5 Aug 2014

Inside Gaza: amid the devastation, one family’s story

I’ve been into the suburbs of Beit Hanoun in the north of Gaza, where whole areas have been completely devastated by a combination of tank shells and air strikes.

It looks reminiscent of earthquakes that I’ve seen in the past. Huge piles of rubble where buildings have just fallen over. I met people who have taken advantage of the ceasefire to come back and pick through the remains of their homes, and saw relief teams digging up the bodies. And in a UN school down the road, we met the el-Masri family, whose home had been destroyed.

Three-year-old Hala has a congenital heart defect and needs urgent surgery abroad. A team in London has offered to carry it out but the war interrupted her medical evacuation. They are now desperately trying to make use of the ceasefire window to get her out, to save her life.

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