Italian summer camp kids peppered Shaymaa Shady, 6, with questions about how she lost her leg. “Ha fatto la guerra,” one child said. She went to war.
She and 15 other children evacuated from Gaza months ago, urgently needing medical care. Sarah Yusuf, her pelvis broken in an Israeli strike, can now play without limping.
Ahmad al-Saafen, 4, is still learning to use his new leg, a replacement for one he lost under Israeli bombardment over a year ago.
Baian Azoum was pulled from Gaza’s rubble in critical condition. She faces nearly two years of treatment ahead, only 4 years old in an unfamiliar land.
The Children Who Left Gaza
The children and their caretakers know little of the language or the culture. They know even less of what may happen to them or their loved ones in the months to come.
They do know war.
Sixteen young people, all but one younger than 15, were evacuated from the Gaza Strip early this year after sustaining dire injuries in the war there between Israel and Hamas. The airlifts were the result of painstaking negotiations between aid groups and several governments, including Israel, Egypt and Italy, and each of the wounded was accompanied by a caretaker, usually a relative.
Some of the children had limbs amputated to save their lives. Many will bear scars for life. Most have lost family members, and left behind others whose safety is uncertain. All face uncertain futures, with questions about whether there will ever be a home to return to, or if they should apply for asylum.
“Italy is beautiful, but I need support,” said Lina Gamal, Shaymaa’s aunt and caretaker, listing the many family members she left behind. “As long as I have no one around me, it’s nothing.”
But the evacuees still consider themselves fortunate. Since Hamas led its Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel from Gaza, and the Israelis responded with a devastating military campaign, more than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza’s health ministry. Tens of thousands more are believed to be permanently disabled in the largely ruined enclave.
The children face not only difficult recoveries but also the challenges of schoolyards and summer camps filled with peers who neither speak their native language nor know much about the devastation in Gaza.