Gaza’s Young Amputees Grapple with Loss and Hope in Jordan Rehabilitation Center

At 15 years old, Mahmoud Abou Nusair recalls the love he had for football, before Israeli fire in Gaza took his leg and his dreams away.

He is one of over 450 Palestinian amputees receiving treatment and prosthetic limbs at a rehabilitation center in Amman and in Gaza, part of an initiative run by Jordan’s Restoring Hope Society.

– Mahmoud, 15 –

On October 31, 2025, during the ongoing Gaza ceasefire agreed that month, Mahmoud Abou Nusair was searching for firewood in Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, when a bullet struck his right leg.

With Gaza’s healthcare system severely damaged after years of conflict, he was forced to undergo an amputation below the knee after his injury deteriorated.

“The doctor came to see me and told me, ‘We have to amputate your foot,'” he told AFP.

“My mother said, ‘No, doctor, that’s his soul. What will he do if he wants to go out, play football, skate or go to the beach? It’s a sin to cut off his foot.'”

“My first reaction was to scream,” he said. “Then I looked around at the injured people in the hospital. They all had amputated arms and legs, so I told myself: my injury is not worse.”

“Then I said, ‘Amputate it, doctor.'”

Following his injury, he remembers waiting half an hour for a horse-drawn cart to transport him to Al-Aqsa Hospital.

He was later moved to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, where he remained for two weeks.

He still mourns the loss of his sports equipment and his five soccer balls, all destroyed when his home was demolished.

– Zuhdi, 17 –

At the facility in Amman, 17-year-old Zuhdi Abou Shanab shares that he lost his entire right leg in a strike that killed nine people and wounded 28 others on September 8, 2025.

“I was on my way to buy groceries for my mother and I ran into a friend so we stopped to talk,” he told AFP.

“When they struck the building next to where we were standing, I lost consciousness and when I woke up, I found myself wounded and bleeding.”

“A week later, the doctors told me that I was suffering from an infection in the artery of my leg and that three veins and three arteries had been severed,” he continued.

“I underwent surgery to reattach the arteries and veins, but it was unsuccessful, and they decided to amputate my leg.”

“The war has devastated us and torn us away from our friends… there is nothing left,” he added.

Despite his circumstances, he remains hopeful about recovery and dreams of “returning to Gaza.”

“I miss my mother, my brothers and my sisters.”

– Abdulrahman, 16 –

Abdulrahman Rihan lost the use of his legs when his family home in Jabalia, northern Gaza was bombed on the morning of January 12, 2025.

Both he and his father sustained severe injuries. They were taken to multiple hospitals in Gaza, where they “endured difficult and painful surgeries,” Abdulrahman recalled.

Three of his brothers were also wounded. Their father, Imad Rihan, 42, said he had to “undergo several surgeries without anesthesia in Gaza.”

“This war was very hard on us,” said the father, who also lost his left leg.

“No matter how much we speak about the war, or how much you may have witnessed, all of this remains but a drop in the ocean compared to what we experienced firsthand.”

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