Jordan supplied to take 2,000 sick Gaza children, blames Israel for delays : NPR

[ad_1] <img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/5620x3748+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fb7%2F73%2F0bfa46bf45a5a0101dddeabfd51d%2Fgettyimages-2219684408.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/5620x3748+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fb7%2F73%2F0bfa46bf45a5a0101dddeabfd51d%2Fgettyimages-2219684408.jpg" class="img" alt="A child gets off a bus near the Jordanian border with other pediatric patients who have been evacuated from Gaza through Israel on June 11." fetchpriority="high"/> A toddler will get off a bus close to the Jordanian border with different pediatric sufferers who've been evacuated from Gaza by way of Israel on June 11. Salah Malkawi/Getty Photographs disguise caption

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Salah Malkawi/Getty Photographs AMMAN, Jordan — The King Hussein Most cancers Heart is big and gleaming, with metal beams and floor-to-ceiling home windows. Cozy cafes and stocked snack machines dot the air-conditioned foyer. It is a stark distinction to circumstances in Gaza, from the place dozens of its newest sufferers have come.

"We could not discover meals and wherever we went there have been airstrikes," says Safa Salha, who spent months going from broken hospital to broken hospital, searching for remedy for her 16-year-old son Youssef.

Youssef, a tall, quiet teenager who lets his mom do many of the speaking, was in tenth grade earlier than the struggle between Israel and Hamas began in October 2023 and shut down all the colleges.

Final 12 months, he was operated on in Gaza for a mind tumor urgent down on his optic nerve. His mom says the hospital was unable to do MRI scans earlier than the surgical procedure and could not conduct a biopsy. Surgeons eliminated as a lot of the tumor as they might and despatched him house two days later as a result of they wanted the mattress, his mom says.

"The toughest factor was the choice to do the surgical procedure," says Salha, a trainer and faculty actions organizer. "You do not know if the docs had been going to have the ability to end the surgical procedure, you do not know if there's drugs accessible, you do not know if he was going to die throughout the surgical procedure, or if we had been going to die whereas he was there."

Gaza well being care in ruins All of Gaza's hospitals have been both broken or destroyed in Israeli airstrikes. Israel says it has focused Hamas websites slightly than civilian infrastructure.

In January, the medical help group Docs With out Borders stated Israeli assaults had killed 1,000 well being care staff, a determine Gaza's Well being Ministry says has now grown to greater than 1,400. Resulting from an Israeli blockade on meals and drugs, hospitals which can be partially opening accomplish that with extreme shortages of drugs, anesthesia and primary provides.

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/5472x3648+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fea%2Ffd%2F9dfab359451ca4b6dc5f489dd4ae%2Fgettyimages-2214314690.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/5472x3648+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fea%2Ffd%2F9dfab359451ca4b6dc5f489dd4ae%2Fgettyimages-2214314690.jpg" class="img" alt="An interior view of the destroyed European Hospital after Israeli army attack hit the hospital in Khan Yunis, Gaza on May 13, 2025." loading="lazy"/> An inside view of the destroyed European Hospital after Israeli military assault hit the hospital in Khan Yunis, Gaza on Might 13, 2025. Ali Jadallah/Anadolu through Getty Photographs disguise caption

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Ali Jadallah/Anadolu through Getty Photographs UNICEF says greater than 50,000 youngsters in Gaza have been killed or injured throughout the struggle, which started after the militant group Hamas launched a cross-border assault into Israel. Gaza's Well being Ministry says greater than 55,000 folks, a lot of them girls and youngsters, have died. Israel says almost 1,200 Israelis and foreigners had been killed within the preliminary Oct. 7, 2023, assault.

Israel this spring intensified its assaults and help companies stated in March that greater than 12,000 folks require pressing medical evacuation out of Gaza, together with at the least 4,500 youngsters.

In February, President Trump recommended a plan to take over Gaza, displacing Palestinians to Jordan and Egypt whereas turning the enclave right into a U.S.-controlled zone that includes beach-front property. Many Palestinians in Gaza had been already displaced from their properties after the creation of Israel in 1948.

