A moment of joy for a boy who lost both arms in an Israeli airstrike
At 9 years old, Mahmoud has known more trauma than most will see in a lifetime. On Dec. 6, 2023, the fourth grader was hit by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza, a blast that severed one of his arms and left the other so badly damaged it had to be amputated. On Thursday, an image of Mahmoud, taken by Palestinian photographer Samar Abu Elouf for The New York Times, was named World Press Photo of the Year, a haunting portrait of the impact of the war on children.
Mahmoud now lives in Doha, Qatar, with his family, after becoming one of a very small number of Palestinians to be evacuated from Gaza for urgent medical treatment.
When Mahmoud smiles, his happiness seems infectious, but some days are harder than others. 'There are bad moments for him,' his mother, Nour Ajjour, 36, told NBC News by phone from Doha, Qatar's capital. 'He doesn't want to play or go outside.'
'We keep him busy and have fun with him,' Ajjour said. She sent videos of him gleefully speeding down a hallway on an electric bike, steering with his feet on the handlebars, and using his feet to play with a lump of bright-green clay.
For now, Ajjour said, there's not much Mahmoud can do on his own, and he's impatient for prostheses, asking when he can have them so he can drink water on his own or help his family.
'He likes to help a lot, and I let him help me and carry things on his shoulder,' Ajjour said.
Doctors at Doha's Hamad Limb Hospital are currently fitting him for protheses, and in another video, he smiles brightly as he tries on a pair of prosthetic arms.
In Gaza, such treatment isn't possible, and Mahmoud is one of at least 1,000 children in the enclave to have lost at least one limb during the war, according to UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund. Many of the children, like many adults, underwent surgery without anesthesia as the health care system buckled under Israel's siege.
'The first few days were very difficult,' Ajjour said. Both of his hands were gone, and without anesthetic, Mahmoud was in both physical and existential pain.
'He would look at his hands and not see them,' the boy's mother said. 'He would scream and say, 'Where are my hands,' and the first thing he said was, 'How will I hug you, how will I pray?''
These days, Mahmoud is learning how to type on a computer, write and use a phone with his feet. Ajjour said he dreams of going to university and becoming a journalist so he can tell the stories of Gaza's children.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The National
6 days ago
- The National
Teen trapped in Gaza launches fundraiser to study in Glasgow
Ibrahim Alghorane was given an unconditional offer to study software engineering at the prestigious university, but is unable to afford the student fees, accommodation, and the costs of getting to Scotland. Ibrahim, 19, has documented on Instagram how his life has been completely changed since the attacks of October 7, 2023. He shares the daily struggles his family have to endure just to survive while living in Gaza under Israel's brutal retaliation, which legal experts say amounts to genocide. In one post, he wrote: 'Our house vanished under the rubble in a single second. We spread a torn tent on a cold pavement for shelter. READ MORE: Leading academics call on Labour to overturn Palestine Action ban 'The toys of our childhood and the family photos melted in the flames, and the smell of smoke stays alive as proof of what we have lost.' His father died in 2023 and his mother in June this year after an eight-year battle with brain cancer. Under constant bombardment and forced starvation by the Israeli military, Ibrahim lives with his five siblings: Tasneem, 28, Abdullah, 25, Ahmad, 22, and twins Mohammad and Yahya, both 14. His brother Abdullah has a tumor in his brain, frequent seizures, severe pancreatic dysfunction, and irregular heartbeats, while Mohammad suffers from Behcet syndrome and needs immuno-suppressing pills. In a post on one of the fundraisers set up by Ibrahim, he wrote: 'Despite the ruin, we carry torn books and big dreams. 'I study software engineering, Ahmad business administration, Abdullah civil engineering, but the university fees are a sword over our necks. 'We have no coin to pay the fees or even buy a new pen, and the twins are banned from school for the same reasons. No regular electricity, no reliable internet, no safe desks.' Ibrahim had applied for the Dima al Haj scholarship offered by the University of Glasgow, which would have granted him student accommodation, free tuition fees and £5000 for the academic year, but he was unsuccessful. (Image: Newsquest) He is now calling for the university to waive his student fees and to help secure his safe arrival to Scotland. Ibrahim's plea has been backed by Scots and others from across the world, with more than 33,000 people signing a letter calling on Glasgow University to waive his student fees. More than $10,000 has been raised so far to help him achieve his dream of becoming a software engineer. Earlier this week, Ibrahim shared a short video on Instagram where he showed the ruins of his home in Gaza. (Image: Ibrahim Alghorane) Explaining why he needs donations to make it to Scotland, he said: 'Surrounded by destruction, we try to survive every day. 'No safe shelter, no peace – just broken homes and shattered lives. But we are still here. Still holding on. Still hoping for a way out.' You can donate to Ibrahim's fundraiser here, and you can sign the letter here, which calls on the University of Glasgow to waive his fees. A University of Glasgow spokesperson said: 'As a University of Sanctuary, we recognise the desperate situation for students in Gaza who have applied for UK universities, including Glasgow. 'The University currently offers a number of scholarships for Palestinian nationals and has recently committed to further funding this year to support conflict-affected applicants. We will continue to consider additional support for displaced students."
