Yazan, 16, was playing with his cousins at home in November when the structure was struck by an Israeli missile, killing everyone but Yazan, and forcing doctors to amputate his legs below the knees.
Adam, 4, was also at home when he was the only survivor of an Israeli missile strike; his parents were killed and his left leg had to be amputated.
They were among four children from Gaza who arrived at O’Hare Airport on Sunday afternoon to receive medical care with assistance from the nonprofit Heal Palestine and the local Palestinian community.
All four: 1-year-old Seedra, 4-year-old Adam, 16-year-old Yazan and 12-year-old Mohammed — lost limbs in Israeli attacks on Gaza, Heal Palestine said. The children will be treated at area hospitals free of charge, though Mohammed is being taken to Cleveland to be with his mother.
“They’re just looking forward to being here, they want to start not just the healing process but to feel safe and maybe have a little fun because what they’ve gone through is traumatic,” Manal Moore, a representative at Heal Palestine’s Chicago branch, told the Sun-Times on Sunday.
At least 322 Gazan children have been killed since the most recent ceasefire ended March 18, and more than 15,000 children have been killed since Israel started its campaign in Gaza, according to UNICEF. Over the weekend, Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip killed at least 32 people, including over a dozen women and children, local health officials said Sunday.
However there have been difficulties in getting the children out of Gaza and on their way to Chicago through Egypt and Austria.
“It’s been difficult to get them visas,” Moore said. “They’re selected by the seriousness of their cases, but it’s a strange thing to say because all the cases are serious.”
At O’Hare, they were greeted by several of the children who were brought to Chicago for treatment last year, as well as many in the local community who responded to calls to welcome the children.
One of the girls brought to the city last year, 5-year-old Sally, had brain surgery and a platinum plate placed in her skull to heal a head wound. She’s now in Egypt, and others have begun returning to their families around the world, though Heal Palestine doesn’t consider it safe to return them to Gaza as Israel relaunches military action in the area.
The others are continuing to heal as they undergo more treatment and therapy here.
“They’re learning to walk again with their prosthetics, they’re learning to swim and play piano, they’re learning English,” Moore said. “Everyone reaches out, and the community tries to do things with them to make them feel loved and wanted. … [The Palestinian community in Chicago] just want to do something instead of watching on screens and feeling like they can’t do anything.”
That need for action was exemplified in a recent campaign to find a local stem cell match for a 7-year-old Gazan girl brought to the U.S. last year. She has a rare blood condition that acts much like a blood cancer, according to Thaer Ahmad, a Chicago-area emergency medicine doctor who helped organize the drive.
Ahmad, who has taken multiple humanitarian trips to Gaza to provide medical care, helped organize the testing drive locally after a match fell through and none of the 15 million people in the stem cell donor registry were a match.
He said between three locations in Palos Hills, Bridgeview and Orland Park, nearly 600 people were tested and added to the registry, in addition to many more at events at nearby mosques and community centers.
Others who didn’t fit into the 18 to 40 age range, or were disqualified for medical reasons, still wanted to do their part, but many had to be turned away.
“It was very emotional with most people,” Ahmad told the Sun-Times on Sunday. “I can’t tell you how many elderly people were begging to be swabbed. … There were people who were praying they would be a match.”
Those looking to join the stem cell register can order a test kit online for free, though the girl’s treatment will be moving forward quickly, as her condition is “very critical,” Ahmad said. Without proper treatment, the 7-year-old has a life expectancy of about two years.
But with Israel’s war on Gaza continuing, there are still questions about when and whether these children will be able to return home.
“Seeing these kids coming here, we see firsthand how being removed from your home and the neighborhood, schools and friends you grew up with, has an effect on people,” Ahmad said. “We’re doing everything we can to make them feel comfortable, but there is no replacement for that. … Gaza is their home, and the long-term plan is for them to go back, but that’s the question — what’s going to happen?”