The relocation plan is seen by Jordan as an existential menace to the small kingdom, a demise knell for hopes of an eventual Palestinian state and tantamount to complicity in ethnic cleaning of Gaza.

The king pledges to assist 2,000 sick youngsters King Abdullah advised Trump that Jordan was ready to carry 2,000 youngster most cancers sufferers and different extraordinarily sick youngsters to Jordan for remedy as rapidly as attainable.

However virtually 4 months later, just a few dozen sufferers have arrived.

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/5129x3539+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Ff1%2Fc2%2F9bee24814d03b0f538e703a35685%2Fgettyimages-2215100182.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/5129x3539+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Ff1%2Fc2%2F9bee24814d03b0f538e703a35685%2Fgettyimages-2215100182.jpg" class="img" alt="Young patients from Gaza near the King Hussein (Allenby) Bridge on May 14, after being evacuated by the Jordanian military for medical treatment in Jordan. Jordan's King Abdullah promised President Trump in February to bring in 2,000 children from Gaza for life-saving treatment." loading="lazy"/> Younger sufferers from Gaza close to the King Hussein (Allenby) Bridge on Might 14, after being evacuated by the Jordanian navy for medical remedy in Jordan. Jordan's King Abdullah promised President Trump in February to usher in 2,000 youngsters from Gaza for life-saving remedy. Salah Malkawi/Getty Photographs disguise caption

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Salah Malkawi/Getty Photographs "There have been difficulties imposed by the Israeli authorities which can be stopping the best way of constructing this occur easily," stated Mohammad al-Momani, Jordan's authorities communication minister.

Jordanian officers say Israel, which controls the Gaza border, has obstructed exit visas wanted for medical evacuations for some sufferers and guardians wanted to journey with them. It is a long-standing difficulty: Physicians for Human Rights in Israel has taken the Israeli authorities to court docket to attempt to drive them to permit extra sufferers out.

The Israeli navy didn't reply to NPR queries about obstructing exit visas. The United Nations' World Well being Group, which works with Israeli authorities and oversees logistics for medical evacuations, deferred remark to Israel.

Lethal delays Well being officers say delays in evacuations have meant diminished probabilities of survival for a number of the sickest youngsters, who elsewhere would obtain fast remedy.

"What we're seeing is de facto specific to Gaza sufferers — they're extra superior illnesses," says the King Hussein Most cancers Heart chief of pediatrics Rawad Rihani. "Circumstances the place the tumor could be very superior with the dearth of correct remedy and correct analysis, or correct analysis, which makes them very onerous to deal with."

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/6000x4000+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fab%2Fd3%2F0ced1eee48d4b8793131141f3d1b%2Fgettyimages-2219684502.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/6000x4000+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fab%2Fd3%2F0ced1eee48d4b8793131141f3d1b%2Fgettyimages-2219684502.jpg" class="img" alt="Pediatric patients evacuated from Gaza arrive for treatment at King Hussein Medical City in Amman on June 11." loading="lazy"/> Pediatric sufferers evacuated from Gaza arrive for remedy at King Hussein Medical Metropolis in Amman on June 11. Salah Malkawi/Getty Photographs disguise caption

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Salah Malkawi/Getty Photographs Rihani says a number of the tumors have grown so giant they've broken the youngsters's organs, leaving them in excruciating ache. With Israel's strict controls on meals and drugs coming into Gaza, lots of the sufferers are malnourished.

"These sufferers require intensive care unit assist, they require respiratory assist they usually require a variety of dietary assist as properly," she says. "It makes the tumor very tough to deal with."

Though most childhood cancers are treatable, Rihani says, not the entire youngsters evacuated to Jordan survive.

"A few of them are very superior and went to palliative care," Rihani says. "Sadly we're not in a position to save everybody."

Jordan additionally operates two subject hospitals in Gaza and was the most important hall for help going to the territory by truck and air earlier than Israel blocked help shipments in March.

