Having had both legs amputated after an Israeli bombing in Gaza a year ago, young Layane Al Nasr did not think she would ever be able to walk again. Today, she stands proudly on her artificial limbs, but anxiety is eating away at her.
The 14-year-old girl is one of more than 2,000 injured or sick Palestinians welcomed with their loved ones in the United Arab Emirates, since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas triggered by an attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement on October 7, 2023 on the Israeli soil.
“When I was told about prosthetics when I arrived, I didn’t even know it existed,” she says, taking a few steps, supported by crutches.
With a smile on her lips, she recounts the operations, the rehabilitation and the newfound hope.
But the emotion finally catches up with her.
“What scares me today is losing my brothers, my sisters, and my father,” who remained in the Gaza Strip, she said, bursting into tears.
In retaliation for the October 7 attack which resulted in the deaths of more than 1,200 people on the Israeli side, according to a count based on official figures, Israel launched an offensive in Gaza which left more than 45,400 dead and more than 100 000 injured, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health.
“I don’t care what happens to me, the important thing is that nothing happens to them,” repeats Layane Al Nasr.
Like her, most survivors are haunted by memories of the war and the fear of losing those they left behind.
“As if suspended”
Mutilated Palestinians have arrived in the Emirates in small groups during humanitarian evacuations in recent months.
They are staying at Emirates Humanitarian City, a residential complex made available to them in Abu Dhabi, including a catering service, a school, a mosque and a health center.
“Thanks to the prostheses and the care provided, patients have regained their autonomy,” says physiotherapist Moustafa Ahmed Naji Awad.
But the hardest thing to deal with, he admits, is the psychological impact.
Faten Abou Khoussa, who came with her 10-year-old daughter, Qamar, can attest to this.
The little girl, who found herself under bombs while going to buy a bag of chips in Gaza, lost a leg.
Even if Qamar has regained some of her joy of life, her mother says that “it remains very difficult, she who loved nothing as much as playing on her scooter”.
And “she feels alone without her brothers and sisters”, refugees in Egypt.
Separated from some of her children whom she is raising alone since the death of her husband, Faten Abou Khoussa is desperately trying to bring them to the Emirates. In the meantime, she feels “as if suspended”, unable to project herself into the future.
Emirati authorities say these Palestinians will be asked to return home when conditions permit.
Coming with his mother, Ahmad Mazen, 15, was to reunite with his father and brother after having had a tibial prosthesis fitted. But soon after his arrival, he learned that they had been killed in a bombing.
His only consolation: football, his passion, which he is slowly starting to practice again, and this “indescribable feeling” of being able to kick a ball again.
