Gaza Strip: The horror of mutilated children

Terror reigns in the Gaza Strip, where thousands of adults and children are killed and many are maimed.

According to the Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip, more than 4,000 children have been killed by Israeli bombing since October 7.

Testimonials that see the light of day are a “punch” in the stomach. “Give me my leg back,” screams Layan El-Baz, 13, every time she wakes up in pain in her hospital bed where she is receiving treatment after a limb was amputated.

The child, who was received by a team from Agence France-Presse at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, does not even want to hear about artificial limbs, which is very difficult in any case in the Palestinian Strip where most people live. Necessary for survival.

“I don’t want prosthetic legs,” says little Leanne on her bed in the children’s ward. “I want them to reattach my legs. They can do that.” Every time she opened her eyes, when the sedative wore off, she saw her lower limbs covered in bandages.

Her mother, Lamia Al-Baz, explained that Layan was injured last week when the Al-Qarara neighborhood in Khan Yunis was bombed.

Israel has been bombing the Gaza Strip relentlessly since the attack launched by Hamas on October 7, which left more than 1,400 people dead, most of them civilians (according to the Israeli authorities).

The Israeli bombing killed more than 10,000 people, most of whom were also civilians, according to the Hamas government’s Ministry of Health.

“How am I going to go back to school when my friends are walking and I’m not?” Leanne says, her face and hands full of cuts.

“I will be by your side. Everything will be fine, the whole future is ahead of you,” her mother tries to reassure her.

The 47-year-old says that the bombing killed two of her daughters, Ikhlas and Hitam, and two of her grandchildren, including a baby who was a few days old. They were all at the home of Ishla, who had just given birth.

He had to identify them at the morgue. “Their bodies were torn into pieces. “I recognized Hitam by the locks of her hair, and Ikhlas by her toes.”

“I want to be a doctor”

In the burns unit, Lama Al-Agha, 14, and her sister Sarah, 15, who are receiving treatment after the October 12 bombing, are in two adjacent beds. Their mother sits between them, struggling to hold back her tears.

The mother explained that the bombing led to the killing of Sarah’s twin sister, Sama, and their little brother, Yahya.

Stitch marks and burn scars can be seen on the partially shaved llama’s skull and forehead.

“When they brought me here, I asked the nurses to help me sit down, and then I realized that my leg had been amputated,” he says.

“I was in severe pain, but I thank God that I am still alive. I want to get a prosthetic limb and continue my studies to achieve my dream, to become a doctor. I will be strong for myself and for my family,” Lama Al-Agha adds with courage and determination.

doctor. Nahid Abu Taima, director of Nasser Hospital, explains that in the face of the large number of wounded and the lack of means and medicines, doctors often have no choice but to amputate the injured person to avoid complications.

“We are forced to choose between saving patients’ lives or risking their lives trying to save injured legs.”

“Where’s my leg?”

Wearing a green football shirt and shorts, Ahmed Abu Shama, 14, walks on crutches, surrounded by his cousins, in the yard of his now-destroyed home in eastern Khan Yunis, where he was playing with a ball.

His right leg was amputated after a bombing destroyed his family home, killing six of his cousins ​​and his aunt.

“When I woke up, I asked my brother, ‘Where are my legs?’” He lied to me and said he was fine and I didn’t feel it because of the anesthesia, before my cousin told me the truth the next day.”

“I cried a lot. The first thing I thought of was that I would not be able to walk or play football like every day. I joined an academy a week before the war,” the teenager added.

He supports Barcelona, ​​while his cousins ​​are Real Madrid fans.

One of them, Farid, says: “If I could go back in time and give Ahmed his leg again, I would have played for Real Madrid, and I would have become Barcelona like him.”