Three-year-old Amr al-Hams lies motionless in his southern Gaza hospital mattress with shrapnel embedded in his mind from an Israeli air strike.
Unable to stroll or communicate, his eyes dart round, trying to find his mom, his aunt Nour believes.
Amr’s mom, Inas, was 9 months pregnant when she took the household to go to her dad and mom in northern Gaza. That evening, their tent was struck. The assault killed his mom, her unborn child, two of Amr’s siblings and his grandfather.
Amr survived after being rushed to intensive care with a respiration tube. His grief-stricken father is sort of speechless.
Now at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, Amr has left intensive care however suffers from extreme malnutrition. The fortified milk he requires vanished throughout Israel’s months-long blockade.
Nour feeds him mashed lentils by a syringe. She sleeps beside him, adjustments his nappies and comforts him throughout seizures.
“I inform him his mom shall be again quickly,” she says. “Different occasions, I give him a toy. However he cries. I feel he misses her.”
Medical doctors say Amr wants instant evacuation from the battle zone. With out specialised care and remedy, his mind accidents will doubtless trigger everlasting injury.
“His mind continues to be growing,” Nour says. “Will he stroll once more? Converse once more? As long as he’s in Gaza, there is no such thing as a restoration.”
