Asef Abu Almahadi had a full football kit and goalkeeper gloves. The future plan was clear. He wanted to become a professional soccer player. – I played football outside in the street. The ball ended up inside a fenced area. I went over to him who owned the area to get the ball. Just then the rocket came and I lost my footing. Asef is one of many who now have to have bandages changed and amputation wounds tended to in Gaza. According to UN figures in early December, around 1,000 children had had to have their arms, legs and hands amputated since the war started in October. On Friday, the health service in Gaza reported that around 19,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the war started on 7 October. The figure includes 8,000 children and 6,200 women, according to the health service, while 51,000 people are injured. Seven-year-old Ala Sobuh is one of around 1,000 children in Gaza who have had to be amputated as a result of Israeli attacks on Gaza. Photo: Ahmed Abu Almahadi/news Missing protests At al-Aqsa hospital in the north of the Gaza Strip, news’s team meets several children who are missing parts of their bodies. The doctors here talk about the crisis in the healthcare system. They lack everything. Also prostheses for all those who have to amputate. – Since the war started, the hospitals in Gaza have not been able to fit prostheses on the injured, says doctor Khalil al Darkan to news. We lack prostheses, says doctor Khalil al Darkan at the Al Aqsa hospital Photo: Ahmed Abu Kmeil/news – The health service has collapsed The UN’s humanitarian office for emergency aid (OCHA) said on Wednesday that Gaza is facing a “public health disaster”. – We all know that the health system has collapsed, said Lynn Hastings, the UN humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian area. She described the situation as a recipe for epidemics and a public health disaster. WHO doctor Richard Peeperkorn on Tuesday referred to the Al-Ahli hospital in northern Gaza as “a disaster zone”. He described scenes of corridors overflowing with patients and shortages of fuel, oxygen, food and water. – In just 66 days of fighting, the strip has been transformed from a reasonably functioning health system to a situation where more than two-thirds of the 36 hospitals and over 70 percent of the primary health care facilities are out of order, the doctor said. Asef with his mother Um Mohammed Almahadi at Al Aqsa Hospital in Gaza. Photo: Ahmed Abu Almahadi/news A future without a foot – Asef was an ambitious boy, says his mother Um Mohammed Almahadi. He wanted to become an athlete and get an education. Now she is sitting by the hospital bed in al Aqsa hospital, watching over her badly injured boy. – Like any Palestinian mother, I cannot believe that my son has lost his foot. I think, how will he continue his life, says Um Mohammed Almahadi to news. Changing the bandage on Asef’s amputated foot is a painful experience. Photo: Ahmed Abu Almahadi/news Although Asef seems to take the situation calmly and is in a good mood, he is worried about what his life will be like in the future – I am afraid of being bullied by friends at school and friends on the street . If I go, and they say: Here comes the boy without a foot. I don’t know if I can live out my dreams anymore, says Asef Abu Almahadi. One of thousands of victims of the bloody conflict in Gaza in recent months.
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Asef dreamed of becoming a professional footballer – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
