The UAE is expanding its support for Palestinians with amputations and other serious disabilities through a programme combining prosthetic limbs, rehabilitation, wheelchairs and psychological care.
Delivered under Operation Gallant Knight 3, the initiative is intended to move beyond emergency treatment and create a longer-term pathway helping injured people regain mobility and independence.
The scale of need is immense. Gulf News reports that more than 100,000 people in Gaza are now living with disabilities caused by the war. Many have also lost wheelchairs, walking aids and other essential equipment during repeated displacement.
At the centre of the UAE response is Step of Hope, a three-phase prosthetic programme designed to provide immediate fittings outside Gaza, use digital technology to reach patients inside the territory and eventually establish sustainable local manufacturing.
More than an artificial-limb distribution programme
Step of Hope includes medical assessment, residual-limb measurement, prosthetic manufacture and fitting, physiotherapy and continued follow-up.
The rehabilitation package also covers muscle strengthening, walking practice, psychological support and adjustments as the patient’s body and mobility change.
This integrated approach is important because receiving an artificial limb does not automatically restore function.
A person recovering from a traumatic amputation may also need:
- Further surgery or wound treatment
- Management of residual-limb and phantom pain
- Contracture prevention
- Muscle strengthening
- Prosthetic alignment and gait training
- Occupational therapy
- Psychological and social support
- Socket adjustments and replacement parts
Without these services, a prosthesis may remain uncomfortable, unsafe or unused.
First phase based at the UAE Floating Hospital
The first phase is being carried out at the UAE Floating Hospital in Al Arish, Egypt.
Patients receiving care in Al Arish and other Egyptian cities are assessed and measured before customised upper- or lower-limb prostheses are produced. The initial programme began with approximately 40 patients, with plans to expand according to clinical demand.
Each device is expected to take approximately 12 to 18 days to manufacture, with delivery planned within 21 days. Patients may receive temporary prostheses and strengthening exercises while their definitive devices are being prepared. The programme also provides three months of follow-up and maintenance for socket adjustments.
The floating hospital has become an important part of the UAE’s wider Gaza medical response. Since opening in February 2024, it has delivered more than 29,000 medical services and performed over 6,000 operations, according to officials quoted by Khaleej Times.
3D scanning will connect Gaza with Al Arish
The second phase introduces a digital prosthetic workflow for patients who cannot leave Gaza.
Medical teams inside the territory will use 3D imaging to capture the shape of a patient’s residual limb. The data will then be sent electronically to the floating hospital, where a customised prosthesis can be designed and manufactured before being transported back to the patient.
This model could help overcome one of the programme’s biggest challenges: repeated displacement.
Earlier attempts to manufacture prostheses for patients inside Gaza were disrupted when people moved to new locations between the measurement and delivery stages. A digital record allows the patient’s measurements to be preserved even when physical access becomes difficult.
Digital scanning may also reduce the need to transport plaster casts and make future socket reproduction easier.
However, the technology cannot replace clinical assessment. A scan captures shape, but it does not reveal tissue tolerance, pain, infection, muscle strength or whether further surgery is required.
Each digital case must therefore remain under the supervision of trained prosthetists, rehabilitation physicians and therapists.
Long-term aim is manufacturing inside Gaza
The programme’s third phase is the most important for sustainability.
The UAE plans to support prosthetic manufacturing and fitting facilities inside Gaza, together with storage centres for raw materials, equipment and components. Existing workshops may also receive additional funding and technical support.
Local manufacturing would reduce dependence on overseas fittings and allow Palestinian teams to provide:
- New prosthetic sockets
- Repairs and maintenance
- Replacement components
- Paediatric refitting
- Emergency adjustments
- Ongoing clinical review
This is especially important for children, whose prostheses may require modification or replacement every six to 12 months as they grow. Gaza’s young amputees face particularly uncertain futures because supplies and specialist follow-up remain severely limited.
A sustainable centre will require more than machinery. It will need trained Palestinian prosthetists, orthotists, technicians and therapists, together with reliable electricity, materials and patient records.
Wheelchairs and equipment are also urgently needed
The UAE programme extends beyond people with amputations.
Ayman Zaqout, chairman of the Palestinian Federation of Persons with Disabilities, said between 60% and 70% of people with disabilities in Gaza had lost wheelchairs or other assistive products during displacement.
Operation Gallant Knight 3 has supplied hundreds of wheelchairs for adults and children, including specialist seating for people with spinal cord injuries and complex mobility requirements. Hospital beds, healthcare kits and support for children with Down syndrome have also been delivered.
