First Gaza injured child arrives in Beirut for medical treatment
A five-year-old child from Gaza has landed safely in Beirut days ago to receive medical treatment at the American University of Beirut Medical Center (AUBMC).
The Ghassan Abu Sittah Children’s Fund (GASCF), in collaboration with the Palestine Children's Relief Fund (PCRF), transported the child who suffers from an injury in his upper limb to Lebanon to receive medical care.
This is the first child to be treated in Lebanon, but GASCF says its objective is to ensure that every child receives the necessary treatment and support before they can safely return to their community to continue their recovery.
"This marks the beginning of GASCF’s mission to treat children with war injuries in Lebanon with the highest available level of expertise in war and injury surgery and treatment," the Ghassan Abu Sittah Fund said.
Under the expert guidance of Dr. Ghassan Abu Sittah, a British-Palestinian doctor and Glasgow University rector, GASCF aims to transport critically injured children with their caretakers from Palestinian territories to Lebanon, where they can receive medical, psychological, and social care, before returning home to Palestine where they will continue their recovery.
GASCF said it is accommodating the child and his caretaker, and ensuring they receive "the best possible medical, psychological, and social care needed during their entire stay."
Abu Sittah is a well-known British Palestinian surgeon who volunteered in Gaza hospitals. He spent 43 days in Gaza, notably at the territory's largest hospital, Al-Shifa. He is barred from entry to all Schengen zone countries based on a German request. He was denied entry to France earlier this month and to Germany last month.
Abu Sittah volunteered with Doctors Without Borders in Gaza and has worked during multiple conflicts in the Palestinian territories, beginning in the late 1980s during the first Palestinian uprising. He has also worked in other conflict zones, including in Iraq, Syria and Yemen.
