According to UNICEF, more than 1.000 children in Gaza suffered a limb loss due to the bombing, which profoundly changed their lives. Two such children, Shaimaa and Ramadan, told their stories in a short video that the agency published on the X platform.
“There were five of us in the house. I was playing with my brothers and sisters. My father lit a fire in front of the house and my mother was preparing pasta for us. Suddenly the house next to ours was bombed and a burning piece of iron fell on me. I looked at my arm and it was cut off at the elbow. My father stopped the car on the street and took me to the hospital. On the way to the hospital, the street was bombed and I lost my leg as well,” said the girl.
“I wish my hand and my leg come back because I want to play again with the children,” she added.
Then the boy Ramadan told his experience.
“I was feeding the ducks and chickens. Suddenly the house across the street from us was bombed. I didn’t feel any pain at that moment. When I woke up, I realized that my leg had been amputated. I asked myself, how will I go to school? How will I run? How will I play with the kids? I feel ashamed,” he said.
According to United Nations (UN) data, there were at least 212 Israeli attacks on health facilities and workers in Gaza from October 7th to December 11th. Meanwhile, a team from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) managed to access al-Shifa hospital weeks after it suffered heavy damage from an Israeli army attack.
Olga Cherevko, a member of the team, said in the video that they were able to gain access after several rejected and aborted missions because UN access to northern Gaza remains “severely restricted”.
“This hospital has actually become a shelter for thousands of people seeking safety. Equipment, fuel, water, and food are all in very short supply,” she explained.
“One doctor I met told me, ‘We are so alone in this world, they have forgotten us, the world must not be numb because of the suffering of the people in Gaza, we all bleed the same blood,'” she added.
