Karam, [my son] told me, "Dad, I could hear everything that was happening around me. When I was in the ambulance, even when it hit bumps in the road, I could hear it all. When I heard someone say, 'He’s passed away, there’s no hope,' I was afraid. I was afraid they would bury me alive.

On 14 February 2024, an Israeli airstrike obliterated Karam’s home in Gaza, killing his entire family, except for his little sister, Ghina, and his father, Ziyad.

“I went to Al-Aqsa hospital. I was looking in the reception and I only found my daughter, Ghina. She had first-degree burns on her face.”
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There was a boy next to me and they were trying to save his life.
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That was my son Karam, lying beside me, but I didn’t realize it was him. His entire body was black from the burns, completely black. There were no recognisable features or clothing to tell if this was my son.

After MSF staff managed to stabilise Karam, he fell into a coma for a week. Over the next six days, he underwent six plastic surgeries on his badly burnt body.
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He was later evacuated to Egypt. From there, our team managed to transfer him to the MSF hospital in Amman, Jordan.

Karam had first and second-degree burns on both hands and legs. His face was burned, and even now his cornea has issues. In his left ear, he lost hearing and there was a perforation in his eardrum.
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After a week, he started to talk Then, slowly, he began eating. He started recognizing the people around him.
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We hope that God heals Karam and restores his hand. But what has been lost will not return, and those who have died will never come back.

In Amman, our teams are treating some of the few Gazan children who were evacuated from the Strip for medical care. 
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According to WHO, 14,000 people in Gaza need medical evacuation. So far, almost 60 per cent of requests have been rejected by the Israeli authorities.

The Israeli authorities must facilitate medical evacuations from Gaza, while ensuring that patients and their caregivers are guaranteed a safe, voluntary and dignified return to Gaza.