The first group of Palestinian children injured in the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip landed in the United Arab Emirates on Saturday, part of a pledge by UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan to aid 1,000 women and children from Gaza.
The group of 15 people was made up of eight wounded or sick children and accompanying family members. They left the Gaza Strip on Friday via the Rafah border crossing with Egypt and then boarded a charter flight from the Egyptian city of El-Arish to Abu Dhabi, the UAE’s capital.
Some seats on the plane were removed to make room for the most critically wounded children, who needed to lie on stretchers. As well as children with burn, shrapnel and other injuries, the group also included a patient with cancer.
Among the more seriously injured was Mohammed Abu Tabikh, 14, who suffered injuries to his neck and spine when a car in which he was traveling was hit.
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“When I got injured, I felt shock. And then I stopped moving,” he said, before being brought out of the plane.
Amr Jandieh, 12, traveled to the UAE alone.
“My dad, uncle, and I were talking on the street,” he said. “My uncle was killed. My dad was injured. … All of a sudden a missile hit and I lost consciousness. I woke up and found myself in the hospital.”
The UAE, which has had diplomatic relations with Israel since the signing of the Abraham Accords in 2020, has offered humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip since the outbreak of the current conflict.
UAE officials said the country had allocated a $20 million aid package to Gaza, established a field hospital inside the Gaza Strip, and sent 51 planes carrying 1,400 tons of food, medical, and relief supplies to Gaza.
The officials said the UAE’s hospitals are ready to take in more children, and they are hoping that planes bringing injured children and women from Gaza will arrive in the UAE daily.