They had escaped a war zone, but in many ways, the fight for life was just beginning.
Now their battle was against cancer. They had come to Jordan from Gaza for treatment.
Some traveled with their families. Others formed impromptu ones.
But the echoes of the war back home found their way even here.
The Other War for These Gazans Is Against Cancer
Laura Boushnak and Cassandra Vinograd
Laura Boushnak spent time with three cancer patients receiving treatment in Amman, Jordan, after their evacuation from Gaza.
The skies were quiet and Mohammed Ashour was finally safe, but for days after leaving Gaza the 13-year-old was unable to sleep.
He had made it to a cancer-treatment center in Jordan, and the hope it offered, and yet he could not stop thinking about what he had left behind.
The two-bedroom apartment, for example, where his family had sought shelter. They had crammed into it with about 70 relatives after fleeing the fighting in Gaza, but when they left for Jordan, the stocks of flour were empty.
“What would the family who stayed behind have for dinner?” Mohammed recalls wondering during his sleepless nights.
Israeli officials said this month that more than 4,000 patients had gotten out of Gaza for medical treatment since the war began. But as of late June, more than 10,000 people in the enclave required urgent medical care that was available only elsewhere, according to the World Health Organization.
For the small number of Gazan cancer patients who like Mohammed are receiving care in Jordan’s capital, Amman, that knowledge brings burdens. As well as their illness, they battle deep feelings of guilt, fear and homesickness.