Economist
7 days ago
- Economist
How much of Gaza is left standing?
Analysis by independent researchers reveals the scale of the destruction From above, much of Gaza appears flattened. But the full scale of the destruction and the number of people killed remain uncertain. Daily death tolls are issued by local authorities run by Hamas, the Islamist group that still controls parts of the strip, but many doubt their accuracy. Foreign journalists are barred unless embedded with Israeli forces. In the absence of access, independent researchers have turned to satellite images, surveys and public records to estimate what has been lost. Their findings suggest the toll may be even greater than suggested by official reports. The physical damage has been assessed both by what has been destroyed and by the rubble that remains. The first method tracks changes to building outlines in satellite images over time. Using this method, UNOSAT, a UN agency, identified damage to more than 190,000 buildings by early April—roughly 70% of Gaza's pre-war structures. Of these, some 102,000 appear to have been completely destroyed. The World Bank reckons that translates to roughly 300,000 homes lost, including 77% of all apartment buildings. The second approach models how much debris a building of a given size would leave behind if destroyed. The most recent analysis by UN Habitat, another agency, estimated that 53.5m tonnes of rubble now lie across the strip, a 133% increase in 15 months. That has left few havens. Before the war, Gaza's 2m residents, half of them children, lived in 365 square kilometres—a population density similar to Madrid's. But by July 30th, Israeli militarised zones and displacement had pushed the population into just 12.7% of the strip, where many now live in tents. That may be one of the most densely packed places on Earth. The collapse of medical care, sanitation and food supplies has caused thousands of deaths not directly tied to bombs or bullets. A study by Michael Spagat, of Royal Holloway University of London, and others estimated that by January 5th between 4,500 and 12,500 people had died from indirect causes. The same study put the number of violent deaths at roughly 60,000-90,000—more than half of them women, children, or men over the age of 65 (see chart). Another study estimated that 55,000-79,000 Gazans had died from traumatic injuries by the end of June 2024. These independent estimates far exceed official counts, which reached 38,000 in June 2024 and 47,500 in January 2025. If you assume that the ratio between the official figures and the academic estimates have remained the same it would imply that 4-5% of the territory's pre-war population has now been killed. The broader demographic toll is hard to grasp. The studies imply that estimated life expectancy has fallen by more than 35 years, to roughly half the pre-war figure. In percentage terms this drop is bigger than the one recorded during China's Great Leap Forward; in absolute terms it is similar to the one in the Rwanda genocide. For the civilians who have survived, the outlook is bleak. Few basic services are running. By August 1st the UN found that 76% of schools had been directly hit by strikes. Around 95% of hospitals have been significantly damaged. The cost of rebuilding is still uncertain, but huge. In February the World Bank put it at roughly $53bn—more than twice the combined pre-war GDP of Gaza and the West Bank. A full reckoning will be possible only once the fighting ends. But the patchy data available suggest that this is among the most destructive conflicts in recent history.
BreakingNews.ie
05-08-2025
- BreakingNews.ie
Children in Sudan 'reduced to skin and bones' amid foreign aid cuts, Unicef says
Funding cuts are driving an entire generation of children in Sudan to the brink of irreversible harm as support is scaled back and malnutrition cases persist across the country, the UN children's agency said on Tuesday. UNHCR and other UN agencies face one of the worst funding crises in decades, compounded by US and other donor states' decisions to slash foreign aid funding. Advertisement "Children have limited access to safe water, food, healthcare. Malnutrition is rife, and many good children are reduced to just skin, bones," said Sheldon Yett, Unicef's representative in Sudan, speaking via video link from Port Sudan. Sudan's conflict between the army and rival Rapid Support Forces has displaced millions and split the country into rival zones of control with the RSF still deeply embedded in western Sudan. Several areas to the south of Sudan's capital Khartoum are at risk of famine, the World Food Programme said in July. Children were being cut off from life-saving services due to funding cuts, while the scale of need is staggering, Unicef said. Advertisement "With recent funding cuts, many of our partners in Khartoum and elsewhere have been forced to scale back... We are being stretched to the limit across Sudan, with children dying of hunger," Yett said. "We on the verge of irreversible damage being done to an entire generation of children in Sudan." Only 23 per cent of the $4.16 billion global humanitarian response plan for Sudan has been funded, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Access to areas in need also continues to be a challenge, with some roads rendered inaccessible due to the rainy season, hampering aid delivery efforts, Unicef said. Other areas continue to be under siege, such as Al-Fashir. "It has been one year since famine was confirmed in ZamZam camp and no food has reached this area. Al-Fashir remains under siege. We need that access now," said Jens Laerke of OCHA.