Replacing a lost wheelchair is not simply a matter of supplying another chair.
People with spinal injuries may require individual seating assessment, pressure-relieving cushions, postural support and careful adjustment. An unsuitable wheelchair can cause pain, poor posture and pressure injuries.
The UAE’s response will be strongest when every device is matched to the user and supported by training and maintenance.
Preventable injuries are becoming permanent disabilities
Gaza’s damaged healthcare system has contributed to injuries becoming more severe.
Zaqout said delayed care, infections and shortages of antibiotics and sterilisation supplies had caused some treatable injuries to develop into permanent impairments. UAE-supported treatment had helped prevent amputation in selected cases.
This highlights the close relationship between emergency medicine and rehabilitation.
Early surgery, infection control and wound management can preserve a limb. When amputation is unavoidable, appropriate surgical planning can produce a residual limb that is easier to fit with a prosthesis.
Rehabilitation therefore begins before the prosthetic appointment. Surgeons, nurses, physiotherapists and prosthetists must work as part of one pathway.
Gaza’s prosthetic shortage remains severe
Independent reporting has estimated that Gaza has approximately 5,000 war-related amputees, including a large number of children. Access to artificial limbs remains severely restricted by shortages of materials and functioning clinical services.
Only a small number of prosthetists remain available to serve the population, while local centres have struggled to obtain materials needed for socket manufacture and repairs.
The problem is not limited to the first prosthesis.
Every user will eventually require:
- Socket replacement
- Liner renewal
- Foot, knee or hand maintenance
- Alignment changes
- Skin and pain review
- Rehabilitation after physical changes
- Replacement following damage or loss
Children may require repeated fittings throughout growth, while people with bilateral or complex amputations may need years of intensive rehabilitation.
Funding is beginning to expand
The initial Step of Hope programme is expected to grow through additional charitable support.
Sharjah Charity International is funding another 50 prosthetic limbs, while Dar Al Ber Society has allocated more than Dh34 million to support the programme.
The UAE has also delivered more than 400 tonnes of medicines and medical supplies to Gaza, followed by a further 20-tonne shipment distributed to hospitals and healthcare facilities with international partners.
Funding for prosthetic devices must be accompanied by budgets for staff, therapy, consumables and long-term replacement.
A programme can fit dozens of devices during its first phase, but its real financial obligation extends throughout each patient’s lifetime.
Local skills will determine the programme’s legacy
The planned transition from fittings in Egypt to production inside Gaza is a positive development.
To succeed, it should include structured training for Palestinian professionals in:
- Clinical assessment
- Digital residual-limb scanning
- CAD design
- Socket manufacture
- Prosthetic alignment
- Paediatric care
- Wheelchair seating
- Physiotherapy
- Repair and quality control
- Patient-data management
The programme should also avoid dependence on components that cannot be replaced locally.
A sophisticated prosthesis may perform well initially but become unusable if a small proprietary part breaks and cannot cross the border.
Durability, repairability and long-term availability should be considered alongside technological performance.
Success should be measured after delivery
The number of prostheses fitted provides an immediate measure of activity, but it does not show whether patients regained independence.
Longer-term evaluation should examine:
- Socket comfort
- Daily prosthesis use
- Skin complications
- Walking or upper-limb function
- Return to education or work
- Patient satisfaction
- Repair and replacement times
- Continued access to physiotherapy
- Psychological wellbeing
The same principle applies to wheelchairs and other assistive devices. Continued use and participation are more meaningful outcomes than the number of products distributed.
From emergency relief to sustainable rehabilitation
Step of Hope represents an important attempt to create a complete rehabilitation pathway rather than a short-term prosthetic campaign.
Its three-stage model—treatment in Al Arish, digital scanning inside Gaza and eventual local production—recognises that patients need both immediate assistance and permanent services.
The first phase may restore mobility to dozens of people. The final phase could determine whether thousands receive support for years to come.
For Gaza’s amputees, the need is not only for artificial limbs.
It is for safe surgery, comfortable sockets, physiotherapy, repairs, psychological care and a local professional workforce capable of continuing treatment.
The UAE programme can make its greatest contribution by helping Palestinian rehabilitation services move from emergency survival towards sustainable, locally delivered care.
- Gulf News – UAE programme brings prosthetic limbs and rehabilitation support to Gaza amputees
- The National – UAE launches Step of Hope for Gaza amputees
- Khaleej Times – How the three-phase Step of Hope programme will operate
- ReliefWeb – Amputations and prosthetics in Gaza
- World Health Organization – Rehabilitation
- International Society for Prosthetics and Orthotics