Rateb… A Child Reinventing His Leg
Photographer: Fadi Thabet
Exhibit Title: Rateb… A Child Reinventing His Leg
Location: Palestine
This story is not only about war, nor only about amputation, nor only about displacement. It is about a single child standing at the heart of all that, trying to redefine his body and the world around him.
Rateb lost his leg in a bombing. He lost his mother and brother. His house was destroyed and he was displaced to a tent that carried nothing of home except its name.
Yet, he did not lose one thing: his desire to keep walking.
Since October 7th, Gaza has become the world’s highest place for child limb amputations, according to humanitarian organizations. In this harsh context, Rateb’s story does not seem an exception, but one of the most revealing tales of what it means to grow up as a child in a war that offers only narrow choices for life.
With the absence of prosthetics, he resorted to what was available around him: sewage pipes, plastic pieces, and simple straps.
This is how he made himself a new leg… or rather: reinvented the meaning of a leg.
I chose to tell the story through Rateb alone, because I was not looking for visual variety, but human depth.
I did not want to present the war as a direct backdrop, but as a shadow passing through the details:
in the crumbling walls, in the tent, in the prosthetic, and in the step that hesitates before being taken.
Each photo here reveals a layer of Rateb’s character: his calm, his play, his attempts, his discovery, his friendships, his solitude, and his strength.
Focusing on a single child is not a limitation, but a conscious choice. The story is not about the place, but about the self trying to remain standing.
This is not a story about amputation, but about a child reinventing his leg… to reinvent his life.
Despite the pain Rateb experiences daily, the child continues searching for ways to play, move, and live. His story is not an individual case, but a reflection of hundreds of children who lost limbs without losing their will to survive. Through these images, I aim to show that human dignity is undefeated, and that light can emerge even from the harshest moments. Rateb’s story is a testament to the strength of the spirit, and to our responsibility to see the human before the wound.
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