UN disability rights committee publishes findings on State of Palestine

03 September 2025

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Persons with disabilities affected by conflict in the Occupied Palestinian Territory*
The Committee noted with grave concern the extensive loss of life and heightened risks of violence faced by Palestinians with disabilities in both Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. In Gaza, the limited supply and access to specialised and life-saving services, medical equipment and assistive devices led to the deaths of children and older people with disabilities. Reports highlighted deaths due to famine, acute malnutrition, and deprivation of access to water in Gaza. The Committee also underscored gender-based violence in displacement camps and indiscriminate attacks on civilian spaces, hospitals, schools, shelters and rehabilitation centres. In the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, people with disabilities were also directly subjected to settler violence and abuses by Israeli Security Forces. The Committee urged Israel to ensure full compliance with international humanitarian and human rights law, protection of civilians and humanitarian personnel, and the prioritisation of people with disabilities in evacuation and relief. It also called for the end of militarised aid distribution, gender-based violence prevention, and measures to ensure children and older people with disabilities could access health, education, psychosocial, and rehabilitation services.

The Committee found that early warning systems and evacuation consistently failed to protect people with disabilities. It received information that warnings and evacuation orders, including signs of explosive ordnance and text messages, were often inaccessible to people with hearing or visual impairments, leaving them unable to evacuate. Reports also described people with disabilities being forced to flee in unsafe and undignified conditions, such as crawling through sand or mud without mobility assistance. The Committee was informed that 83 per cent had lost their assistive devices and could not afford alternatives, such as donkey carts. In response, it called for accessible and inclusive warning systems and evacuation protocols of people with disabilities and their support persons, stressed the importance of guaranteeing safe corridors, and urged third States to streamline evacuation procedures so that adults, children, and older people with disabilities could leave with the medical, psychosocial, and rehabilitation support they required.

In addition, the Committee emphasised the disproportionate impacts and deprivation caused by the blockade of humanitarian aid. People with disabilities faced severe disruptions in assistance, leaving many without food, clean water, or sanitation and dependent on others for survival. Entry bans, limits on aid, attacks on convoys, and overall scarcity worsened the situation, while discrimination in distribution routinely excluded them, with women with disabilities in displacement facing particular barriers. Physical obstacles, such as rubble and the loss of mobility devices, further prevented, especially older people, from reaching relocated aid points. The Committee urged Israel to lift restrictions on humanitarian operations, ensure the unrestricted entry of essential supplies, and enable the distribution of mobile and home-based aid. It also recommended that humanitarian actors adopt disability-inclusive practices, guarantee non-discriminatory access for women and girls, and strengthen local capacity to support people with disabilities. Additionally, it called on international donors and organisations to ensure reconstruction funds prioritised accessibility, individualised support, and community inclusion rather than institutionalisation.

The above findings are now available on the session page.

* It was a special review focused on Article 11 of the Convention regarding situations of risk, war/armed conflicts, and humanitarian emergencies.