As part of a group of youngsters evacuated from Gaza to undergo medical treatment in the United States, an 8-year-old Palestinian kid from northern Gaza who lost a limb in the Israel-Hamas war arrived in Portland, Oregon, late Monday night.
Nasser suffered injuries when his two sisters were killed in an explosion that destroyed his family’s Jabalia house in May. According to the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund, a nonprofit that assisted in planning their escape to the United States, Nasser and his mother survived, although he had to have his hand amputated and she had to have her leg severed.
As Nasser and his mother Marwa arrived in the arrivals terminal on wheelchairs, dozens of people, including volunteers from the nonprofit’s local chapter, cheered them on and gave them gifts, flowers, and welcome signs.
On Monday, December 2, 2024, in Portland, Oregon, Nasser, 8 on the right, and his mother, Marwa Nasser Abdelfattah Abu Zaidah, 3 on the right, are welcomed upon their arrival at the Portland International Airport. (Photo by Jenny Kane/AP)
Intesar Amirkani, head of the nonprofit’s Portland chapter, said, “I’m really humbled by all of these people coming to support Nasser because he needs to know that he was not forgotten.”
Nasser is one of eight youngsters from Gaza that the charity organization most recently evacuated to obtain medical care in the United States. He will be treated at Shriners youngsters’s Hospital in Portland. In the past, the organization has assisted in planning medical evacuations of children from Gaza to the United States and other nations.
On October 7, 2023, militants led by Hamas invaded southern Israel, murdering around 1,200 people—mostly civilians—and seizing about 250 hostages, sparking the start of the Gaza War. Approximately two-thirds of the 100 people currently detained inside Gaza are thought to be alive.
According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which is a part of the Hamas-run government and does not specify how many of the deceased were combatants, Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 44,000 Palestinians, with over half of them being women and children.
Large portions of the coastal enclave have been damaged by the war. Ninety percent of Gaza’s population has been uprooted, frequently more than once, according to UN estimates.
The Associated Press
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