“Reattach my legs,” cries 13-year-old Layan al-Baz every time the pain wakes her in her hospital bed and grips her with post-amputation fear.
The child, received by an AFP team at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younes, southern Gaza, refuses to imagine prostheses when they can actually land them in an area lacking the most basic means of survival.
“I don’t want prosthetics, I want them to reattach my legs, they can,” Layan protests on his bed in the children’s wing. Every time she opens her eyes and the effects of the sedatives wear off, she sees her stumps covered in bandages.
Her mother, Lamia al-Baz, explains that Layan was injured in a bomb attack in the al-Qarara district of Khan Yunis last week.
Israel, determined to “destroy” Hamas, is bombing the Gaza Strip relentlessly in retaliation for the Palestinian Islamist movement’s deadly attacks on its territory on October 7 that killed more than 1,400 people, mostly civilians.
According to the Hamas government, these Israeli bombings caused more than 10,000 deaths, mostly civilians.
“How am I supposed to go back to school when my friends go for walks and I don’t?” Layan complains, his face and arms covered in wounds.
“I will stand by you. Everything will be fine, the future is still ahead of you,” her mother tries to reassure her.
According to this 47-year-old woman, the bombing killed two of her daughters, Ikhlas and Khitam, as well as two of her grandchildren, including a few days old baby. They were all at the house of Ikhlas, who had just given birth.
She had to identify her daughters at the morgue. “Their bodies were torn to pieces. I recognized Khitam by his earrings and Ikhlas by his toes,” she says.
– “I will be strong” –
In the burn treatment unit, Lama al-Agha, 14, and her sister Sara, 15, who were hospitalized after an attack on October 12, occupy two beds next to each other. Her mother sits in the middle, barely holding back her tears.
Sara’s twin sister Sama and her younger brother Yehya (12) were killed in the bombing, the mother said.
Stitches and burn scars can be seen on Lama’s partially shaved head and forehead.
“When they moved me here, I asked the nurses to help me sit up and discovered my leg had been amputated,” she says.
“I felt a lot of pain, but I thank God that I am still alive. I will have a prosthesis fitted and continue my studies to pursue my dream of becoming a doctor. I will be strong for myself and for my family,” he adds Lama al-Agha with amazing courage.
Doctor Nahed Abou Taaema, director of Nasser Hospital, explains that given the large number of injured and lack of resources, doctors often have no choice but to perform an amputation to prevent complications.
“We have to decide whether to save the patient’s life or put it at risk by trying to save his injured leg,” he explains.
– “Where is my leg?” –
Wearing a green soccer jersey and matching shorts, 14-year-old Ahmad Abou Shahmah is surrounded by cousins. He walks on crutches through the courtyard of his now-ruined house in eastern Khan Younes, where he used to kick a ball.
His right leg was amputated after a bombing destroyed his family’s building, killing six of his cousins and an aunt, he said.
“When I woke up (after surgery), I asked my brother, ‘Where is my leg?’ “He lied to me by telling me it was there and that I couldn’t feel it because of the anesthesia before my cousin told me the truth the next day,” he recalls.
“I cried a lot. The first thing I thought was that I won’t be able to run or play soccer like I do every day. I even enrolled in an academy a week before the war,” the boy added.
Ahmad is a supporter of Spanish giants FC Barcelona while his cousins are die-hard Real Madrid fans.
“If I could turn back time and give Ahmad a leg up again, I would be willing to give up Real Madrid to become a Barcelona fan like him,” said one of them, Farid Abou Shahmah.