A tragic flashback of a Gazan youth who was released after surgery

Three months after a 13-year-old girl left Gaza for treatment, she is in a critical condition in a UAE hospital after complications from surgery.

Lamis Abusalim has severe scoliosis, which if left untreated, can compress his lungs and eventually kill him. Before the operation, he spent most of his time on his back, because when he sat down, he struggled to breathe.

But when he underwent surgery to correct his condition on October 4, his heart stopped three times, his mother said. Doctors told the family that the girl was brain damaged.

It is a painful setback for Lamis and his family, who had spent months trying to escape the war in Gaza to get medical help. Their story was told in The BBC’s coverage of the wider release in July.

Lamis was supposed to be treated in Jerusalem last October following three failed surgeries in Gaza.

But since the start of the Israeli military offensive following the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, most of the residents of Gaza have not been able to leave the area.

Finally, Lamis and his mother were able to get on the evacuation list with the help of international organizations.

After a complicated operation, the family is now looking for help to transfer Lamis to the UK or another country for further treatment, although it would be difficult to transport him.

“All children have the right to live in a safe place, in a good place, to seek treatment,” said his mother, Shatha. “It’s not the kids who are causing the trouble.”

The months-long, multi-national effort to evacuate Lamis highlights how difficult it is for Palestinians in Gaza to get medical help.

Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 others back to Gaza as hostages.

The subsequent Israeli military offensive has killed more than 42,000 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

The bombings closed hospitals, killed doctors, and overwhelmed the remaining facilities and wounded.

The Israeli military said they attacked some hospitals because, they said, Hamas fighters were using them as bases. Hamas denies this.

Before the war, Lamis, a “good kid” and the youngest of five, loved to draw and attend his special education school, his mother said.

When he was six months old, he was diagnosed with white blood cell disease.

Dr. Joshua Bonkowsky, a professor of pediatric neurology at the University of Utah Health said that it is a type of brain disease that leaves a third of children dead by the age of eight.

He did not know Lamis’s case.

Almost any disease is curable, but treatment is available for the resulting conditions.

In January, the health department in Gaza sent Lamis for treatment abroad for his scoliosis. The department recorded that he has difficulty breathing and swallowing, and recommended that he undergo surgery.

His family reached out to the charity HEAL Palestine, which arranged treatment with an American hospital, while an Israeli NGO, Gisha, sought security clearance to evacuate.

In June, Lamis received a permit the day before the evacuation at the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing, but he did not get on the list in time to leave, according to Gisha.

Then in late July, her mother received a call from the World Health Organization (WHO) saying that she and her daughter would be leaving.

After a last-minute delay – which resulted in Shatha taking her daughter on a two-hour journey back home to Deir al-Balah in central Gaza – they received another call the next day saying the evacuation had returned.

Shatha said goodbye to her husband not knowing when they will see each other again.

“It was very difficult for me,” said Shatha. “I didn’t want to look back.”

Shatha boarded the bus to leave Gaza carrying only a bag with Lamis on his back, as they had to leave the girl’s wheelchair and bags full of clothes.

Lamis cried out in pain as he boarded a bus to the border with Israel, where he took another bus before boarding a flight to the UAE.

In a phone call in August, Shatha told the BBC that he had “finally achieved this dream”.

Lamis is one of 229 patients who have left Gaza since May, according to the WHO.

About 4,900 patients – 35% of those who applied – passed through the Rafah crossing into Egypt from November to May, when Israel launched an offensive and took control of the Gazan side of the crossing.

An estimated 12,000 patients still need to be evacuated.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said people were “suffering needlessly” and urged “the establishment of evacuation routes by all possible routes”.

Cogat, the Israeli military unit responsible for humanitarian affairs in Gaza, told the BBC Israel is “actively working in many areas to establish a way to evacuate patients with complex medical conditions, who require further treatment outside the Gaza Strip”.

The organization said that Israel “constantly consults” with aid agencies, health authorities and countries, and reviewed the evacuation requests, giving “an appropriate response, according to security plans”.

Since arriving in the UAE, the government has paid for Lamis’ accommodation, pocket money and hospital stay, where he remained in critical condition on Friday.

His mother said “the most important thing is to get Lamis good treatment.”