Video: 3 children from Gaza that are not supposed to be in Hospital
Mohammad, Nayef, and Layan…three children from Gaza City
They are not supposed to be here, on a hospital bed, unable to move, not even to open their eyes, tied to breathing machines, trapped in medical equipment. They did not imagine that, not even in their worst nightmares.
They are supposed to be on the beach of Gaza having fun, and swimming, or in its alleys playing, and running, or even studying, or in the lap of their parents! This assumption would have become a reality if the shrapnel had mistaken them, or had mercy on their childhood and their helplessness. If the shrapnel realized that they were children without fault, they would today be living a normal life, or at least semi-normal, like any child who lived through the Gaza wars.
They were transferred to Al-Maqased Hospital in Jerusalem. Perhaps one of their dreams was to go on a picnic beyond the borders of Gaza to reach Jerusalem. How can we not, when Gaza has been under siege for 15 years, and the oldest of these children is more than 10 years old, but they did not think that they would be transported from one ambulance to another, and they would reach Jerusalem to undergo several surgeries on the head, lung, and small parts of their bodies.
Layan was playing on the seashore, while Mohammad was at his cousin’s wedding, and Nayef was on his way to the grocery, these are the moments when the shrapnel penetrated their bodies. Painful stories of a more painful reality monitored by the Wadi Hilweh Information Center that met the parents of the three children and monitored their health status.
The grandmother of Mohammad Abu Katifa
"They were at a cousin's wedding, they came and took the bride, they finished the wedding and left. All of them were going home in a big car, the missile hit an area near the car, the mother of the groom and her daughter-in-law were martyred and six of the children were wounded, including Mohammad, and including Mohammad Abu Ayyad, who came to Ramallah Hospital yesterday, and the rest are in Gaza Hospital, 3 sisters. Since the day he was injured, his mother does not eat or drink, living only on the solution. It was a massacre. We had a small wedding in the house. I am his grandmother from his mother’s side, and his other grandmother told him not to go out because of the missiles. He told her I am a man and I am not afraid of missiles. We live in a border area where the rockets are above us in Beit Lahia. May God help the people? My daughter, the mother of the martyr, remained silent since the moment she found out about the martyrdom of her daughter. A car was bombed and they were all martyred, her brother in law, her aunt and her uncle. The second shock was when her daughter was martyred. I left the mourning, today is the last day, and came with Muhammad.”
Naif Al-Awdat's aunt
"He was visiting his grandmother’s house in Khan Yunis. He went to the store to buy something, and was injured by a missile. God willing, he will recover. His grandmother’s house is very close to the store. They found him on the stairs and bleeding, and he was taken to the hospital. Nayef is very active, and he is very nice person that loves helping, there is no one like him. The missile went down and no one was injured but Nayef. There was a man that saw him bleeding and took him to the hospital.”
“Three children were injured, two boys, 8 and 9 years old, and a 10-year old girl. All injuries are to the head and direct injuries, as well as to the other parts of the chest and lung, but direct injuries to the brain. One of the children has a brain that is outside, and all of them are not awake, and are on artificial respiration.”
Mohammad Abu Katifa, 8 years old
Mohammad Abu Katifa, was injured by shrapnel to the head and shrapnel to the right side of the lung, he is in a coma, on a respirator, accompanied by his grandmother because the mother is in a bad condition and in the hospital. He was at the wedding, and his relatives, the mother of the groom, and his aunt were martyred. He is on medication, and the heart and pressure are under monitoring."
Nayef Al-Awdat, 9 years old
"This child, the injury was directly to the head - currently part of the brain is outside, he is on a respirator, within minutes he will enter the operations. His aunt is with him, and this patient was going to visit his grandmother and he suffers from a heart disease, and had underwent surgeries previously. He was going to buy from the store and the missile fell near him. The patient flew into the sky and came down, now we are giving him blood.”
Layan Al-Shaer "10 years"
“She underwent surgery in Gaza, and they performed an operation on her head. They tried to help her as much as possible, but right now her heart is the only part that works.”
