A forced Palestinian child to wait weeks for authorization to leave Gaza to receive medical treatment that saved her life finally came to Jordan. The girl is now in the hospital receiving critical medical treatment.
two years old, he left the Palestinian enclave under siege after gigantic effort to the “highest level” in Amman, the Jordano employee told CNN from the negotiations. Jordan decided to evacuate it following a CNN report on its history.
Israel initially approved Habiba’s treatment abroad at last month, before denying authorization for medical evacuations for more than two weeks, according to international aid groups.
Doctors believe that Habiba suffers from protein C deficiency – a rare but highly treatable genetic disease that causes excessive blood coagulation – and warned that the child will probably lose his right leg and possibly arms.
But thousands of children like Habiba do not have access to vital care in Gaza, where more than 15 months of siege and bombing by Israel have paralyzed the medical system.
Following a CNN report on Habiba last month, Jordan decided to transfer her to Amman to receive urgent medical treatment. Israel postponed the mission, said Jordan officials to CNN last week. At the time, the Israeli authorities did not respond to the repeated CNN commentary requests.
On Thursday, Habiba was admitted to the intensive care of the Nasser Hospital in Gaza, with a pulmonary infection. His heart stopped twice, according to the mother and health professionals who revived her. On Sunday, Israel delayed the evacuation further, postponing the urgent mission and refusing to allow the mother, Rana, to accompany her daughter.
In a CNN video, recorded at the hospital during the 37 -year -old Rana, cried and hugged her daughter by bed. In one scenes, Habiba, who is too young to understand her mother’s pain, leaned over and kissed her on the faces.
“Lord, I ask you for a miracle, but if this is your will, I accept it,” Rana shouted before falling to the ground. Habiba, sitting on the bed, looked in silence to the nurses who hurried to pick up their mother.
The Jordan employees worked behind the scenes to obtain Israeli permission so that Rana would accompany Habiba and the girl’s brother Soheib.
To save Habiba to a long and dangerous trip, Jordan requested air transport from its military from the Israeli and Gaza border, but Israel denied the request, according to a top Jordano, who told CNN that Israeli authorities told CNN would only approve a trip over land.
On Sunday, Israel authorized Soheib’s trip – before revoking the permission at the last minute, according to Jordanian authorities. The employee told CNN that they finally obtained approval for the whole family to leave Gaza on Monday.
The high employee described the mission of evacuating habub as unnecessarily difficult. “We worked tirelessly, daily, to get dwell from there. It was followed to the highest level in Jordan, ”said the official.
COGAT, Israeli aid agency, told CNN on Monday: “Israel approved of Habiba Mahmoud Abd Al-Nasser Askari to Jordan for medical treatment, accompanied by his mother and 10-year-old brother.”
The approvals for the departure of children and their families for medical treatment were “subject to a security analysis by the competent authorities before their entry into the sovereign territory of Israel,” Cogat said on January 14.
The Israeli Military Campaign since the October 7, 2023 attacks led by Hamas erased whole families, generated hunger and illness, and decimated the medical infrastructure in Gaza. After a fragile ceasefire and a hostage release agreement between Israel and Hamas has realized on January 19, Palestinians say they are fighting to reconcile psychological trauma and physical destruction caused for more than a year of war.
What is at stake is the life of a child
On Monday, the child and his family were initially transferred in an ambulance by the Gaza Ministry of Health to the Kerem Shalom border post with Israel and delivered to a Jordan medical team.
Habiba was then taken through Israel to Jordan by the King Hussein bridge, also known as Allenby Bridge, where a medical team sent by order of King Abdullah II waiting for a helicopter to take her to an Amman hospital.
A CNN team that was on the ground, on the Jordan side of the border, heard Sirens and saw blue and red ambulance lights illuminating the path that led to the helicopter. Three military doctors found Rana and their two children inside the emergency vehicle on Monday night before the family was transferred to the helicopter. The baby was wrapped in a blanket with a cute red toy, while Rana looked out the window, her eyes tired of exhaustion after leaving Gaza for the first time.
Military doctors controlled Habiba oxygen levels during the ten minutes from flight to Amman before arriving at Rania Al Abdullah’s Children’s Hospital. Habiba was then treated by hospital health professionals. Habiba lay on the bed and smiled at her older brother.
Habiba (center) was evacuated from Gaza by the Army Jordano on Monday on a special mission after Israel was repeatedly delayed his evacuation. Jomana Karadsheh/CNN
COGAT told CNN before that it allowed 24 medical evacuations of Gaza through Israel to other countries “in recent months” to 1,075 gaza residents seeking medical care. According to the World Health Organization, between 12,000 and 14,000 people still need Gaza medical evacuation.
At least 37 patients and 39 companions left Gaza from Rafah, WHO reported on Saturday after the reopening of the passage.
Like Habiba, 2,500 other children in Gaza need urgent medical evacuation, according to the UN. But for those waiting for a salvation board, there is no such promise, according to a humanitarian worker in the region.
Arwa Damon, founder of the Inara Humanitarian Aid Organization, told CNN that Israel’s process to facilitate the medical evacuation of Gaza children “never clear.” Inara was not involved in Habiba’s evacuation mission.
“It’s like trying to browse a distorted reality show … where survival rules are … constantly changing and what is at stake is a child’s life,” Damon said on Monday. “What we faced when trying to get the habbar out is not unique to her, it’s the status quo.”
Sana Noor Haq, from CNN, contributed to the report.
