4-Year-Old Gazan with Rare Illness Offered Lifeline Beyond Territory

Photo : AFP

At just four years old, Julia Abu Zeiter suffers from a rare neurological disease that poses a fatal risk without medication.

Julia's life hung in the balance during Gaza's nine-month conflict, where access to her vital treatment was severely disrupted due to the fighting and displacement.

Accompanied only by her 21-year-old aunt, Dareen Zeiter, Julia was evacuated from the war-torn enclave on June 27.

"The displacement was incredibly tough, and the events in Gaza were very harsh for Julia," Dareen shared.

Julia suffers from alternating hemiplegia of childhood (AHC), a rare neurological disorder causing recurring paralysis and life-threatening seizures. There is no known cure for AHC, affecting roughly one in a million births, with patients often termed "human time bombs" needing constant monitoring.

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Julia and Dareen were aboard a UAE-operated floating hospital, where they stayed for a week post-evacuation, having left Gaza through Israel's Kerem Shalom crossing in the south.

They were among several patients relocating to Abu Dhabi from the floating hospital, mostly children, including two battling leukemia.

The UAE ship, anchored off Arish on Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, has served 2,400 injured Palestinians since February, according to hospital director Dr. Ahmed Mubarak.

Julia represents one of Gaza's "invisible victims," as described by Mubarak, caught in what Médecins Sans Frontières referred to as Gaza's "silent killings" due to deliberate deprivation.

Israel's war response to Hamas' October 7 attack has claimed over 38,000 lives in Gaza, with extensive destruction and nearly all of its two million inhabitants displaced.

Julia and Dareen fled their northern Gaza home at the war's onset, with Julia witnessing explosions and shelling throughout.

Israel's blockade exacerbated Gaza's humanitarian crisis, severely limiting aid and mobility, crucially affecting Julia's access to life-saving medication, leading to severe seizures.

Julia's medications dwindled within a month of the conflict, causing prolonged paralysis for six months, until her evacuation facilitated by the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF).

Near Julia's ward was Ibrahim, a seven-year-old injured in a November airstrike on Jabalya, northern Gaza, which killed 30 family members.

Ibrahim and his aunt, Alaa, also evacuated through the Rafah crossing in April, just before Israeli forces seized control.

The conflict and blockade led to severe hunger in Gaza, worsened by aid shortages and lawlessness, pushing the region to famine conditions by mid-2023, as per the IPC.

The UN has cited increased deaths among Gaza's children due to hunger, denouncing Israel's actions as a deliberate starvation campaign.

While Julia and Ibrahim have found temporary refuge, millions remain trapped in Gaza amid ongoing conflict and a dire humanitarian crisis.

Dareen, burdened by her niece's care, expressed the immense challenges of being both a caregiver and a displaced child herself.

"She needs her parents. I can't replace them," Dareen expressed. "At the end of the day, I am a child who crossed with a child."

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