Four children survived the horrors of Gaza and on Sunday reached the end of a difficult journey from the conflict zone to American hospitals where they will receive urgent medical care. They flew to Kennedy Airport from Cairo. There they were greeted with great fanfare by a crowd of about 50 people with stuffed toys, flowers and waving balloons.
“It’s their first memories here,” one supporter told The New York Times. Among the children was six-year-old Fadi Alzant, a thin boy with pale skin and light hair, about whom Seznam Zprávy reported earlier. A crowd gathered around his wheelchair immediately after entering the airport hall. An airport employee became agitated and yelled at people to disperse and put down their cameras.
Fadi suffers from cystic fibrosis and weighs about 25 kilograms, as well as severe malnutrition caused by starvation, said the Palestine Children’s Fund, which coordinated the children’s journey with help from the World Health Organization. He will now be cared for by medical professionals at Cohen Children’s Medical Center in Queens.
Tareq Hailat, who helps oversee the charity group’s travel, said the children were chosen based on referrals from hospitals in Gaza or, more often, posts about children in need on social media. For example, Fadi’s group found him after his mother made a video asking for help that went viral.
The team evacuated more than 100 children to Egypt and 60 of them were then transferred to other countries. Seven of them, including the four that arrived on Sunday, were flown to the United States. In addition to Fadi, they include 11-year-old Adam Abu Ajwa from Gaza, whose shelter was bombed on January 16, killing his mother and brother, according to the humanitarian fund. The rocket sent Adam flying into the air, damaging his head and severely injuring his lower body.
More than 34,000 people have died in Gaza since the start of the Gaza war following the October 7 attack by the Hamas terrorist movement on Israel that killed about 1,200 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
And children are not spared. Similar to Fadi, malnutrition is the main problem. “Even if they survive the bombing and ground operations, many die of starvation, dehydration and disease. Many of them will also suffer serious long-term mental health effects,” Save the Children writes on its website, according to which approximately one million children are currently at risk of starvation in Gaza.
Children in the Gaza Strip
Like Israeli children kidnapped by Hamas terrorists, those in the Gaza Strip are losing their parents, siblings and homes. They can’t go to school and the war takes its toll on their mental health. And there is nowhere to escape.
