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Flight to salvation: Inside the rescue mission plucking Gaza’s wounded from a war zone
A programme of evacuation flights have quietly ferried more than 2,200 seriously injured Gazans and their relatives to safety in the Gulf
Escape from hell
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For the last 15 months a lucky few seriously injured Palestinians have been evacuated from Gaza under a low-profile humanitarian deal with the UAE.
Paolo Pellegrin, a veteran Italian photojournalist, was able to witness the extraordinary medical evacuations first-hand.
His images capture the horrors of war but the love and hope good medical care, family support and rehabilitation can bring.
Credit: Paolo Pellegrin
Source: Magnum Photos
Wounded at school
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Maram Qassim was pronounced dead after being hit in the head by a piece of shrapnel when an air strike destroyed the school she was sheltering in.
Wrapped in a white burial shroud, it was only when her mother went to hold her hand for one last time that her five-year-old daughter squeezed back and she realised she was still alive.
Completely blind and partially paralysed, Maram was in desperate need of medical care. But after more than a year of war, Gaza’s hospitals and medical facilities are largely in ruins – just 16 of the territory’s 36 hospitals remain partially-operational, with their total capacity barely above 1,800 beds.
Her only chance of survival was to get out of Gaza on an evacuation flight. Six months after the attack and after undergoing brain surgery, Maram has regained her vision and some mobility.
Credit: Paolo Pellegrin
Source: Magnum Photos
Floating hospital
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Young girls Elin and Yasmine can be seen playing and dancing at the UAE-run floating hospital, anchored off the coast of Egypt in Al-Arish, just 25 miles away from one of the world’s deadliest war zones.
The hospital has 100 beds, operating rooms and intensive care units. It has treated more than 7,500 patients since it opened in February last year.
Credit: Paolo Pellegrin
Source: Magnum Photos
The ravaged Strip
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Access to the crucial lifeline provided by the floating hospital was severed when Israeli forces invaded Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city, in May.
Here, the ravaged southern Gaza Strip can be seen beyond the 14km-long and 100-metres wide military buffer zone.
Credit: Paolo Pellegrin
Source: Magnum Photos
An uncommon playground
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The WHO estimates that there are still up to 14,000 people who require medical evacuation from Gaza.
Credit: Paolo Pellegrin
Source: Magnum Photos
Flight of hope
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The evacuation flights rely on a converted passenger jet.
Patients on board the flight on November 6 included people who were suffering from traumatic injuries, cancer, autoimmune diseases and fatal kidney conditions.
Credit: Paolo Pellegrin
Source: Magnum Photos
An impossible choice
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Alaa Jamil Al Helo was visibly emotional on the three-hour flight to Abu Dhabi.
Her seven-year-old son Mustafa, who can be seen curled up and sleeping on the plane seat, was granted a spot in the evacuation.
But her other son Yamin, 10-years-old, was not allowed to board and she was forced to leave him in Gaza.
Credit: Paolo Pellegrin
Source: Magnum Photos
A delicate operation
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Evacuating the injured by air evacuation comes with its own dangers.
Patients can go into shock, altitude changes can dangerously reduce oxygen saturation and cause dehydration, and sudden drops in blood pressure could also prove lethal.
Credit: Paolo Pellegrin
Source: Magnum Photos
Exhausted and starving
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Mr Pellegrin said he was struck by the levels of “hunger and exhaustion” on the plane, saying it was clear that people were “starving”.
Credit: Paolo Pellegrin
Source: Magnum Photos
Safe at last
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After a three-hour flight to Abu Dhabi, the patients were finally near their final destination: the custom-built housing complex known as the Emirates Humanitarian City, that provides support and medical assistance to the ill and injured Palestinian evacuees.
Credit: Paolo Pellegrin
Source: Magnum Photos
Wounded and grieving
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Ahmed Abu Schama was sleeping when a bomb struck his family home at 3am, killing nine relatives. His father and brother were also killed in a separate attack.
The 15-year-old is now one of the more than 24,000 people – one in every 100 Gazans – that have suffered a life-changing injury as a result of the war, according to the WHO.
Credit: Paolo Pellegrin
Source: Magnum Photos
Shattered lives
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One morning this April, eight-year-old Sham Musselem was with her uncle in the courtyard of her home when an airstrike hit.
Her uncle was killed instantly in the blast, which left her right arm hanging from her body. Doctors were later forced to amputate it.
Credit: Paolo Pellegrin
Source: Magnum Photos
‘The worst mistake of my life’
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Mohammed Al Jafari, 19, lost his arm in an Israeli attack that killed 70 people near his home in Rafah. “My mother said: ‘Please, don’t go out. Something might happen,’” he said. “It was the worst mistake of my life.”
Since arriving in the UAE, he has learned to use a prosthetic arm and has enrolled in engineering classes to study artificial intelligence.
Credit: Paolo Pellegrin
Source: Magnum Photos
Glimmers of humanity
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Thousands of children have had their limbs amputated after being injured in Gaza.
Credit: Paolo Pellegrin
Source: Magnum Photos
A despairing diaspora
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The Humanitarian City is a safe refuge for the children whose lives have been shattered by war.
But Mr Pellegrin said that there is still “despair” among the Palestinian diaspora in the UAE. Many of their family members remain trapped in the Gaza Strip and it is very hard to establish connection.
“These people have been evicted from their homeland. They’re saying ‘yes we’re safe now and we’re being treated well. But will we ever go home?”.
Credit: Paolo Pellegrin
Source: Magnum Photos