A boy with a brain injury fights for his life in Gaza’s decimated health system

BEIRUT AP It s as if the whole weight of Israel s war in Gaza has fallen on Amr al-Hams The -year-old has shrapnel in his brain from an Israeli strike on his family s tent His pregnant mother was killed His father is paralyzed by grief over the death of his longtime sweetheart Now the boy is lying in a hospital bed unable to speak unable to move losing weight while doctors don t have the supplies to treat his brain damage or help in his rehabilitation after a weekslong blockade and constant bombardment In recent times out of intensive care Amr s frail body twists in visible pain His wide eyes dart around the room His aunt is convinced he s looking for his mother He can t speak but she believes he is trying to say mom I am trying as much as I can It is challenging mentioned his aunt Nour al-Hams his main caregiver sitting next to him on the bed in Khan Younis Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza What he is living through is not easy To reassure him his aunt sometimes says his mother will be back soon Other times she tries to distract him handing him a small ball The war has decimated the robustness system The war began Oct when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel and killed selected people mostly civilians and took people captive Israel s retaliatory campaign has killed over Palestinians according to Gaza s Medical Ministry which says women and children make up bulk of the dead but does not specify how several were fighters or civilians Nearly months into the conflict that displaced the vast majority of Gaza s million people it is nearly impossible for the critically wounded to get the care they need doctors and aid workers say The healthcare care sector has been decimated Nearly half of the territory s hospitals have been put out of provision Daily bombings and strikes overwhelm the remaining facilities which are operating only partially They struggle with shortages of anything from fuel gauze and sutures to respirators or scanners that have broken down and can t be replaced Israeli forces have raided and besieged diagnostic facilities claiming Hamas militants have used them as command centers Doctors have been killed or were displaced unable to reach hospitals because of continued military operations For more than months Israel blocked all food medicine and other supplies from entering Gaza accusing Hamas of siphoning off aid to fund its military events though the U N noted there was no systematic diversion The population was pushed toward famine Since mid-May Israel has allowed in a trickle of aid including healthcare supplies Gaza s Wellbeing Ministry estimates that children have been injured during the war including requiring long-term rehabilitation and critical care Over children like Amr are suffering from brain or spinal injuries or amputated limbs Gaza will be dealing with future generations of kids living with all sorts of disabilities not just brain but limb disabilities that are consequences of amputation that could have been prevented if the healthcare system was not under the pressures it is under wasn t systematically targeted and destroyed as it was commented Tanya Haj-Hassan a pediatric intensive care specialist who has volunteered multiple times in Gaza with international medicinal organizations A fateful journey north In April one week before her due date Amr s mother Inas persuaded her husband to visit her parents in northern Gaza They trekked from the tent they lived in on Gaza s southern coast to the tent where her parents live They were having an evening meal when the strike hit Amr s mother and her unborn baby his grandfather and his brother and sister were killed Amr was rushed to the ICU at Indonesian Hospital the largest in northern Gaza A scan validated shrapnel in his brain and reduced brain function A breathing tube was inserted into his throat He is Why should he bear the weight of a rocket his aunt demanded His father Mohammed was too stunned to even visit the ICU His wife had been the love of his life since childhood the aunt announced He barely spoke Doctors announced Amr needed advanced rehabilitation But while he was at the hospital Israeli forces attacked the facility encircling its premises and causing damage to its communication towers water supplies and one of its wards Evacuation orders were issued for the area and patients were transferred to Shifa Hospital in Gaza City Another treacherous journey But Shifa was overwhelmed with mass casualties and staff petitioned the family to take Amr south even though no ambulances or oxygen tanks could be spared The father and aunt had to take Amr fresh out of ICU with the tube in his throat in a motorized rickshaw for the -kilometer -mile drive to Nasser Hospital Amr was in pain his oxygen levels dropped He was in and out of consciousness We were reading the Quran all along the road noted his aunt praying they would survive the bombings and Amr the bumpy trip without therapeutic care About halfway an ambulance arrived Amr made it to Nasser Hospital with oxygen blood levels so low he was again admitted to ICU Unable to get the care he requirements Still Nasser Hospital could not provide Amr with everything he needed Intravenous nutrients are not available Nasser s head of pediatrics Dr Ahmed al-Farra mentioned The fortified milk Amr needed disappeared from the industry and the hospital after weeks of Israel s blockade He has lost about half his weight When he came out of the ICU Nour shared his bed with him at night and administered his medication She grinds rice or lentils into a paste to feed him through a syringe connected to his stomach We have starvation in Gaza There is nothing to eat mentioned his aunt who is a trained nurse There is nothing left The care Amr has missed is likely to have long-term effects Immediate care for brain injuries is critical Haj-Hassan mentioned as is follow-up physical and speech therapy Since the Israeli blockade on Gaza began in March patients including children have left the territory for curative medication alongside nearly of their companions according to the World Healthcare Organization Over people including children await evacuation Amr is one of them COGAT the Israeli military body in charge of civilian affairs in Gaza coordinates anatomical evacuations after receiving requests from countries that will take the patients and protection screenings In latest weeks over patients and their companions have left for healing COGAT noted without specifying the time period Tess Ingram spokesperson for the U N children s agency announced the only hope for numerous critically injured who remain in Gaza is to get out Countries need to open their hearts open their doors and open their hospitals to children who survived the unimaginable and are now languishing in pain she explained Amr s aunt reads his every move He is unhappy with his diapers she announced He outgrew them long ago He was a smart kid now he cries feeling sorry for himself reported Nour He gets seizures and requirements tranquilizers to sleep His brain is still growing What can they do for him Will he be able to walk again Nour required So long as he is in Gaza there is no recovery for him Source