Invasion thwarts boy's medical care plan

Dubai :Over two years ago 10-year-old Abdullah Al Otamnieh from Gaza lost a leg in an Israeli missile strike that killed 18 members of his family.

Today as the Israeli troops extend their invasion, reaching the northern town of Beit Hanoun where he lives, he has little hope he will get the medical treatment in Dubai that he had planned.

The Palestine Children's Relief Fund (PCRF), based in Ramallah, in coordination with the Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Humanitarian and Charity Establishment, arranged for medical treatment in Dubai of seven children from the West Bank and eight from the Gaza Strip.

Based on an earlier Gulf News report, the seven children from the West Bank came to Dubai about two weeks ago and are currently getting prosthetic limbs.

However, Israel prevented the eight Gaza children from leaving via the Jordan border crossing, said Suhail Mohammad, Project Manager of PCRF in Palestine, in a phone interview from his home in northern Gaza.

Permits

Abdullah was among the eight children who were scheduled to arrive in Dubai last week to get prosthetic limbs as he had lost a leg during the missile strike that killed many of his family members. Gulf News could not get through to these families despite several attempts.

According to Suhail, the children were expected to get permits last week and another attempt was proposed on January 1. "I am guessing they refused because of the tight restrictions imposed on the crossings."

Suhail has also lost contact with more than half of the children since Wednesday. He expressed concern for eight-year-old Oudi Al Jamil in the Jabaliya refugee camp and 10-year-old Abdullah in Beit Hanoun as their area is being heavily bombarded.

In the second week of the assault and with the death toll approaching 500 and the number of injured nearing 2,000, the invading Israeli troops reached the northern town of Beit Hanoun, clashing with residents of the Beit Lahiya and the Jabaliya refugee camps. Clashes have also been reported in Rafah on the southern border with Egypt.

According to a UN report from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, fuel is needed to run the Gaza power plant, which has been shut down since Tuesday. The replacement of its transformers is urgently needed to restore power to 250,000 people in central and northern Gaza.

Sanitation

"All water, sanitation and other utilities, which provide basic services to the population, as well as hospitals and the general population are affected by the outages; some areas have now experienced power outages for up to 48 hours," said the report.

The UN has warned of a worsening humanitarian crisis, and believes 25 per cent of more than 480 Palestinians killed by Israel so far were civilians.

"Everything is in critical shortage in Gaza with every block of its overpopulated areas hit by Israel. We are always in need of donations but also for a channel to receive medical and food supplies," said Suhail.

"I don't need to hear the news to know what's going on in our area; the ear-splitting noise and large plumes of black smoke can be seen all the time," he added.

Contact: Donations

Anyone wanting to contribute in helping PCRF can get in touch with them through their website www.pcrf.net or email pcrf1@pcrf.net or contact Nadia at 050 6247263