DUBAI: Essam Al-Athamna and his family’s lives were shattered in an instant when a July 27 Israeli strike tore through the UN-run school where they were sheltering, leaving his wife Maha permanently disabled, killing their 14-year-old son Ahmed, and severely wounding their four other children.
With Essam still missing since the attack, his brother Yasser has taken on the care of the entire family, including Maha, whose right leg was amputated in the attack. Her other leg is fractured and has since become infected. With each new displacement, her survival hangs in the balance.
Originally from Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza, Yasser has been displaced 15 times since the war began in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on southern Israel. His most recent journey with Maha from Tal Al-Hawa to Al-Mawasi in Khan Younis took a full day.
People with mobility impairments who have no family or friends are often unable to collect food or other aid on their own. (AFP)
“I pushed her on a broken wheelchair for half the way through the traffic of cars and carts fleeing Gaza City,” Yasser told Arab News.
