Palestinian children injured in Gaza arrive US for treatment

USA

Two critically injured Palestinian children and their families arrived in the Bay Area on Wednesday for long-term treatment as part of what organizers call the largest single medical evacuation of injured children from Gaza to the United States.

Dozens of supporters — some wearing keffiyehs, others holding Palestinian flags or balloons — gathered at San Francisco International Airport’s arrivals hall to welcome Ghazal, 6, Layan, 14, and their families following a monthslong evacuation effort from their homes or shelters in Gaza.

Ghazal was injured in an explosion after being displaced from her home in Rafah, a southern city where many Palestinians fled to avoid bombardments in the north. Layan was burned and hit with shrapnel in the bombing of a school.

A third child, Anas, 8, arrived at San Francisco International Airport on Tuesday with leg injuries from a bombing.

The three are part of the 11 children evacuated to cities across the country — including San José, Seattle and Dallas — that Heal Palestine, the group that arranged the evacuations, called the largest single medical evacuation of injured children from Gaza.

“As you can imagine, it’s been one block after the next,” Dr. Mohammad Subeh, a Palestinian American emergency room doctor in the South Bay who has taken two humanitarian trips to Gaza to offer medical services, told KQED at the airport. “It’s really a miracle in and of itself that they’ve just arrived. We’ve been waiting for this day for a long, long time.”

The welcome group, which included Anas, held a large sign reading “Welcome Leyan, Anas, Ghazal,” trailed by two rows of keffiyehs that served as makeshift barriers for their supporters to crowd around.

Anas, who Subeh treated in Gaza immediately after his injury in February, flashed a toothy grin upon seeing the doctor.

“It feels like a dream that he’s here in front of me right now,” said Subeh, who crouched down to eye level with Anas as the boy leaned on his crutches. “It feels surreal.”

According to Subeh, after USAID funding cuts affected the hospital where he was working, Anas moved to a tent with his uncle. Subeh last saw him in July.

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But the process to secure evacuations is lengthy, complicated and can be dangerous, said Dr. Zeena Salman, a pediatrician and co-founder of Heal Palestine.

“They may have to go to a different hospital that’s further away, they may have to be under bombardment to try and seek the evaluations that are necessary to get the right documentation to get approval from the local health ministry,” Salman told KQED.

Part of the evacuation process is having the children undergo nutrition assessments because “every child in Gaza now is facing malnutrition and starvation,” Salman said.

“This is a man-made starvation, particularly of children who are the most vulnerable because they’re growing, so they need that energy more than anyone else,” Salman said. “And we know when we do this to them, it can cause irreversible health damage.”

Subeh said that, especially in cases like Anas’, malnutrition would play a role in how well injuries heal.

Injured Palestinian children and their families from Gaza arrive at San Francisco International Airport on Aug. 6, 2025, to begin lifesaving medical care, in an effort led by the humanitarian nonprofit HEAL Palestine. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)
“Anas has half of his tibia — his shin bone — shattered. We have to do bone grafting, and how his body accepts those bone grafts is going to be based off of that fundamental nutritional health,” Subeh said.

Salman added that getting approval from the Israeli government is a major barrier, and at times, officials have only approved 10% of requests to leave Gaza. Those who are approved aren’t allowed to take anything with them.

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“We have children who are bilateral amputees — who’ve lost both of their legs — and had wheelchairs taken away from them at the checkpoint,” Salman said.

Though the journey is perilous, Salman said it is necessary because Gaza’s healthcare system has been destroyed in the last nearly two years of war.

“There’s multiple layers of obstruction that are happening, but the healthcare infrastructure is unlike anything we’ll ever see,” Subeh said. “I can’t imagine it getting worse, but every time I say that, something new happens.”

More than 18,000 children have been killed in Gaza in the last 22 months, an average of 28 children per day, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund.

Human rights and advocacy groups have heavily criticized the Israeli Defense Forces for what some, including former U.S. President Joe Biden, have described as indiscriminate bombing of Gaza.

A United Nations special committee investigating Israeli practices regarding conditions imposed upon the Palestinian people cited the use of heavy bombs and the use of starvation in a report last year, to conclude that Israel’s warfare in Gaza is consistent with the characteristics of genocide.

Anas, 8, who sustained leg injuries in a bombing and arrived from Gaza a day earlier for medical treatment, talks with a member of HEAL Palestine while waiting for other children to arrive at San Francisco International Airport on Aug. 6, 2025. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)
“Israel’s means and methods of warfare, including its indiscriminate bombing campaign, resulted in the widespread killing of civilians and mass destruction of civilian infrastructure, raising grave concerns of violations under international humanitarian law,” the committee wrote.

Israel has rejected claims of genocide and defended its actions, stating that civilians are given advanced notice to evacuate areas where they plan to conduct military operations, while also blaming Hamas for establishing itself in population centers.

But as Israeli offensive operations have swept the entirety of the Gaza Strip, many advocates say that Palestinians have nowhere to go.

When Layan, Ghazal and their families finally arrived at SFO, the crowd erupted in cheers.

Ghazal, the younger girl, apparently overwhelmed by the grand reception, began to cry. Volunteers asked the crowd to move back, and the girl was given a balloon.

Subeh greeted Layan, whom he had also treated in Gaza.

“I just can’t believe how much weight she’s lost. She’s 14 years old, malnourished, severe burns to her face and her body, it’s just astonishing,” Subeh said. “Layan’s mom was just telling me how hard it’s been to find a meal. She was just afraid Layan wouldn’t even make it.”