The 3D picture we’re shown of Maryam’s skull shows a gaping hole.

It’s astonishing the young girl from Gaza even survived an Israeli bombing near her home.

But she’s sitting up in her hospital bed in the Jordanian capital Amman, as we look on and she’s smiling and joking during a call with her father who remains in the Palestinian territory.

“I’m okay,” she says cheerily, “how are you?”

She’s heard overnight there’s been severe flooding in Gaza and the tents and makeshift shelters which tens of thousands are living in, are now soaked and under water.

But her father is focussed on how his 12-year-old daughter is feeling ahead of yet another life-saving brain operation.

Maryam is a rarity.

She is one of a few hundred patients who’ve been allowed by the Israeli authorities to leave the Gaza Strip to receive critical medical help since the October 2025 agreement signed between Israel and Hamas, which was aimed at ending hostilities.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says they’ve identified nearly 16,000 medical cases needing urgent critical care outside Gaza.

WHO data documented a total of 217 patients who left Gaza for medical care in other countries between the dates of 13 October and 26 November 2025.

Since then, Israel’s Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) has said a further 72 patients and caregivers from Gaza have departed the Israeli-occupied area for Jordan.

But behind them, they left a long queue of ill and wounded people in desperate need of the sort of specialised medical help Maryam Ibrahim is receiving in Jordan.

Having survived the bombing and having survived the craniectomy (removing her fractured skull), Maryam’s next challenge was surviving the wait to receive permission to leave Gaza for the surgery which offered her a chance of long-term survival.

She waited almost half a year for this operation: an operation considered vital.

Without it, Maryam’s brain was unprotected. Any stumble or accident risked irreversibly injuring her brain and negatively impacting her neurological functions – a risk which was considerably heightened given where she’s living.

The Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF) which has funded her medical care in Jordan says they’ve “witnessed at first hand the catastrophic toll of this conflict on children’s health and well-being.

“Thousands have been orphaned, maimed or left with lifelong trauma. Entire hospitals and health centres have been destroyed leaving an entire population of children without access to even the most basic medical care.”

While humanitarian organisations continue to encounter challenges in organising evacuations from Gaza, two British surgeons were amongst a group of medics refused permission by the Israeli authorities to enter the territory.

Dr Victoria Rose, a plastic and reconstructive surgeon with the IDEALS charity, told Sky News: “WHO calculated that in 2025, only 47% of emergency medical teams were granted entry to Gaza.

“This is at a time when hundreds of local doctors have been detained by the IDF with many still unaccounted for. Gaza does not have the manpower to cope with the numbers of injured.”

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Maryam’s case received widespread publicity after the intervention of the popular American children’s educator and YouTuber Rachel Griffin Accurso known as “Ms Rachel”.

She highlighted her case by talking to the little girl via Instagram after Maryam posted about how she was being bullied for her unusual appearance because of her cranial injury.

Maryam’s family realise she’s been unusually fortunate to receive this specialised care, but they know too that as soon as Maryam is well enough, the little girl will be returned to Gaza and an unpredictable future.

The Israeli authorities continue to insist via X that they are helping to organise humanitarian aid into Gaza and are committed to “facilitating a humanitarian-medical response” – which includes establishing field hospitals.

They have repeatedly suggested that it is the lack of coordination on the part of various countries and organisations which is the issue – but this runs counter to what multiple humanitarian groups and individuals have experienced.

Germany’s parliament has voted to reintroduce voluntary military service, but getting Gen Z recruits could prove tricky.

Across the country, students gathered to demonstrate against what they fear will be a return to conscription.

In Berlin, they held signs saying, “You can’t have our lives if we don’t eat your lies” and “peace is power”.

While most demonstrators were in their late teens or twenties, some parents also turned out with their younger children.

One mother held a placard declaring: “You can’t have my son”.

The new plan means from January, all 18-year-olds will be sent a questionnaire about their fitness and willingness to serve.

