SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — With signs, balloons and Palestinian flags, a group gathered at SFO Wednesday to welcome three children to the U.S. from Gaza. They each have serious injuries sustained from the war happening in that region.
But they are now here in the Bay Area to receive medical treatment. The three were separated in their travels to SFO, but 8-year-old Anas arrived Tuesday.
Dr. Mohammad Subah was in Gaza for three months on a medical mission when Anas sustained a leg injury during a bombing that killed his father.
“Half of his tibia, his shin bone shattered. We have to do bone grafting. How his body accepts those bone grafts is based on that fundamental nutrition, health that you have to have to accept those bone grafts,” Subah said.
Anas was back at SFO on Wednesday to welcome his two friends from Gaza to the airport. Six-year-old Ghazal who sustained a leg injury in an explosion, and 14-year-old Layan, who suffered severe burns to her face and shrapnel wounds in a school bombing.
Cherin Abu-Eid is a volunteer with the group Heal Palestine, which organized and advocated for the three medical visas.
As Ghazal and Layan were wheeled into the International Terminal at SFO, they were greeted by a large crowd excited for their arrival.
Emotions ran high, and tears were shed.
This moment took months to plan, organize, and execute, but now the three will finally get the medical attention they need at Bay Area hospitals.
“By the time they arrive here at SFO, they have gone through so many hoops, it is nothing short of a miracle for them to actually have come here,” said Talha Baquar of Volunteer Heal Palestine.
The Heal Palestine group expects the three children will be in the U.S. for about six to 12 months, and then they’ll go to Egypt to continue their care, before returning home to Palestine.
