Girl, 14, is flown to Chicago for treatment after her Gaza home was struck by bomb blast and she was forced to have both legs amputated with no anesthesia
- Leyan, 14, was flown to Chicago after a devastating explosion on Oct. 27 left her seriously injured and having to have her legs amputated without anesthesia
- The teen is now being treated at Shriner’s Hospital through the nonprofit Heal Palestine
- According to a recent UN report, more than 13,000 children have been killed in Gaza since the war between Israel and Hamas began in October last year.
A 14-year-old Palestinian girl from Gaza had both legs amputated after a bomb hit her home, but she is now receiving treatment in Chicago.
Leyan, 14, was flown to Chicago after a devastating explosion on Oct. 27 left her seriously injured and having to have her legs amputated without anesthesia.
“The attacks and bombing of my home also led to the murder of a one-day-old child and my five-year-old niece,” she said at a ceremony in Chicago.
The teen is now being treated at Shriner’s Hospital through the nonprofit Heal Palestine.
Leyan told the event that she now wants to become a doctor for other children who have suffered injuries as a result of the war.
Leyan, 14, was flown to Chicago after a devastating explosion on Oct. 27 left her seriously injured and having to have her legs amputated without anesthesia
The teen is now being treated at Shriner’s Hospital through the nonprofit Heal Palestine
Chicago has also become a refuge and new home for other children injured or displaced by the conflict.
Two-year-old Jude and his father arrived in Chicago earlier this month with the help of the nonprofit Palestinian Children’s Aid Fund after Jude suffered serious leg injuries in Gaza.
They are staying at the Ronald McDonald House while Jude is treated for injuries sustained in an attack that killed his mother.
“There are countless children who are still in need.” Jude’s father told CBS.
“They all deserve the same level of help, treatment and medical attention, not just for children in Gaza but for all of Palestine.
‘Children are in need now more than ever.’
According to a recent UN report, more than 13,000 children have been killed in Gaza since the war between Israel and Hamas began in October last year.
“Thousands of others have been injured, but we can’t even determine where they are,” Catherine Russell, director of UNICEF, told CBS News.
“The attacks and bombing of my home also led to the murder of a one-day-old child and my five-year-old niece,” Leyan said at a ceremony in Chicago.
Leyan told the event that she now wants to become a doctor for other children who have suffered injuries as a result of the war
‘They may be under the rubble. We have not seen that death rate among children in almost any other conflict in the world.’
“I have been in wards of children suffering from severe anemia and malnutrition, the whole ward is completely silent,” she explained.
And he added: ‘The children, the babies, don’t even have the energy to cry.’
Israel’s war against Hamas has since devastated the Gaza Strip, killing more than 30,000 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
According to the UN, a quarter of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents are at risk of famine.