Men must fill it in, while for women it will be voluntary.

In the future, if the numbers of volunteers are too low, then parliament could trigger conscription at times of war or in emergencies.

It’s an idea which horrifies many in the crowd.

“None of us want to die for a country that doesn’t really care about us,” Levi tells me.

He says the government has ignored their calls for climate protections and better social conditions, so he feels no allegiance to them.

I ask: “If Germany was attacked, who do you think should defend it if Gen Z don’t want to?”

“Why don’t the people that started the war do it? I don’t see why the older people shouldn’t go to war. I mean, a lot of them already were in the army,” he replies.

17-year-old Sara agrees, declaring: “I would not be willing to die for any country.”

“I don’t think it’s right to send children or anyone against their will into the military, because war is just wrong,” she says.

“I’m never going to join the military and if Germany is attacked, I’ll just go somewhere else where there’s no war.”

While the government says the system will be voluntary for as long as possible, from 2027 all 18-year-old men will have to have a medical examination so the government can see who is fit to serve.

German defence minister Boris Pistorius says the mandatory medical is needed so that in the event of an attack, Germany would not waste time confirming “who is operationally capable as a homeland protector and who is not”.

The move is a massive cultural shift for Germany, which suspended mandatory military conscription on 1 July 2011.

“From my friends no one wants to volunteer because we don’t want to fight for a problem that’s not really ours. We didn’t start the problems, they [the government] did,” says Silas.

The change is a direct reaction to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

Despite Moscow’s denials, NATO’s chief has warned Russia could be able to attack a member country in the next four to five years.

I ask 19-year-old Lola if she’s thinks Russia is a threat?

“It could be, maybe. However, I think there are more important issues, especially like social ones, than war,” she says.

Her friend, 28-year-old Balthasar, goes further, saying: “A country being able to attack isn’t the same as a country planning to attack.

“The track record of Russia has been to attempt at least diplomatic resolution, cooperation, and I think those are the right approaches to take in international politics, opposed to sabre-rattling, which the German government has resorted to.”

The German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, has said he wants to build the strongest army in Europe.

Germany currently has around 184,000 soldiers and wants to boost that by over 80,000 in the next decade.

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Volunteers are being offered incentives like a monthly wage of more than €2,000 (£1,750).

Despite this, a survey earlier this year found 81% of Gen Z wouldn’t fight for Germany.

In contrast, many of the older generation supported conscription.

At the Berlin protest, 17-year-old Valentin was the only person we met who reluctantly agreed to fight.

“When we are attacked, then yes [I would fight], but when we are attacking other countries, then no,” he says.

Germany isn’t the only country looking for reinforcements, last month France announced a new military service for over-18s.

Currently, 10 EU countries already have compulsory military service.

While others like Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany are opting for voluntary schemes.

The German plan still must be signed off by parliament’s upper house later this month before it’s expected to start in January.

Scotland and England now know who they will face in the group stage of the next summer’s world cup.

But the fates of Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and Wales won’t be determined until they compete in pre-tournament play-off matches in March.

England are in Group L along with Croatia, Panama and Ghana. Their first match will be against Croatia, who beat them in the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

Scotland’s first match will be against Haiti, in Group C.

Brazil and Morocco are the other Group C teams – both countries were also in the same opening group as Scotland in the 1998 World Cup in France.

Wales have yet to find out if they will qualify as they must face a play-off against Bosnia and Herzegovina in Cardiff, and then either Italy or Northern Ireland, if they are victorious.

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If they can overcome these play-off opponents then they will secure their place in Group B along with Canada, Qatar and Switzerland. But Northern Ireland will also be vying and hoping to guarantee their spot in the same group if they can beat Italy and then either Wales or Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Republic of Ireland also need to get through the play-offs first and are paired against the Czech Republic for their semi-final. Should Ireland win that match, they will need to beat either North Macedonia or Denmark to get to the finals where an opening group containing joint hosts Mexico, South Africa and South Korea awaits.