Omar, 12, faces agony after surviving Israeli airstrike amid Gaza's scarce medical supplies

By Muhammed Majid

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) - As the doctor bandaged the wounds of Omar Al-Husari at Kamal Adwan Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip, his screams intensified from the pain.

These were not the first screams; each time his burns were cleaned, the 12-year-old suffered excruciating pain. Despite it all, he is determined to recover.

Following an Israeli airstrike on his home two months ago, Omar sustained burns covering most of his small body, particularly his face and head. As a result of the bombing, he lost his mother and several family members.

-Scars of pain

On the hospital bed, Omar’s laughter faded as burns marred his face like sad lines, scars vividly telling the story of the pain he endured.

“When the bandages are changed on my wounds, I feel intense pain spreading throughout my body,” Omar said in describing his suffering to Anadolu.

“As soon as the doctor starts changing the bandages, I feel like I’m in a tunnel where I’m being choked, and I feel difficulty breathing,” he said.

Omar’s suffering is not limited to physical pain. He mourns the loss of his mother and many family members in the Israeli bombardment of his house.

He is left with only his father -- a tragedy that has changed his features and left a deep wound in his heart.

Faced with the wounds and the torment of pain, his father is unable to help his only surviving son or provide treatment as Gaza hospitals struggle from an Israeli blockade, causing a shortage of medications.

-Compounded suffering

“The child suffers from burns covering 70% of his body, and we do not have painkillers or treatments for him due to the Israeli blockade imposed on northern Gaza,” Omar’s doctor told Anadolu.

She said Omar’s suffering is compounded. He lost all his family members in Israeli airstrikes targeting their house, leaving only his father.

The doctor said Omar urgently needs medication to facilitate his recovery and warned of serious complications he will inevitably face if medication is not provided soon.

The physician appealed to international relief organizations to provide medical necessities for northern Gaza, where hospitals are unable to supply medications and painkillers for patients suffering from severe health issues.

In March, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, warned of the imminent collapse of the health care system in Gaza, pointing out that only 10 of 36 hospitals were partially operational.

Israel has pounded the Palestinian enclave since an Oct. 7 cross-border attack by the Palestinian group, Hamas, which killed less than 1,200 people.

More than 33,000 Palestinians have since been killed, and nearly 75,700 injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities. Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.

The Israeli war, now in day 181, has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine.

By comparison, 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which last week asked it to do more to prevent famine in Gaza.