Current:Home > MarketsAs the Israel-Hamas war rages, medical mercy flights give some of Gaza's most vulnerable a chance at survival-DB Wealth Institute B2 Expert Reviews
As the Israel-Hamas war rages, medical mercy flights give some of Gaza's most vulnerable a chance at survival
View Date:2024-12-23 23:44:14
Gaza's Hamas-run Health Ministry says the war with Israel has killed nearly 20,000 people. It has also hammered the Palestinian territory's health care system. A World Health Organization official said Thursday that in the decimated northern half of the enclave, there were "actually no functional hospitals left."
Even in the south, most hospitals are overcrowded and many have been heavily damaged. But for the vast majority of patients, including civilians caught in the crossfire, there is no way out of Gaza. But the United Arab Emirates has pledged to evacuate up to 1,000 injured children and 1,000 cancer patients by plane.
- A Gaza mother's harrowing journey to meet her baby, born in a war zone
To collect, care for and ferry to safety some of Gaza's most desperately ill, a commercial Boeing 777 jet was fitted with state-of-the-art medical equipment and staffed by a team of experienced doctors and nurses, creating a hospital like no other.
CBS News was on board the most recent so-called mercy flight, along with dozens of patients who were granted rare permission to leave Gaza through the Rafah border crossing to get to Al-Arish airport in northeast Egypt.
Some were so sick a cargo lift had to be used just to get them on board the aircraft. The patients were among the most seriously ill in Gaza, all of whom had suffered untold horrors just to get to the airport to have a fighting chance at survival.
Fatina was among the young patients being ferried to safety. The little girl's pelvis was crushed by an Israeli airstrike.
"I'm sad to leave Gaza," she told CBS News. "I'm going to miss my dad and my brother."
- Hope for new truce talks even as deaths soar in Gaza
Asked what she'd like people to know about the place where she's spent a disrupted childhood, Fatina said she would just "ask the world for a cease-fire."
Many of the patients on board the flight couldn't help but be amazed by their new surroundings and the care they were receiving.
Zahia Saa'di Madlum, whose daughter Rania has liver disease, said there wasn't "a single word that can describe what it was like" in Gaza. "We've had wars in Gaza before, but nothing like this one."
A total of 132 Palestinians were allowed to board the mercy flight, which was the sixth such mission operated by the UAE.
Near the back of the plane, CBS News met Esraa, who was accompanying two of her children and three others who were badly injured and left orphaned. Esraa's three other children were killed in an Israeli strike.
She said she wanted to be stronger for her surviving children, adding that for those she had lost, "their life now, in heaven, is better than this life."
While Esraa and her surviving kids, along with the orphaned children she now cares for, made it safely to the UAE, she said she still lives in darkness, haunted by the memory of the children who were taken from her by the war.
- In:
- United Arab Emirates
- War
- Hamas
- Israel
- Palestinians
- Gaza Strip
Imtiaz Tyab is a CBS News correspondent based in London.
TwitterveryGood! (452)
Related
- 1 dead, 2 children injured in wrong-way crash; driver suspected of DWI: Reports
- How Helene became the near-perfect storm to bring widespread destruction across the South
- Red Sox honor radio voice Joe Castiglione who is retiring after 42 years
- Residents told to evacuate or take shelter after Georgia chemical fire
- Wheel of Fortune Contestant Goes Viral Over His Hilariously Wrong Answer
- Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Smooches
- Key Senate race in Arizona could hinge on voters who back Trump and the Democratic candidate
- College Football Misery Index: Ole Miss falls flat despite spending big
- Fighting conspiracy theories with comedy? That’s what the Onion hopes after its purchase of Infowars
- Presidents Cup 2024: Results, highlights from U.S.'s 10th-straight Presidents Cup win
Ranking
- NATO’s Rutte calls for more Western support for Ukraine, warns of Russian alliances
- 6 Things Kathryn Hahn Can't Live Without
- What is 'Ozempic face'? How we refer to weight-loss side effects matters.
- Alabama football wants shot at Texas after handling Georgia: 'We're the top team.'
- NFL overreactions: New York Jets, Dallas Cowboys going nowhere after Week 10
- 'I will never forgive you for this': Whole Foods' Berry Chantilly cake recipe has changed
- When do the Jewish High Holidays start? The 10-day season begins this week with Rosh Hashana
- Helene flooding is 'catastrophic natural disaster' in Western NC
Recommendation
-
John Krasinski is People's Sexiest Man Alive. What that says about us.
-
She defended ‘El Chapo.’ Now this lawyer is using her narco-fame to launch a music career
-
Do food dyes make ADHD worse? Why some studies' findings spur food coloring bans
-
FBI to pay $22M to settle claims of sexual discrimination at training academy
-
Top Federal Reserve official defends central bank’s independence in wake of Trump win
-
Goldie Hawn Reveals NSFW Secret to Long-Lasting Relationship With Kurt Russell
-
Cities are using sheep to graze in urban landscapes and people love it
-
Kentucky pulls off upset at No. 5 Mississippi with help from gambles by Mark Stoops