In a tent in Halawa refugee camp in Jabalia, in the north of the Gaza Strip, 10-year-old Mohammed Shaaban holds on to a simple dream: to travel abroad for treatment, receive prosthetic limbs, stand again and play football.
Footage filmed on Sunday shows Mohammed passing a football to his mother, playing with his brothers and friends, and balancing his body on the ball.
Mohammed’s mother declined to discuss the details of the accident he suffered. Palestinian media have reported that he was caught in a fire several years ago, when he was a child, and lost three of his limbs.
“My name is Mohammed Saad Shaaban. I am ten years old and in Grade 3. I hope to travel abroad, to wear prosthetic limbs, and to play football,” said Mohammed.
“I love football and I follow the World Cup matches,” he added.
“During the years of war, the situation was extremely difficult for me; I was forced to flee from one place to another about twelve times. Each time I would think of Mohammed and how I would manage to carry him,” explained his mother, Sundus Shaaban.
She said life in the camp had made his condition even harder.
“One of the main difficulties we face with Mohammed is living in the camp; we live in tents that lack basic sanitary conditions, and we live amongst rats, which have caused us great suffering.”
“About every six months, Mohammed undergoes further amputations due to ‘keloid tissue’ that forms as a result of the harsh conditions in the tents and because of rat bites on his lower limbs,” she continued.
Mohammed’s mother said the family is waiting for Gaza’s Ministry of Health to speed up the procedures needed for him to leave the territory.
The shortage of wheelchairs, prosthetic limbs and rehabilitation equipment has left many wounded Palestinians and people with disabilities without the support they need, as Gaza’s healthcare system struggles with severe shortages of medical supplies and rehabilitation services.
UN and WHO assessments say tens of thousands of people in Gaza are living with life-changing injuries, including amputations, limb injuries and damage to sensory and motor functions. Children make up a major share of those injuries, with Gaza described by UN agencies as home to the largest group of child amputees in modern history.
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