Aged just four, Julia Abu Zeiter suffers from a rare neurological disease that can be fatal without medication. <\/p>\n
The nine-month war in Gaza nearly took Julia\u2019s life, as the fighting and displacement cut off her access to treatment. <\/p>\n
After an arduous journey, she was finally evacuated from the war-torn enclave on June 27, accompanied only by her 21-year-old aunt, Dareen Zeiter. <\/p>\n
Julia suffers from a rare neurological disorder called alternating hemiplegia of childhood, or AHC. It causes recurrent episodes of paralysis and life-threatening seizures. No cure exists for the illness, which is estimated to occur in approximately one in a million births. Its patients are referred to as \u201chuman time bombs\u201d and need to constantly be monitored for signs of an oncoming episode. As soon as it strikes, lifesaving measures must quickly be administered. <\/p>\n
The two Palestinians were among around a dozen patients leaving the floating hospital to continue their treatment in the Emirati capital Abu Dhabi. Most of those patients are children, including two suffering from Leukemia. <\/p>\n
Moored off the coast of Arish on the north coast of Egypt\u2019s Sinai Peninsula, the hospital is some 40 kilometers from Rafah, the southernmost city in the Gaza strip that now lies in ruins after Israel launched its ground operation there in May. <\/p>\n
The city also housed the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, a crucial land bridge through which two-thirds of aid entering Gaza passed. The crossing has been closed since it was seized by the Israeli military. <\/p>\n
The 100-bed UAE ship has received 2,400 injured Palestinians since February, according to the hospital director, Dr. Ahmed Mubarak. <\/p>\n
Julia is \u201can invisible victim\u201d of the war, Mubarak said, caught up in what M\u00e9decins Sans Fronti\u00e8res, also known as Doctors Without Borders, described as Gaza\u2019s \u201csilent killings, the result of deliberate deprivation.\u201d The organization\u2019s head of emergency programs, Mari Carmen Vi\u00f1oles, said in May that Israel\u2019s \u201cblockades, delays, and restrictions on humanitarian aid and essential medical supplies\u201d have made aid deliveries impossible. <\/p>\n
Julia and Dareen are two of countless Palestinians displaced by the war in Gaza, which Israel launched in response to Hamas\u2019 October 7 attack that killed 1,200 people in Israel and took more than 250 others hostage, according to Israeli authorities. <\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s war has killed more than 38,000 people in Gaza, according to the health ministry there. Swathes of the enclave have been turned to rubble and almost the entire strip\u2019s population of two million is internally displaced. <\/p>\n
Julia and Dareen were forced to leave their home in northern Gaza when the war began. The four-year-old witnessed \u201cexplosions and shelling\u201d throughout, her aunt said. <\/p>\n
A punishing siege by Israel has choked the enclave, bringing humanitarian aid down to a trickle and preventing Gazans moving in and out. For Julia, this meant running out of her medication, which triggered a series of life-threatening seizures. <\/p>\n
With the help of the Palestine Children\u2019s Relief Fund (PCRF), a US-based non-governmental organization, Julia was able to finally evacuate through Israel\u2019s Kerem Shalom crossing, Dareen said. <\/p>\n
Down the hall of makeshift wards from Julia was Ibrahim, who was injured in his family home in Jabalya, northern Gaza, when an airstrike hit their building on November 21. He had turned seven that day. <\/p>\n
Ibrahim was aboard the ship with his aunt, Alaa, 21. Alaa and Ibrahim were both injured in the airstrike, having survived after being pulled from the rubble, Alaa said. The aunt sustained critical burns, while Ibrahim broke his arm and leg, she said. <\/p>\n
The boy\u2019s injuries did not heal properly, requiring further treatment. <\/p>\n
\u201cLook, this is my dad,\u201d Ibrahim said, holding up a photo of his father, who died during the airstrike, on his aunt\u2019s phone. <\/p>\n
Before losing their home and family, Alaa and Ibrahim remained in northern Gaza until April, when residents were experiencing severe hunger as aid struggled to reach them amid Israel\u2019s military operations and what humanitarian aid officials said was increased lawlessness and looting of trucks there. <\/p>\n
In mid-March, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) assessed that famine is \u201cimminent\u201d in northern Gaza and said it was projected to occur between then and May. <\/p>\n
On Tuesday, the United Nations, citing a report by independent experts, said that the recent deaths of more Palestinian children due to hunger and malnutrition in Gaza indicates famine has spread across the entire strip, decrying Israel\u2019s \u201cintentional and targeted starvation campaign against the Palestinian people\u201d as a \u201cform of genocidal violence\u201d. <\/p>\n
While Julia and Ibrahim have made it out, millions of others remain trapped in the war zone, with few signs of a ceasefire deal in sight. <\/p>\n
Nearly 26,000 children have been killed or injured in Gaza in six months, the aid group Save the Children said in April, just over 2% of Gaza\u2019s entire child population. <\/p>\n
\u201cEven amid the complexities of war, how can we not grasp one universal truth: a child is a child,\u201d UNICEF spokesperson James Elder said last month, calling for \u201ca ceasefire (that) gets hostages home, and stops the killing of children.\u201d <\/p>\n
Dareen, Julia\u2019s aunt, said the responsibility over her niece was too big to shoulder. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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