BEIRUT (AP) — When Zarifa Nawfal’s household arrived in Beirut for her wounded daughter’s surgical procedure, one of many first issues she needed to do was go to the ocean. The Mediterranean had been a continuing companion at their dwelling in Gaza earlier than the battle.
“The moment I smelled the sea, I felt at peace inside — as if I were in Gaza,” she stated.
However quickly their place of refuge reminded her of dwelling in way more distressing methods.
Nawfal’s 7-year-old daughter, Halima Abou Yassine, is considered one of a dozen severely wounded Palestinian kids dropped at Lebanon this yr for therapy by way of a program launched by a British-Palestinian surgeon, Dr. Ghassan Abu Sitta.
However months after their arrival, Lebanon is itself embroiled in a battle some worry will finish in Gaza-like destruction.
In February, Nawfal was staying together with her 5 kids and her mom in an condominium in central Gaza. They’d been displaced from their dwelling within the north and Nawfal’s husband was lacking, probably useless.
The kids had been filling water containers outdoors when two missiles struck, Nawfal stated. She rushed outdoors and located Halima, the youngest, mendacity on the street, her cranium cracked open, her mind uncovered.
Via her shock, Nawfal stated, “I was relieved that her body was in one piece.” In Gaza, blasts typically ripped folks aside, leaving their family members with out even a physique to bury.
Halima’s brother was unconscious subsequent to her. He was rapidly revived on the hospital. However workers at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital confirmed Nawfal’s fears, she stated: Halima was useless. Her small physique was positioned within the morgue.
However because the household was getting ready to bury her, the little lady’s uncle observed faint indicators of life, the household stated.
Officers at Al-Aqsa hospital couldn’t be reached to verify the account. However Abu Sitta, who has labored in a number of Gaza hospitals in the course of the battle, stated within the chaotic scenario it was not unusual for sufferers to be misidentified as useless as a result of regular protocols for emergency room examinations had been typically deserted.
“Because of the sheer number of cases that would come in with each air raid … the ambulance staff would take to the morgue immediately those who they thought were dead,” he stated.
Within the days after her daughter was decided to be alive, Nawfal stayed together with her, manually pumping oxygen into her lungs. After every week, the little lady started to breathe on her personal. Lastly, she wakened.
“Some of the doctors cried and said this is a miracle,” Nawfal stated.
However they had been unable to do greater than hold the little lady alive. Her cranium was nonetheless gaping open, a shard of bone lacking. Her mind was beset by an infection.
The household was evacuated to Egypt in Might. In July, they boarded a aircraft for Lebanon.
An unlikely refuge
The primary of the wounded Palestinian kids arrived in Lebanon in Might. 5-year-old Adam Afana had almost misplaced his left arm in a blast that killed his father and sister. His arm was paralyzed and he wanted a posh surgical procedure to appropriate the nerve injury.
On the time, Lebanon was already embroiled in a low-simmering battle between Israel and Hezbollah.
The Lebanese militant group started firing rockets throughout the border into Israel in help of its ally, Hamas, on Oct. 8, 2023, a day after Palestinian militants staged the lethal shock incursion into southern Israel that sparked the continued battle in Gaza. Israel responded with shelling and airstrikes.
For months, the battle in Lebanon was primarily confined to the border space, removed from Beirut.
Abu Sitta stated he selected Lebanon for the wounded kids’s therapy as a result of the Mediterranean nation has specialists with extensive expertise treating battle accidents.
Lebanon has been by way of its share of conflicts, together with a 15-year civil battle that resulted in 1990 and a brutal monthlong battle between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006, in addition to spillover results from different regional conflicts.
“Even after the end of the wars (in Lebanon), the wounded from Iraq and Syria would come here for that kind of complex and multistage treatment,” Abu Sitta stated.
The battle that adopted them
In July, Halima underwent profitable surgical procedure to restore her cranium on the American College of Beirut Medical Middle.
Nawfal stated her daughter has lingering reminiscence issues however is bettering with remedy. A chipper, happy-go-lucky baby, Halima thrived in Beirut. She swam within the resort pool, liked to paint and performed with the opposite kids from Gaza. She walked together with her siblings to select fruit on the neighborhood produce stand, a straw hat overlaying the scar on the again of her head.
In mid-September, Israel launched an offensive in opposition to Hezbollah. It pummeled extensive swathes of Lebanon with airstrikes, together with Beirut’s southern suburbs and a few websites inside the metropolis middle.
The kids rapidly snapped again into wartime habits. They cracked open the balcony’s sliding glass doorways to forestall the glass shattering from the strain of a blast and commenced sleeping within the central sitting room within the household’s resort suite, away from home windows.
Nawfal stated some organizations provided to evacuate the household from Lebanon to proceed therapy elsewhere, however she “completely refused.”
“Lebanon isn’t just another Arab country or a country we came to for treatment — Lebanon is a sister to Gaza,” she stated. “We are like two souls in one body. … We live or die together.”
Adam Afana’s uncle, Eid Afana, stated the escalation in Lebanon “reminds us of the beginning of the war in Gaza.” Afana stated the sound of airstrikes frightened Adam, who felt the battle was pursuing them.
“What we hope for Lebanon is that what happened in Gaza won’t happen here — that the beginning and the ending won’t both be the same,” Afana stated.
‘All wars are waged on children’
The Ghassan Abu Sitta Fund halted bringing wounded Palestinian kids to Lebanon however continues to deal with the present sufferers — with some challenges.
Since arriving in Beirut, Adam has undergone a process to clear an infection from his bones, a neurosurgery and common physiotherapy periods. With effort, he can now barely clench his hand.
However the last operation — a muscle switch and surgical procedure to restore the broken nerves to his arm — is on maintain.
“There’s just a handful of people who specialize in this globally, and we were expecting one of them to come to Lebanon,” Abu Sitta stated. The journey has been delayed by the escalation in Lebanon.
When he first launched this system, Abu Sitta hoped to deal with 50 Palestinian kids from Gaza at any given time. Unable to carry extra sufferers in, the group is popping its assets to treating Lebanese kids.
The numbers of wounded Lebanese kids are nonetheless far decrease than in Gaza. As of final week, Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Well being stated 192 kids had been killed and no less than 1,255 wounded since October 2023. In Gaza, greater than 13,000 kids have been killed and hundreds extra have been wounded, in line with Gaza’s Well being Ministry.
Abu Sitta stated the wounds of youngsters in Lebanon are “identical to the injuries of Palestinian children from Gaza.” Most had been wounded whereas at dwelling. They suffered “crush injuries to the limbs, blast injuries to the face” and infrequently “multiple members of the family killed at the same time,” he stated.
“As in Gaza, this war takes its toll on children,” he stated. “All wars are waged on children.”