AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
Israel exchanged heavy fire with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah early today. This latest fighting increases fears of a widening war in the region, even as parties meet to try to reach a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. Families in Gaza are struggling as Israel's assaults continue. There are nearly daily evacuation orders, which Israel's military says are necessary to protect civilians. But the U.N. says the constant displacement puts residents more at risk, especially those with critical medical needs. NPR's producer Anas Baba in Gaza and NPR's Jane Arraf have this story of a family trying to care for a severely ill child under these conditions.
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: (Crying).
JANE ARRAF, BYLINE: It's hard to hear a child cry in pain, particularly for the Al-Najar family in Deir al-Balah. They've spent almost three years caring for their daughter Mina. And now they're faced with being pushed from their home.
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: (Crying).
ARRAF: When Mina and her twin sister, Sahar, were born a month premature, Gaza's hospitals were struggling but still functioning. The vein to her liver was blocked when she was born. She was bleeding internally and couldn't absorb milk.
NEVINE AL-NAJAR: (Speaking Arabic).
ARRAF: Her mother, Nevine Al-Najar, says the girl had chronic diarrhea. Sometimes, she would lose consciousness. The couple has three children. But when producer Anas Baba visits their modest home, he says it's clear Mina needs full-time care.
ANAS BABA, BYLINE: She cannot walk. She cannot sit. She never stops crying.
ARRAF: Mina needed a liver transplant. She got one in April in Gaza. But there were complications, and now she needs follow-up surgery and critical care, unavailable in Gaza's health care system destroyed in the war. And then in May, Israel shut the crossing from Gaza to Egypt. And now Nevine Al-Najar says, they're stuck.
AL-NAJAR: (Through interpreter) When the doctor did the transplant, the crossings were open. But after the operation, he told us that we had to travel, and the crossings were closed.
ARRAF: Israel took over the border crossing, saying it was targeting Hamas militants. Then Egypt shut its side of the frontier, too. There are more crossings out of Gaza, but Israel denied access to patients through those, as well. For three months, not a single medical evacuation case was allowed out, according to the U.N.'s health agency. Tareq Hailat is with the U.S.-based Palestine Children's Relief Fund.
TAREQ HAILAT: There's so many children that have been accepted that could have been receiving medical care outside. A lot of children that could have been alive are no longer alive because of that closure of that border.
ARRAF: In July, Israel's Supreme Court ordered the government to organize regular medical evacuations. But so far, the Israeli government has allowed out only 106 patients out of 12,000 on the waiting list, according to the U.N. Israel has not responded to repeated requests for comment.
Meanwhile, Mina keeps getting worse. Dressed in a unicorn tank top, she lies nestled against her mother, her dark curls damp with sweat. Her tiny body is covered in bruises from so many needles.
MINA: (Crying).
ARRAF: Her mother says, Mina cries anytime they leave the house, afraid it's a trip to the hospital. Unlike her healthy twin and her older brother, the little girl wants only to stay home.
AL-NAJAR: (Non-English language spoken).
ARRAF: "I tell her, I want to go to the beach. Will you go with me? She says, no, bye," says Nevine Al-Najar.
AL-NAJAR: (Non-English language spoken).
ARRAF: The constant care Mina needs has worn the parents down. The ever-present sound of drones buzzes overhead as Mina's parents change her bloody bandages. Her mother says, they're obsessed with watching out for the little girl.
AL-NAJAR: (Through interpreter) We fear for her from even the slightest breeze and don't let her fall. My whole family immediately gets anxious and rushes to help her if there's any minor bump.
ARRAF: The family is waiting out the best they can what are very slim chances of being medically evacuated from Gaza. Israel now is ordering residents to evacuate their city, neighborhood by neighborhood. Mina's father, Abdullah (ph), tells us, with the chaos and dangers of displacement, he worries his fragile daughter won't survive. With producer Anas Baba in Gaza, I'm Jane Arraf, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
