For many teenagers in Gaza, the ongoing conflict has exacted a devastating physical toll, stripping away not just their homes but their mobility and future ambitions. Fifteen-year-old Mahmoud Abou Nusair, who once lived for football, now finds himself among hundreds of youth receiving prosthetic care through the Jordan-based Restoring Hope Society. After being shot while searching for firewood, Mahmoud faced the heartbreaking choice of amputation as the local medical system crumbled. His story is mirrored by others, like 17-year-old Zuhdi Abou Shanab, who lost his leg in a strike while running errands, and 16-year-old Abdulrahman Rihan, who remains disabled after a bombing destroyed his family home in Jabalia.

These young survivors carry invisible wounds alongside their physical losses, mourning the lives they were forced to leave behind. For families like the Rihans, the trauma is collective; fathers and sons have endured grueling surgeries—often performed without anesthesia—while grappling with the destruction of their livelihoods and the separation from their loved ones. Despite the overwhelming despair caused by the war, these teenagers cling to a fragile hope for recovery, longing for a return to normalcy and the day they can finally reunite with the families and dreams they have been cruelly denied.