Far From Violence, Gaza Wounded Find Care at Cairo Hospital

A Palestinian boy receives medical care at Nasser Institute hospital in Cairo, on December 3, 2023, after he was evacuated to Egypt following his injuries sustained amid fighting between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. (Photo by Khaled DESOUKI / AFP)
A Palestinian boy receives medical care at Nasser Institute hospital in Cairo, on December 3, 2023, after he was evacuated to Egypt following his injuries sustained amid fighting between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. (Photo by Khaled DESOUKI / AFP)
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Far From Violence, Gaza Wounded Find Care at Cairo Hospital

A Palestinian boy receives medical care at Nasser Institute hospital in Cairo, on December 3, 2023, after he was evacuated to Egypt following his injuries sustained amid fighting between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. (Photo by Khaled DESOUKI / AFP)
A Palestinian boy receives medical care at Nasser Institute hospital in Cairo, on December 3, 2023, after he was evacuated to Egypt following his injuries sustained amid fighting between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. (Photo by Khaled DESOUKI / AFP)

Ilham Majid was praying when bombs fell on her Gaza house, and her husband only found her hours later under the rubble, alive but seriously wounded.

She was one of the luckier ones -- 17 other family members, including two of her children, were killed in that fateful October 31 raid in the Jabalia refugee camp of northern Gaza, where Israel has been fighting Hamas militants following deadly attacks earlier that month.

Now, like several other Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, Majid is receiving medical treatment in Egypt.

"All of a sudden I felt the house crumbling. Three stories collapsed on top of me," the 42-year-old recalled from her hospital bed at Cairo's Nasser Hospital.

"I got shrapnel all over my body. My liver was hit, my leg, ribs and my jaw are all broken. I cannot walk."

Majid said her husband found her trapped under the rubble of the house by chance four-and-a-half hours later, thanks to one of her fingers that was sticking out.

"I almost could not breathe -- almost dead," she said, AFP reported.

Her 15-year-old daughter was killed in the bombardment, and 10 days later the body of her 17-year-old son was pulled from under the debris. It was already rotting.

Ever since the tragedy that ripped apart her family -- 50 relatives were staying at the house when it was hit -- Majid has been looking at pictures of her son on her cell phone.

Since early October, several Palestinians wounded in Israel's bombardment of the Gaza Strip, and some suffering various illnesses, have been authorized to leave the besieged territory and travel to Egypt for medical care.

More than 15,500 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Gaza since fighting began on October 7, according to Gaza health ministry.

Israel unleashed an air and ground campaign against the densely-populated territory with the aim of destroying Hamas, after the militants broke through Gaza's militarized border into Israel.

The war on Gaza has devastated swathes of the coastal territory, levelled entire neighbourhoods and destroyed much of the infrastructure, including hospitals.

Even before fighting resumed on Friday after a week-long pause during which Hamas released hostages in exchange for prisoners held by Israel, Gaza's health system was on its knees with hospitals resembling a "horror movie", according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Now it is "catastrophic", the UN agency has said.

Currently, only 18 of Gaza's 36 hospitals are even minimally to partially functional, with the three main hospitals in the north barely operative, Richard Peeperkorn, WHO's representative in the Palestinian territories, told reporters in Geneva via video-link from Gaza on Friday.

The United Nations says not a single hospital in northern Gaza can carry out surgeries after several were attacked by Israel, while those in the south are overwhelmed by the number of casualties they receive daily.

At Cairo's Nasser Hospital, patients such as Majid are trying to slowly regain their strength far away from the violence and chaos consuming Gaza.

Yussef, 13, lay in a bed staring into the distance, his face puffy.

Dried blood stained his right leg which was held together with metal rods.

"He was in a complete state of shock when I found him," said his older brother, under the rubble of their four-storey home in the Shati refugee camp.

In another hospital room further down the corridor, Lubna al-Shafei, 36, said she was being treated for a "neck wound".

"On October 23, our house in the centre of Gaza City was destroyed. My son was killed and my husband was wounded," she said.

Last week the Egyptian health ministry announced the launch of an initiative aimed at providing medical care for 1,000 children wounded in Gaza.

