Long Road to Recovery For War-Wounded Children From Gaza
On assignment for Médecins Sans Frontières, Moises Saman captures the stories of Palestinian children, all victims of Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip, in an MSF-run hospital in Amman, Jordan
In August 2024, on assignment for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), Moises Saman visited the MSF-run Reconstructive Surgery Hospital in Amman, Jordan that treats Palestinian children who have been medically evacuated from Gaza following Israeli strikes.
Pictured above is 17-year-old Karam, whose home in Gaza was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike on February 14, 2024, killing 13 members of his family except for his father Ziad and his seven-year-old sister Ghina, who suffered first-degree burns on her face, shoulders and back. “The impact of the bomb dropped on Ziad’s home was so profound that the remnants of the house were suctioned into the ground,” writes MSF.
“When Karam was brought into the emergency room, I didn’t notice it was my son,” Ziad told Medecins Sans Frontières. “He had no human features on him. There were no clothes left on him. His body was completely black. His eyes were closed.” Ziad is a psychologist for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
"According to the World Health Organization, 41,000 people have been killed in Gaza in the almost 12 months since the war started on 7 October 2023, and 95,000 people have been injured."
- Médecins Sans Frontières (September 2024)
“Pictured above is eight-year-old Hazam, curled up behind his mother Eman,” writes Saman. The family was sheltering at their home in Gaza City on October 10, 2023, when the house next to theirs was hit by an Israeli airstrike. “Hazam was on the street when a metal object fell on his leg, injuring him.” MSF reports that 75 people were killed in the strike, including Hazam’s brother, 14-year-old Hamza.
Hazam’s sister, Deema, seen below, was in the building at the time of the strike, falling four storeys to the ground when the building collapsed. She had her baby nephew in her arms. “It was pitch black under the rubble,” Deema told MSF. “I couldn’t open my eyes and could barely breathe. I couldn’t hear anyone and I couldn’t speak, there was dust and stones covering my face. I was convinced that I was going to die.”
“Deema, from northern Gaza (pictured above,) was almost killed when an Israeli airstrike hit the house next to hers and left her buried under the rubble for an hour,” writes Saman. “Her eldest brother, Hamza, 14, was killed in the attack, and her younger brother Hazam (pictured below) suffered a serious leg injury.”
Pictured below is Abdul Rahman, a Palestinian boy from the north of Gaza who nearly died during an Israeli strike while he was out looking for food for his family. “Abdul Rahman has had many surgeries both in Gaza and in Amman, to try to restore the function of his leg which was almost amputated after the attack. He is staying at the hospital with his mother,” writes Saman. “He longs to be reunited with his family who are still in Gaza but doesn’t want to return until the war is over, and Gaza is rebuilt.”
According to the World Health Organization, almost 60 percent of requests for medical evacuation are turned down by the Israeli authorities. They estimate that over the past year, at least 12,000 people in the Gaza Strip have been in urgent need of medical evacuation.
“The small number of patients from Gaza receiving vital rehabilitation at MSF’s hospital in Amman are barely a ripple on the surface of the deep ocean of needs across the Gaza Strip,” writes MSF.
Read the full story at Médecins Sans Frontières.
