Published: TUESDAY October 29, 2024: 'A DROP IN THE OCEAN: Gaza Mercy Flights' by ZUMA photographer Sadak Souici for French magazine 'Le Nouvel Obs' followed the evacuation of around forty children from the besieged Palestinian enclave. Traumatized, seriously injured, they are treated urgently in hospitals in Abu Dhabi. Children in Gaza are dying in pain for want of emergency treatment as a result of Israeli authorities approving fewer of them for medical evacuation, the UN stated. Whereas before almost 300 children were being evacuated a month, that number is now closer one per day, with medics waiting in vain for security approvals from Israel controlling exits from Gaza including these mercy flights to UAE. But the Emirates does not recognize refugee status and so for the children who are evacuated nobody knows what will become of them nor if they will ever be able to see Gaza again. Welcome to 'A DROP IN THE OCEAN: Gaza Mercy Flights'
© zReportage.com Issue #960 Story of the Week: Published: TUESDAY October 29, 2024: 'A DROP IN THE OCEAN: Gaza Mercy Flights' by ZUMA photographer Sadak Souici for French magazine 'Le Nouvel Obs' followed the evacuation of around forty children from the besieged Palestinian enclave. Traumatized, seriously injured, they are treated urgently in hospitals in Abu Dhabi. Children in Gaza are dying in pain for want of emergency treatment as a result of Israeli authorities approving fewer of them for medical evacuation, the UN stated. Whereas before almost 300 children were being evacuated a month, that number is now closer one per day, with medics waiting in vain for security approvals from Israel controlling exits from Gaza including these mercy flights to UAE. But the Emirates does not recognize refugee status and so for the children who are evacuated nobody knows what will become of them nor if they will ever be able to see Gaza again. Welcome to 'A DROP IN THE OCEAN: Gaza Mercy Flights'
A Gazan woman holds her child in her arms during a mercy flight from Palestine to a life saving clinic set up in the Emirates. More than 50,000 children under the age of 5 in the Gaza Strip need treatment for acute malnutrition.
© Sadak Souici/ZUMA Press Wire
MAISSA, 14, and MALAK, 11, were chosen to be evacuated on September 11, 2024. Ten days earlier, a shell hit their classroom in Khan Younis, in the south of the Palestinian enclave. The two sisters miraculously survived, but the other 12 students in the school were killed in the bombing.
© Sadak Souici/ZUMA Press Wire
Happily sitting on the plane to be evacuated, even after what he has endured in Gaza, SAID survived despite severe burns and shrapnel in his body.
© Sadak Souici/ZUMA Press Wire
After a long and grueling journey from the Gaza Strip, a young man finds comfort in leaning on his brother's shoulder. The Emirates organized the evacuation of around forty children from the besieged Palestinian enclave. Traumatized, seriously injured, they are treated urgently in hospitals in Abu Dhabi. This was just one of many flights.
© Sadak Souici/ZUMA Press Wire
The UAE with WHO, evacuates 252 critically wounded people and patients from the Gaza Strip by aircraft to the Emirates. Many single mothers came with their children and family members onboard the mercy flight.
© Sadak Souici/ZUMA Press Wire
Mother of seven, IBA ATAYA gave birth to her daughter SAIDA in late July, after falling pregnant in October 2023. 'I was pregnant in Gaza, it was very hard. I changed houses every month because the fighting was always moving. I gave birth in a tent, without medication' sighs Iba. Her daughter Saida is suffering from severe malnutrition, and will only survive if she is hospitalized in Abu Dhabi.
© Sadak Souici/ZUMA Press Wire
HICHAM, 6, is one of the most seriously affected children being evacuated by mercy flight from Gaza. About fifty pieces of shrapnel are lodged in his abdomen, and according to the doctors, he is still barely surviving.
© Sadak Souici/ZUMA Press Wire
A little girl is carried by a member of the NGO (UAE AID) from arriving aircraft in the Emirates towards an ambulance that will take her to he clinic. The UAE with WHO, evacuates 252 critically wounded people and patients from the Gaza Strip.
© Sadak Souici/ZUMA Press Wire
Looking from his window, HASSAN AL MOTASEM, 13, was injured in the face and legs after bombing hit the town of Rafa where he grew up. 'All the children need emergency operations, they are in physical and psychological states so fragile, I had never seen that,' confides the clinics doctor Maha Barakat.
© Sadak Souici/ZUMA Press Wire
SARAH, 5, smiles and runs into the room. She arrived a month ago and is just starting to regain her confidence. When she first arrived, she refused to mix with girls her age and would hide her face when she entered class. Burned almost all over her body, she has undergone two skin grafts on her face.
© Sadak Souici/ZUMA Press Wire
Dr SAMIRA SAID, head physician of the Emirates Humanitarian Center Clinic. From the beginning of the conflict, she decided to create a crisis unit for traumatized children.
© Sadak Souici/ZUMA Press Wire
SOUAD FAIZ, 41 Faiz poses with two young Gazan girls. Faiz has terminal cancer.
© Sadak Souici/ZUMA Press Wire
YAMINE ILIAD, 7, was seriously injured in the leg in the town of Khan Yunis during Israels war against Hamas in Gaza.
© Sadak Souici/ZUMA Press Wire
Dr MAHA BARAKAT, deputy health officer at the UAE foreign ministry, is leading the perilous humanitarian evacuation operation. 'We collect them after a year of daily bombings, in the worst area of conflict on the planet. All need emergency operations, they are in physical and psychological states so fragile, I had never seen that,'' confides Barakat.
© Sadak Souici/ZUMA Press Wire
A family waits under the portrait of Emir Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan President of the UAE. The Emirates with WHO, evacuates 252 critically wounded people and patients from the Gaza Strip.
© Sadak Souici/ZUMA Press Wire
MOHAMED KHALED, 12, smiles despite everything. Lying on his bed, his body is kept balanced by a metal structure. He was badly injured in Gaza during the Israeli bombings.
© Sadak Souici/ZUMA Press Wire
A young Gazan woman receives a prosthetic leg for the first time. ''We are taking out of Gaza the wounded and sick who have the most chance of surviving, the others are not evacuated because they would not last the journey,'' laments Dr Maha Barakat.
© Sadak Souici/ZUMA Press Wire
Before becoming disabled, FAHAD, 17, was passionate about swimming, which she practiced every day in the Mediterranean Sea. Every Sunday, she put on her swimsuit and goggles and swam for miles in the water.
© Sadak Souici/ZUMA Press Wire
Hassan, 6, lost his eye in the Israeli bombings on his home in Rafah in January 2024.
© Sadak Souici/ZUMA Press Wire
AYA MUHAMMAD, 16, had her foot amputated when she was injured during the July 2024 bombings in Gaza amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.
© Sadak Souici/ZUMA Press Wire
A drawing made by 13 year old Hassan, who was injured by Israeli bombings on his home in Gaza and was selected to be evacuated with other severely injured and sick children.
© Sadak Souici/ZUMA Press Wire