Already 28 premature babies who were trapped at Al-Shifa Hospital, Gaza's largest which was besieged and ultimately raided by Israeli forces, have been taken to Egypt.

The United Arab Emirates and Tunisia have also taken in Palestinians wounded in Gaza, namely children in need of medical care.

France and Italy have sent ships to Egypt to serve as hospitals for wounded civilians from Gaza.



Gaza Teen Amputee Recalls Nightmare of Losing Arms in Israeli Strike

Palestinian teenager Diaa Al-Adini, who had his both arms amputated after being wounded in an Israeli strike on August 13 and was transferred from Al-Aqsa hospital due to an Israeli evacuation order, is helped by his sister Aya to drink iced juice on a beach outside a field hospital, in Deir... Purchase Licensing Rights
Palestinian teenager Diaa Al-Adini, who had his both arms amputated after being wounded in an Israeli strike on August 13 and was transferred from Al-Aqsa hospital due to an Israeli evacuation order, is helped by his sister Aya to drink iced juice on a beach outside a field hospital, in Deir... Purchase Licensing Rights
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Gaza Teen Amputee Recalls Nightmare of Losing Arms in Israeli Strike

Palestinian teenager Diaa Al-Adini, who had his both arms amputated after being wounded in an Israeli strike on August 13 and was transferred from Al-Aqsa hospital due to an Israeli evacuation order, is helped by his sister Aya to drink iced juice on a beach outside a field hospital, in Deir... Purchase Licensing Rights
Palestinian teenager Diaa Al-Adini, who had his both arms amputated after being wounded in an Israeli strike on August 13 and was transferred from Al-Aqsa hospital due to an Israeli evacuation order, is helped by his sister Aya to drink iced juice on a beach outside a field hospital, in Deir... Purchase Licensing Rights

*Teenager Diaa al-Adini was one of the few Palestinians who found a functioning hospital in war-ravaged Gaza after he was wounded by an Israeli strike. But he did not have much time to recuperate after doctors amputated both of his arms.

Adini, 15, suddenly had to flee the overwhelmed medical facility after the Israeli military ordered people to leave before an attack in its war against the Palestinian militant group Hamas. He made it to an American field hospital.

Many Palestinians have been displaced during the conflict, moving up and down and across the Gaza Strip seeking safe shelter. They are unlucky most of the time.

Scrambling to save your life is especially difficult for Palestinians like Adini, who require urgent medical care but get caught up in the chaos of the war, which erupted after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7.

Memories of better days provide limited relief from reality in Gaza. Israeli strikes have reduced most of one of the most crowded places on earth to rubble as rows and rows of homes are destroyed.

“We used to swim, challenge each other, and sleep, me and my friend Mohammed al-Serei. We used to jump in the water and float on it," Reuters quoted Adini, who walked on a beach with his sister Aya recalling the few distractions from before.

His sister placed a towel over the place where his arms used to be and wiped his mouth.

- 'I CANNOT REPLACE MY AUNT'

The strike hit when he was in a makeshift coffee house.

The teenager, who spent 12 days in hospital before he was displaced also lost his aunt, her children and grandchildren in the war.

"As for my arms, I can get other ones fitted but I cannot replace my aunt," he said.

Israel responded to the Hamas attack in October -- the country's bloodiest day in its 75-year history -- with a military offensive that has killed at least 40,500 people and wounded 93,778 others, according to Gaza health authorities.

Israel says it goes out of its way to avoid civilian casualties and has accused Hamas of using human shields, an allegation it denies.

The suffering is unlikely to end anytime soon unless mediation by the United States, Egypt and Qatar secures a ceasefire. And even then, there is a possibility hostilities will resume.

So all Palestinians can do is hope for treatment at the few functional hospitals as they face a humanitarian crisis -- severe shortages of food, fuel, power and medicine, as raw sewage increases the chance of disease.

“God willing, I will continue my treatment in the American hospital, and get limbs," said Adini.

He dreams of being like other children one day; to live a good life, get an education, drive cars and have fun. His sister Aya hopes that he can go back to his camera and iPad.