Critically ill children allowed to leave Gaza for first time since May
But the main channel through which Gazans could leave — the Rafah crossing with Egypt — was closed after Israeli forces captured it in a military offensive in May. Egypt closed its side of the gate in protest, and the Gazan section was later destroyed in a fire, the Israeli military said, seemingly dashing hopes that the crossing would be reopened in the near future.
At least two sick Gazans who were due to leave in early May have died while waiting to be evacuated, their relatives said.
With the Rafah crossing closed, the group of children allowed to leave on Thursday were taken through another crossing, Kerem Shalom, into Israeli territory before being taken to Egypt. The move did not appear to herald a new permanent route for the critically ill to safely leave Gaza.
One of the children who crossed on Thursday was a ten-month-old girl named Sadeel Hamdan.
For months, her family had watched with growing fear as Sadeel’s condition deteriorated. Her abdomen swelled like a balloon due to severe liver failure and she urgently needed a transplant, said her father, Tamer Hamdan.
On Thursday morning, Mr Hamdan and Sadeel were finally allowed to leave the enclave – after weeks of waiting. After entering Israel, they were transferred along with other patients to Nitzana, an Israeli border crossing, where they entered Egyptian territory, he said.
“Thank God,” said Mr. Hamdan, reached by phone as he sat on a bus on the Egyptian side of the checkpoint. “We are so happy that we got Sadeel out safely. Now we just need to complete her treatment.”
However, their departure from Gaza was mixed. Mr. Hamdan traveled with his daughter to be a partial liver donor, but his wife and three other children were not allowed to travel with them. He said he feared for their fate in Gaza.
“We are all heading into the unknown,” he said.
For every patient who left, many others remained. Muna Abu Holi, a university lecturer from central Gaza, survived an explosion that killed one of her daughters and seriously injured two others.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health documents, her two surviving daughters were allowed to travel through the Rafah crossing for medical treatment on May 7. But the Israeli offensive led to the closure of the border.
“We are grasping at every possible hope,” Ms. Abu Holi said. “We cling to every piece of news we hear.”
