ASHDOD – As Hamas terrorists rampaged through Israeli communities on the morning of October 7, sick Gazan children were treated in Israeli hospitals.
Since war is currently raging in Gaza and the Erez civilian border crossing between Gaza and Israel was destroyed during the Hamas attack, the children and their families cannot return home.
For now and for the foreseeable future, they are stuck in the coastal city of Ashdod, living with Shevet Achim, an Israel-based Christian organization that brings children from neighboring countries to Israel for heart operations.
Despite the free, life-saving treatment their children receive from Israeli doctors and paid for by Israeli taxpayers, there is little warmth for the country among the Gazan relatives accompanying the young patients. Some blame Israel for all of Gaza’s woes; one or two are more nuanced.
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Several times a day, the mothers and grandmothers run to bomb shelters to protect themselves from Hamas rockets and endlessly scroll through images of dead Gaza citizens on Arab social media. They are scared, angry and want the fighting to end so they can return to their homes, their families and their homes, if they are still standing.
And they don’t have much sympathy for Israeli civilians, except for the medical staff they meet in the hospitals.
People enter Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on October 24, 2023. (Mahmud HAMS / AFP)
“We received a lot of grace in the hospital, yes,” said Umm Roz, a 24-year-old mother from Shejaiya. “But we see no mercy in Gaza.”
Praise only for the doctors
Umm Yousef, who is in Israel for the first time with her two-month-old nephew Hor, told the Times of Israel on Sunday that she had not heard anything positive about Israelis as a child in Jabaliya.
“We were under occupation; What will I hear about her?” she asked.
Umm Yousef said she was afraid to go anywhere except Shevet Achim House or Sheba Medical Center near Tel Aviv. She and Hor were the only Gazans in the intensive care unit on October 7, and she initially feared for their safety.
An ambulance in front of the emergency entrance of the Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan on July 15, 2023. (AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP)
Although Umm Yousef quickly realized she was safe, she was in hospital four days later when members of the far-right group La Familia broke in, and there were rumors that wounded Hamas terrorists were being treated there.
“They protected us; “Management called the police,” she said.
But she sees the care and protection provided by Sheba employees as an exception.
“There is a difference between the doctors and the soldiers,” she explained. “The doctors treat us well, the soldiers don’t. If I go to the hospital I’m safe, if I walk on the street I’m not safe.
“We ask for protection and want to go home to our families,” pleaded Umm Yousef.
If and when she returns, it is not clear where she will go. Her family’s home was destroyed and her five children were in the southern Gaza Strip, she said. “Completely, completely, completely, it’s gone,” she said.
And Umm Yousef has lost more than just her home. The day before the interview, she said, her brother was killed by Israeli attacks in Gaza.
Relatives and acquaintances hold pictures of hostages and missing people during a meeting on behalf of the hostages kidnapped from Israel by terrorists on October 7, 2023, at the French National Assembly on October 31, 2023 in Paris. (Photo by Emmanuel Dunand / AFP)
She also believes the kidnapping of Israeli civilians is justified.
“We have someone in the Israeli prisons. We want our prisoners back, and you want your prisoners back.”
Hamas, she said, “is trying to protect the women and children among the hostages, but Israel does not protect women and hostages.”
The Palestinians in Shevet Achim mostly spoke Arabic, and an Iraqi Kurdish mother translated into English.
It is impossible to separate their comments from the fact that they and their families live in Gaza under Hamas control and that speaking too warmly about Israel could put them in danger. They asked that their full names not be used and their faces not shown.
Umm Leen is with her 6-year-old daughter. The two traveled to Israel several times to receive treatment for Leen’s heart condition.
Palestinians inspect the damage to a destroyed building after Israeli airstrikes in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, October 10, 2023. (Hatem Ali/AP)
Her family’s home in a farming village east of Khan Younis was also destroyed by Israeli attacks, she said.
She said she was angry with the Israeli people. “When someone does something that harms us, it has an effect. Will I still feel love for her? NO.”
When asked if she felt sorry for the Israeli mothers slaughtered by Hamas on October 7, she simply shook her head.
“I was just afraid for my house, my family, my children and the people of Gaza when I heard about it,” Umm Leen said.
But she and Leen could stay in Israel for months. Your daughter has defective heart valves and suffers from seizures. Further treatment is planned for early next year.
“I want to go home, I want to see my family,” she said. “What will happen? Am I staying here for another three months?”
Umm Roz, who came to Israel for the first time two months ago and returned shortly before the war, also expressed no sympathy for Hamas’ victims.
View of cars destroyed by Hamas terrorists during the October 7 attack in a field near the Israel-Gaza border, October 31, 2023 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
When she heard about the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7, “I felt like the world had turned upside down and I was very scared,” she said.
However, she praised Sheba’s medical staff.
“The doctors have mercy and a humanitarian attitude towards children,” she said. “They treat everyone the same.”
“This is my voice”
Despite the palpable anger among most adults, some Gazans wanted to focus on the positive.