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/8192x5464+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F89%2Fa8%2F754fa08b464d811312dc7c8c0ab5%2Fgaza-npr-diegoibarra-011.jpeg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/8192x5464+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F89%2Fa8%2F754fa08b464d811312dc7c8c0ab5%2Fgaza-npr-diegoibarra-011.jpeg" class="img" alt="The Royal Jordanian Air Force’s 8th Squadron unloads humanitarian aid at a helipad on the outskirts of Gaza, on Feb. 9." loading="lazy"/> The Royal Jordanian Air Pressure's eighth Squadron unloads humanitarian help at a helipad on the outskirts of Gaza, on Feb. 9. Diego Ibarra Sánchez for NPR disguise caption

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Diego Ibarra Sánchez for NPR The King Hussein Most cancers Heart is without doubt one of the area's main most cancers hospitals. Rihani says it has 44 pediatric most cancers beds and 24 beds for pediatric bone marrow transplants, which could be supplemented by different hospitals that additionally deal with most cancers. A few of the arrivals require solely out-patient remedy.

Rihani says no most cancers sufferers handled in Jordan because the begin of the Gaza struggle have been despatched again to Gaza. Jordan has been criticized although for sending folks again throughout the persevering with battle it says have absolutely accomplished remedy for different sicknesses.

"We're bringing them by batches," says Momani, the communications minister. "We are going to take these youngsters to deal with them however then after they end their remedy they need to be going again to their homeland. We do not wish to be in any approach serving to the displacement of Palestinians."

Starvation stalking Gaza With so many obstacles, sufferers and their households who've been evacuated to Jordan and different nations are among the many very fortunate few.

Zainab al-Astal arrived in Jordan along with her sons Qassim, 15, and Ahmed, 13, in mid-Might. Each the boys have lymphoma.

Displaced repeatedly by Israeli airstrikes, there was hardly any meals, not even bread. Right here, Astal says Ahmed has been dazzled by the abundance of shawarma — a sandwich of sliced rooster roasted on a spit.

"He says he desires to sit down within the restaurant all day and simply hold consuming," she says.

The day they had been evacuated from Gaza, the Astals had gathered with different sufferers and guardians close to a bus on the Gaza European Hospital to drive to the border when Israel bombed the complicated, in line with sufferers and the World Well being Group. Gaza civil protection authorities say at the least 28 folks, together with sufferers, had been killed within the airstrikes.

Israel stated it was focusing on a Hamas command and management middle underneath the hospital. Israel launched footage displaying what it stated had been tunnels underneath the hospital complicated to bolster its declare, however the closely edited video couldn't be independently confirmed.

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/6263x4176+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F5a%2F89%2Fc5bc16e34f118d9eaee4c5ac061d%2Fgettyimages-2159718553.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/6263x4176+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F5a%2F89%2Fc5bc16e34f118d9eaee4c5ac061d%2Fgettyimages-2159718553.jpg" class="img" alt="Patients are being evacuated from the European Hospital in Khan Younis to be transferred to Nasser Hospital, two of the few health centers operating in the Gaza Strip, on July 2, 2024." loading="lazy"/> Sufferers are being evacuated from the European Hospital in Khan Younis to be transferred to Nasser Hospital, two of the few well being facilities working within the Gaza Strip, on July 2, 2024. Abed Rahim Khatib/image alliance through Getty Photographs disguise caption

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Abed Rahim Khatib/image alliance through Getty Photographs "I knew it was going to land close to us however I could not transfer," says Astal. She says the impression threw the boys within the air and rained down a lot particles she could not see for 10 minutes.

Strangers threw themselves on the bottom over the boys to guard them, she says.

The youngsters themselves communicate very matter-of-factly in regards to the bombings.

Leen al-Dabbas, a medical psychologist on the most cancers middle, says lots of the youngsters are affected by "masked melancholy" — not but in a position to course of what they have been by way of.

"After they first arrive they're in an adjustment interval," she says.

For a lot of households the concern for their very own lives has been changed by relentless fear over family members they left behind in Gaza.

One woman, Suhair Zouroub, 13, sits along with her mom Shayma' and youthful brother, a blue hospital bracelet on her skinny wrist, forward of her first rounds of chemotherapy.

She was recognized two months in the past with leukemia. When she suffered seizures in Gaza, there was no remedy accessible. She describes huddling along with the entire household, hugging one another throughout the airstrikes. Her 2-1/2-year-old brother, Jude, pipes up with the phrase tiyara, Arabic for "aircraft."