Diplomatic correspondent
BBCMajid Shaghanbi cannot eat or speak as he used to do. He cannot smile.
But with her injured mouth covered by a surgical mask, her eyes were smiling, as she reached a flight with her mother, brother and younger sister on a flight from Cairo at Heathro Airport in London.
The 15 -year -old told me, “I am happy to live and treat in England.”
He was trying to receive human assistance in Kuwaiti region of North Gaza in February last year, when an Israeli tank Shell exploded nearby, shattered his jaw bone and injured his leg.
“A friend of mine helped me and took me to the hospital,” he says. “They felt that I was dead. I had to move my hand forward to show them that I was alive.”
Doctors in Gaza saved their lives and Majid spent months in the hospital, breathing through a tracheostomy tube, before he was evacuated to Egypt in February this year – with Israel’s permission – for further medical treatment.
He is now in the UK for surgery at London’s Great Ormand Street Children Hospital to restore his facial function.
He is the first gooden child to reach Britain to treat war injuries, about two years in a conflict in which more than 50,000 children have been allegedly killed or injured, According to the charity of the United Nations children, UNICEF,
His arrival follows the work of months by a group of volunteer medical professionals, which came together in November 2023 to establish a project pure hope, which helps the injured and sick ghazan children go to the UK for treatment. It is funded by private donations.
“The UK is home to some of the best pediatric facilities in the world, yet countries like America, Belgium, Italy, Switzerland and many others have taken steps to help, the UK has not yet done the same,” Project Pure Hope says.
Majid’s arrival in Britain is less than a week of Prime Minister Sir Kir starrer Promised to vacate More badly injured children, although the government has released some details of the scheme.
Majid’s Medical Team – All are working for free – it will include cranialopial, plastic and orthodontic surgeons, including hospital bills paid by private donations.
“If we are able to give him a face and a jaw, which he can use it will not be completely normal, but hopefully he will be able to feed and speak himself, and his facial expressions will be better,” Surgeon Surgeon Noor ul Oves Jilani, a professor of pediatric neurosurgery in Great Omand Street, says.
“Hopefully how he lives and has a big impact on his future.
“We hope that we will be able to help many more children like him in the coming months. This is our collective moral responsibility.”
Hospital doctors have previously treated Ukraine patients, and last year helped different co-scored children in Israel.
Professor Jilani is disappointed that Gaza’s first child has taken such a long time for war injuries in Britain.
“As a doctor and as a human, I do not understand why we have been taken more than 20 months to go to this stage,” they say.
Project Pure Hope has identified 30 seriously injured children in Gaza, who expects to help bring it to the UK. It states that the government’s announcement is “important and long”, but the time is essence.
“Every day delayed the life and futures of children who give a chance to live, to recover and reconstruction of life,” said Omar Dean, its co-founder said.
In April, a group of volunteers acquired a visa for two girls -13 -year -old Ram and five -year -old Ghana -with a medical conditions across life, he was also privately funded in the UK.
He was Bring London After being evacuated from Gaza to Egypt, where – with the destruction of the healthcare system – they were not receiving the treatment they needed.
Since I met him in early May, Rama put on weight and sage, which was deeply shocked and withdrawn, is quite playful.
Ghana has done laser surgery to remove pressure in her left eye, which was at risk of losing. And Rama has done searchful surgery for the condition of severe bowel.
Both girls are doing well, their mother says.
But they are ill with anxiety – it is difficult to eat and sleep – out of family members, left behind in Gaza, who are now struggling to feed themselves.
“It’s better than Gaza here,” Ram tells me. “There are no bombs and there is no fear.”
But friends gave him a message from Gaza, told him that he had not received bread for 10 days and she says that his elder brother is first sleeping on the road after his house, and then his tent was bombing.
“They are hungry. So I either don’t want to eat. I think I am still with them,” Ram said.
United Nations -backed experts said that this week there was increasing evidence that there was a widespread starvation, malnutrition and disease in Gaza, increasing hunger -related deaths between 2.1 million Palestinians.
Majid, who faced life -changing injuries while trying to get food for his family, is also worried about his two brothers in Gaza.
“I’m afraid that they will die or something will happen to them,” they say. “I just want them to be safe.”