“Everything is good here,” said Fares, a gentle carpenter from Khan Younis, holding his three-month-old daughter Abeer. “I’m not afraid to be here.”
He appeared to blame Hamas for the war. “There is a war because they came to Israel; before that there was none. We were able to come and go and there were no problems.”
Umm Naim, 47, lost her husband during the Israel-Hamas conflict in 2014. Shortly after, she gave birth to her son at Sheba Medical Center and named him Naim after her husband.
She said she doesn’t hate Israel after her husband was killed. “It was a conflict,” she said.
I love peace, that is my dream for myself.
Umm Naim emphasized that her father worked in Israel for many years.
“I want peace to be with my children because I am constantly afraid,” she said in English.
“I do not have the power,” Umm Naim continued. “I love peace, that’s my dream.”
People walk through a gate to enter the Rafah border crossing into Egypt in the southern Gaza Strip on November 1, 2023 (Mohammed ABED / AFP)
She said she wanted Arab countries to sit at the table and resolve the Gaza issue. “To solve the Problem.”
“Stop killing the children, for both sides,” said Umm Naim. “This is a human being and this is a human being.”
She also expressed hope that Arab states could facilitate elections in the Gaza Strip.
“We hope that all children and all people on earth smile and are happy,” Umm Naim continued. “Muslim, Jew, anyone. Anyone. This is my voice.”
A blessing to the nations
Jonathan Miles, the founder of Shevet Achim, told the Times of Israel that he is committed to bringing sick children from Gaza to Israeli hospitals because “we are Christians from the nations who believe in the Word of God that we hear from the Jewish people have received.”
Jonathan Miles (l) and Lazar Berman speak to Gazans in Israel about medical care on October 28, 2023 (Courtesy)
“We are created in the image of God, so every life is valuable,” he said. “At the very beginning of the Abrahamic covenant it was promised that his descendants would be a blessing to all the families of the earth.”
Miles, who has also brought dozens of children from Syria, Iraq, Jordan and the West Bank to Israeli hospitals for life-saving heart surgeries, was not short of praise for the values of Jews and Israelis.
“It’s in their spiritual DNA,” he said. “Like it or not, being a faithful Jew means being a blessing to the nations. No other nation is willing to do what Israel is doing for these children.”
To illustrate, a father waits as hospital staff care for his baby, who was brought to Israel for life-saving heart surgery by the NGO Shevet Achim. (Screenshot: Vimeo)
Miles said that the Israeli authorities “will do almost anything to allow children in need of life-saving care to enter Israel, and that the doctors and nurses will fight for these children with every means at their disposal.” including the sacrifice of their personal time. “If we stand by them, the hospitals are prepared to cover at least half of the costs themselves.”
At the same time, Miles noted, “This war is such a hard blow that the people of Israel are having difficulty appreciating the lives of their neighbors in the same way they always have. Without God’s help it is impossible.”
“There is no Hamas”
Towards the end of the hour-long conversation, Gazans expressed their frustration with Israel.
“We are peaceful people, but I am afraid that we will get a call that my children will be killed,” said Umm Leen. “Four of my family members were killed today. Why did they attack the house?”
Palestinians flee after the Israeli army warned in Gaza City on October 13, 2023 that they would move south ahead of an expected ground offensive. (MAHMUD HAMS / AFP)
“This war is between Hamas and the Jews, and we are paying the price.”
Hamas is not stopping anyone from moving south, she emphasized, accusing Israel of targeting the refugees.
“Israel tells me to get out, then they shoot rockets at the car and there are children and women there. There was no Hamas,” accused Umm Leen.
This war is between Hamas and the Jews and we are paying the price.
“Our families try to do what we’re told, we try to seek shelter and people get killed.”
She said Hamas was underground and nowhere to be seen. “Hamas did not stop the people. There is no Hamas. Where is Hamas?”
“People here say they are attacking Hamas, but there are no Hamas people there,” Umm Leen said. “They’re attacking the hospital.”
Gazans supported Hamas’s claim that Israel was behind the Oct. 17 explosion at Al-Ahli Hospital. Israel has presented evidence, confirmed by the United States and leading Western news agencies, that the attack was caused by an Islamic Jihad rocket misfiring.
A girl carries blankets as she walks past the site of a deadly explosion at al-Ahli hospital in Gaza City on October 18, 2023. The explosion was likely caused by a failed missile launch from the enclave, according to AP video analysis and other investigations. (AP Photo/Abed Khaled)
They also expressed plenty of criticism of the Egyptian government.
“Why do none of our neighbors allow us to come?” asked Umm Naim. “Nobody wants us.”
“Just as Netanyahu won’t let us into this land that was once ours, Egypt won’t let us there,” Umm Leen lamented.
“We are tired of the war, we just want to see our families,” said Umm Fares, a 35-year-old grandmother from the Nuseirat refugee camp who is due to give birth in Israel in the coming weeks. “We want a clean and peaceful life.”