British ‘Angel of Mostar’ aid worker evacuates nine sick and seriously injured children from Gaza by private jet, saying: ‘I just hope other countries will open their doors to help’

A heroic British aid worker dubbed the ‘Angel of Mostar’ has helped evacuate nine sick and seriously injured children from war-torn Gaza by private jet.

Sally Becker spoke of her “relief” at rescuing the children – including triple amputee Ahmed Shabbat, 3 – after the plane landed in Trieste, Italy yesterday.

And incredible footage showed another young boy, Yousef Hatab, who lost his lower leg when a rocket hit his apartment building, waving as he was pulled to safety.

Speaking about the mercy mission, the first privately funded airlift of children from the war-torn region, Sally said: ‘I just hope that other countries will open their doors to help more children who urgently need specialist treatment.’

The aid worker – who earned her nickname after saving hundreds of children in the Bosnian war – spent months planning the mercy mission with partners Gaza Kinder Relief and Project Pure Hope.

And after first negotiating with Palestinian and Israeli authorities to take the children to Egypt, she met them with a team of doctors at a military base in Cairo.

The children and their mothers were then flown to Italy, where they were escorted by a fleet of ambulances and taken to Burlo Garofolo Children’s Hospital around 1am.

Sally said: ‘I was so relieved when we finally landed because at times it looked really unlikely. Our colleagues at Gaza Kinder Relief have been in contact with the various authorities in Egypt for months.

“And the Italian embassy was great, staying open for several hours late into the evening to issue the visas in time for the medevac flight.”

‘I had watched all the images on TV and usually I went to help, but Gaza is a different story. It is actually blocked on all sides. I can’t just cross the border and evacuate the children myself.’

Sally said she was comforted that she could finally give little Ahmad the treatment he needed – and was amazed at the resilience of the children she had helped.

Of his evacuation, she said: “It was fantastic because that poor little boy has suffered enough already. Now he will undoubtedly be spoiled rotten.

‘Most of their luggage was filled with toys they had received in Egypt and the plane was filled with gifts from the Refugee Foundation.

‘But what is most amazing is their resilience. I expected them to be severely traumatized, but instead they are so accepting of what happened to them.”

Sally, who runs the British charity Save A Child, received referrals of injured children from the Gaza Kinder Relief organisation, which has helped dozens of children get medical treatment.

But Sally also approached the humanitarian groups Project Pure Hope and Direct Relief to fund a private charter plane so specialists could help some children in Europe.

She told how she feared the mission would be stranded at the last minute because she encountered problems with paperwork and logistics.

She said: ‘It wasn’t until 2am on Monday that we finally got permission to fly the children, and we flew at 9am – there were only a few hours left.

“Gaza Kinder Relief has had to move them all to Cairo in the last few days and one little girl, Julia, only crossed the Gaza border the night before, so we didn’t even know if they would make it in time.”

Sally’s plane landed Monday with three doctors and a nurse on board at a military base in Egypt, where the sick and injured children were waiting with their mothers and siblings.

Five suffered explosive injuries and amputations, while the remaining four suffered from a range of illnesses, including long-term congenital conditions.

Speaking about meeting them, Sally said: ‘When we get these referrals straight from the hospitals I get to see the injuries when they first occur and it’s just devastating.

‘Of course it’s different now because a few weeks or months later their wounds have healed to some extent and they need revision surgery so that they can be fitted with prosthetic limbs.

‘But it’s as if the photos have come to life. Suddenly this shocking image of a child who could be one of thousands of injured children is holding my hand.”

The children later disembarked at Trieste airport around 1 a.m. on Tuesday, where local authorities had prepared emergency vehicles for them.

But Sally remembered the moment when 14-year-old Kamal, who had lost a leg just below his groin, refused to be carried off the plane and came down the stairs himself.

She said: ‘They wanted him to go on a stretcher or in a wheelchair but he absolutely refused. He was on crutches anyway.”

“He, like all of them, will receive advanced prosthetics made especially for them in Bologna once their wounds have healed sufficiently.”

Despite the reassurance that she had helped these children, Sally said it is a sad fact of today’s conflict that so many civilians find themselves in the line of fire.

She said, “If there must be war, I wish it could be as it was not so long ago, when armies would wage their battle in a far-off field and the women and children would remain safe at home.

“Instead, it is the women and children who suffer the most.”