Injured Palestinian boy takes first steps in Jordan

Rami Qachch’s mother is feeling proudly, as her nine -year -old son kicks football for the first time since his injury.

He is a great teacher in his recovery, as he traveled to Jordan last month after obtaining Israeli military approval to leave Gaza.

Rami dreams of playing football one day, such as Cristiano Ronaldo. But he still suffers from pain and fly quickly, and he is forced to sit on a plastic chair, exhausted from the voltage.

The legs of the bandage – one of them is spawning – badly scars and withered.

Each step forward is difficult.

The doctors in Gaza urged the family to agree to amputate his legs. But his eight -year -old brother, Abdel Salam, has already lost his lower right leg due to his injuries, and his mother, Islam, took over the outskirts of Rami.

Warning – This article contains sad content

The children were quickly sleeping in the apartment of the third floor of the family in Al -Majazi in the center of Gaza, when, as their mother says, targeted an Israeli air strike, the neighboring building, and the rubble and shrapnel rained on children.

Rami’s 12 -year -old brother, Mustafa, was killed in blowing up.

Islam says that his heart, which was penetrated with shrapnel, was not found only two days later. The family gave her a separate burial.

The United Nations says at least 14,500 children were killed, and many wounded in the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, which began after gunmen attacked Hamas on October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people.

Medical evacuation operations from Gaza are important, He saysBecause the healthcare system has been destroyed. Only 20 out of 35 hospitals in the region are partially functional, and there is a lack of basic drugs and equipment.

About 30,000 Ghazan-such as Rami and Abdel Salam-have left life injuries that will require years of rehabilitation, According to the World Health Organization.

This helped to facilitate the evacuation of hundreds of patients since February 1 when his shelf was reopened with Egypt. But he says that he is between 12,000 and 14,000 people – including 4,500 children – still should be offered for treatment.

“The war has sparked horrific losses on the children of Gaza,” said the United Nations Fund (UNICEF) when the ceasefire deal was announced in January.

Rami has endured many surgeries without pain relievers, anesthesia or antibiotics. His wounds became so patient that they were crawling with Maggots. Doctors did not think his legs could be saved.

Islam says: “Rami was in such pain, and he was screaming.” God has taken my brother, and he took me now! “

After that, in January, a rare opportunity appeared – to evacuate Rami and his mother to Jordan for treatment in a specialized hospital to perform a reconstructive surgery, run by Médecins Sans Sans Frontières (MSF) in the capital of Jordan, Amman.

13 children from Gaza are currently treated, but they have the ability to seize dozens.

“It is the only hospital that I know by providing physical and mental rehabilitation for war victims,” ​​says Mark Shaal, director of the MSF program in Jordan, Syria and Yemen. “It is a multidisciplinary care, not just surgery.”

Rami has a psychiatrist, surgeon and physiotherapist. It is also feed, clothes, and teaching in the small “Future School” in MSF, which is a bright prior building in the hospital land. After he lost a lot of education, he is a severe learner.

But he was also missing his father Muhammad and his brother Abd al -Salam – who needed an artificial leg but was unable to leave Gaza with him.

They are grateful for their treatment, but he and his mother want to go home as soon as possible.

Rami told me: “Gaza is beautiful.” “In Gaza before the war, we are used to medical treatment, but then aid stopped.”

With the facilities and expertise at MSF Hospital, it is now rapidly making.

“He reached a wheelchair.

“He is very excited. He wants to return to his friends and family. He wants to make his father proud.”

He also wants to swim again at sea in Gaza.

But there are many operations that await us, and Rami and his mother had no idea about when they would return to their homes.

Not knowing whether they will be allowed to return to Gaza is another great stress for all Palestinian patients at the head of their shock, according to the world of the soul, Zenon Al -Sauna.

The participation of the hospital hall with Rami is a five -year -old boy who was withdrawn and shocked by five -year -old, Abdul Rahman Al -Mahsas, who also needs surgery on his legs.

He was in the arms of his mother when she was killed in an air strike in October 2023, along with his brothers. In the hospital in Gaza, a nurse was trying to rejoice that his mother turned into a star.

His aunt Sabah says: “Since then, he looks at the sky at night, searches for the stars and talks to them,” says his aunt Sabah. “He does not speak to other people. But I hear him say to the stars:“ I ate a mummy, I have eaten, a mummy I will sleep now. “

Patients of hospital patients are often strict than physical.

“Some will never recover,” said hospital director, Roshan Kumarasami, who says the restorative surgery will be necessary for patients from Gaza for years to come because of a “huge group of injuries”.

But Rami is strong and firm. When he collapses in crying, he thinks about Mustafa, he reassures me that he is “OK.”

When he and his mother managed to reach his family in Gaza in a video call, Rami is eager to show how he can now stand on his feet.

His father chants him, saying: “Rami, you are a hero.”

Now he has his family another reason to celebrate – Rami’s brother, Abdul Salam, and his father have just obtained permission from Israel to leave Gaza to Jordan as well.

In the coming weeks, it should be equipped with a new leg, allowing both children with re -learn how to walk.