the house,” said Abdullah, married with a four-year-old child.

“Suddenly there was a huge explosion. I only woke up when I found myself lying on the ground, surrounded by black smoke. I tried to get up, but I couldn’t. I looked at my legs, one was completely severed at the knee and the other was badly torn,” he recalled.

“I didn’t understand what happened. I looked beside me and found my friend lying there, torn up, his legs injured just like mine. We were both soaked in our own blood.”

Not alone

After his injury, Abdullah lost consciousness. He later woke up in hospital to the devastating news that both of his legs had been amputated above the knee. White bandages were wrapped around the wounds.

“This moment was extremely hard and difficult for me,” Abdullah said. “But what could I do? It was God’s will, and I forced myself to accept it, no matter what.”

“I am not alone, as you can see. My cousin Diaa, who lives with us, is suffering like me. We share the same burden.”

Abdullah continued speaking as he welcomed his cousin Diaa Abu Nahl, 30, his close friend and former colleague with whom he organized the wedding celebrations.

Diaa endured an even more devastating tragedy.

In July, he was injured in a direct Israeli strike on their family home in Beit Lahiya, killing 22 people, including his wife and two daughters: five-year-old Hala and three-year-old Sama.

Diaa’s right leg was amputated, while the other was seriously injured and requires further surgeries to save it.

“The strike took place around 2:30 a.m. We were all sleeping, lying next to each other: my wife, my daughters and me,” Diaa told Al Jazeera.

“I didn’t feel anything. I woke up to a room filled with black ash and screaming all around me. I tried to get up, but I couldn’t. When I looked at my legs, I saw that they were torn apart, each in a different direction,” he added.

“I stopped focusing on my legs and started looking around for my wife and daughters, but I couldn’t see them. Then I lost consciousness due to heavy bleeding.”

At the hospital, Diaa realized he had lost his two daughters and his wife of 26 years.

“I keep thinking about how they died and I didn’t, even though I was right next to them,” Diaa said. “I completely lost the meaning of life after losing them, and my injury made everything even more difficult.”

As Diaa spontaneously told her story to Al Jazeera, Abdullah’s face was filled with deep sadness and compassion for his cousin and friend.

“Her story is incredibly painful,” Abdullah said softly as Diaa struggled to hold back tears. “He lost his leg and the most precious people in his life: his wife and children.”

“In Gaza, when you see someone else’s tragedy, your own pain seems lighter,” he added.

“Living in a wheelchair”

After two years of genocidal war waged by Israel against Gaza, a ceasefire was declared in Octoberalthough Israel continue to attack periodically, killing hundreds of Palestinians.

Abdullah and Diaa are trying to move on and are currently undergoing physiotherapy sessions at a medical center run by the Gaza municipality.

The two young men spend most of their time together and now live in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in the north of Gaza City, at Diaa’s family home.

In their common wounds and suffering, they find comfort and solidarity, even as they do not hide their grief over their lost youth and the reality of living with amputations in a devastated Gaza.

“After our legs faced the wind, we now live on wheelchairs,” Abdullah said, spinning the wheels of his chair from side to side.

“We need help at every step. Someone has to push us from behind. Our bodies are weak and badly affected by the cold. We need intensive care and prosthetics, and none of this is available in Gaza at the moment.”

According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, approximately 6,000 limb amputations have been recorded since the start of the Israeli war in the Gaza Strip in October 2023 until the end of 2025.

Children make up about 25 percent of these cases, while women make up about 12.7 percent.

The ministry says amputees need urgent and long-term rehabilitation programs that are not currently available in Gaza, including advanced prosthetics.

A better future?

Abdullah and Diaa now share the same wish: to get back up.

“All my thoughts and dreams now revolve around standing with prosthetics,” Abdullah said.

“Every night, when I lie in bed, I imagine myself with complete legs and that the next morning I will get up on them,” he added with emotion.

Abdullah and Diaa hope they will soon have the opportunity to travel abroad for treatment and prosthetics.

“As you can see, our most basic rights have become mere dreams and wishes – in a war in which we did not participate,” Abdullah said.

“We have lost so much over the past two years. We hope that the coming year will bring compensation and better days.”