A Palestinian boy is among the first people injured in the war between Israel and Hamas to be evacuated from the Gaza Strip to the United Arab Emirates to receive emergency medical treatment.
The boy, who was carried on a stretcher to a plane bound for Abu Dhabi as part of a humanitarian mission organized by the country, arrived at Egypt’s Al-Arich airport, near the Rafah border post, in the middle of the night. only to open it to the Gaza Strip, which is not in Israeli hands.
Along with eight other injured children, some accompanied by their families, the boy waited in the back of one of six yellow ambulances parked near the runway, blue lights flashing.
Of the injured children, one has a broken spine, another a broken leg, some have burns and another needs emergency treatment for cancer.
A platform lifted the stretchers, placed them in the back of the plane and took off for Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.
This is the first group of Palestinian children injured in Gaza and evacuated to the United Arab Emirates since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, caused by an unprecedented attack by the Palestinian movement on Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip on 7 October.
According to Israeli authorities, the attack caused 1,200 deaths on the Israeli side, the majority of which were civilians on the same day.
In retaliation, Israel, which vowed to “destroy” Hamas, continues to bomb the Gaza Strip.
According to the latest figures from the Hamas government, 16,000 Palestinians have been killed as a result of Israeli bombing.
The previous count by Palestinian authorities reported nearly 12,000 deaths, including 5,000 children, and about 30,000 injured, 70 percent of whom were minors, women and the elderly.
The group of children arrived in Abu Dhabi early on Saturday and were taken to hospitals in the Emirates for treatment.
A total of 1,000 children will be transported to the Gulf state for medical assistance.
Two other seriously injured children, who could not join the first group on board, are expected to arrive in the UAE capital on a later flight.
“We would like to carry out daily evacuations because there are injured people, hospitals are out of order and there is a lack of medicine” in Gaza, said Mohammed Al Kaabi of the Emirates Red Crescent, describing the situation in the Palestinian territory as “catastrophic”. “.
I hope that by next week “we will have evacuated everyone we can, because time is running out and we are losing lives,” he told AFP.
Upon arrival at the Abu Dhabi airport runway, a young man with a bandaged leg and a tired face gave the “victory” signal before being transported in a waiting white ambulance. Another three-year-old boy, with a bottle of milk in his hand and his leg also bandaged, cried as he was pushed into a wheelchair.
The United Arab Emirates, which normalized relations with Israel in 2020, sent 51 planes carrying 1,400 tons of food and basic necessities as part of a $20 million aid program, according to a State Department statement.
Gaza’s hospitals, already poorly equipped due to the Israeli blockade since Hamas took power in the area in 2007, lack basic equipment and are unable to cope with the large number of people injured during the war .
Source: DN
