Wounded child, no surviving family

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An injured Palestinian child in October 2023 Fars Photo of Casualties in Gaza Strip during 2023 War 31.jpg
An injured Palestinian child in October 2023

"Wounded child, no surviving family" (WCNSF) is a medical and humanitarian crisis term which appeared during the humanitarian crisis in Gaza as a result of the outbreak of the Gaza war in 2023. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] The term was first reported by Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in November 2023. [4] [6]

Contents

Medical crisis

By March 2024, it was estimated that 17,000 children were part of this category. [7]

As of February 2025, the United Nations has reported roughly 25,000 such cases in Gaza; with no relatives left, clinicians become the children’s sole caregivers and advocates, which complicates treatment decisions and long-term care planning. Disrupted access to healthcare also triggers cascading physical, psychological, and social harms that demand responses beyond routine medical practice. Providers must address immediate needs as well as rehabilitation, mental-health support, and coordination with social services without family involvement. These challenges differ markedly from typical adult care. [8]

The crisis has been amplified by the Gaza Strip famine and Israel's evacuation orders, which have limited the ability of humanitarian organisations to find caregivers for WCNSF cases. [9]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "'Wounded child, no surviving family': The pain of Gaza's orphans". 4 December 2023. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
  2. ↑ "Inside Gaza's overwhelmed hospital system, doctors have coined a new term for wounded children arriving alone". ABC News. 5 December 2023. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
  3. ↑ Ali, Soraya (20 April 2024). "Gaza hospitals coin WCNSF acronym: Wounded child, no surviving family". EL PAÍS English. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
  4. 1 2 "Gaza coins a new acronym: WCNSF - Wounded Child No Surviving Family". Middle East Monitor . 7 November 2023.
  5. ↑ "In Gaza, wounded children with no surviving family". 17 October 2023. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
  6. ↑ "Why the US must support an immediate ceasefire in Gaza". Doctors Without Borders . Retrieved 19 May 2025.
  7. ↑ Grim, Ryan (2 March 2024). "WCNSF: The Most Haunting Acronym the World Has Produced" . The Intercept. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
  8. ↑ Nasari, Alaha; Marzouk, Sammer; Mowafi, Hani; Al-Hajj, Samar (3 February 2025). "The medical crisis of war-injured children in Gaza and Lebanon". Nature Medicine. 31 (3). Springer Science and Business Media LLC: 715–716. doi:10.1038/s41591-024-03474-w. ISSN   1078-8956.
  9. ↑ Borger, Julian; Tantesh, Seham (10 October 2025). "No family, no stability, no social fabric: the anguish of Gaza's wounded orphans". The Guardian . Retrieved 10 October 2025.
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