Girl, three, with ultra-rare disease denied escape from Gaza for treatment
A three-year-old Palestinian girl with an ultra-rare genetic condition has been forced backwards in her quest to leave Gaza for life-saving treatment.
Julia Abu Zeiter, whose story is being followed by Sky News, was moved with her family from a tent in the southern city of Rafah and relocated to a supposedly safer zone to the north and further away from the border they had hoped to cross.
Speaking to Sky News, her mother Maha said: “We were going through the travel procedures to leave Gaza. When the time for us to travel through Rafah crossing got close, the Israelis occupied the crossing, and they told us they want to invade Rafah.”
She added: “I was between two fires, not knowing where to go. Do I go try to travel to treat my daughter or do I flee to another place? I did not know where to go.”
The family’s plight is reflective of the cases of many thousands of other children in Gaza who are injured or ill and need urgent medical care.
Julia’s mother Maha Abu Zeiter
Sky News first met Julia 12 days ago after a family in Washington DC told us about her case.
The Abu Zeiter family and the Frost family were connected because their daughters, Julia and Annabel, both suffer from Alternating Hemiplegia of Childhood (AHC).
Only about a thousand people worldwide have been diagnosed with the neurological disorder.
Known sometimes as the “time bomb disease”, it causes paralysis and seizures. It is compounded by stress and without medication seizures can be fatal.
Simon Frost, Annabel’s father, has spent the past month in Washington DC bringing together a global network of people in an effort to try to evacuate Julia. Her case is now being driven by the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF).
Julia needs round-the-clock care
Local staff from the PCRF coordinated the family’s move out of Rafah to a new tent site further north.
On Friday morning, they organised the delivery of medication and solar panel chargers.
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Unpacking their few belongings in a tent provided by the government of the United Arab Emirates, Julia’s mother said: “What made us leave Rafah was that the bombing got too strong. I did not know where to go. When the bombing was too strong, I told myself, ‘I need to leave, where am I going to go?'”
The case is a snapshot of the extraordinary efforts taking place to care for injured and vulnerable children.
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Gaza aid flow ‘trending in a different direction’
No one is permitted to leave Gaza at the moment. The Israeli and Egyptian authorities who control each side of the Rafah crossing are blaming each other for the prolonged closure.
With a full Israeli assault on Rafah thought to be imminent, some 600,000 displaced people who were sheltering there have now moved back north.
The repeated displacement is psychologically devastating but makes them physically safer, for now.
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From earlier this month: One child, a warzone and a need to help
The layered challenge for aid agencies like the PCRF is to ensure that injured children are put on third-country lists of evacuees with permission to be flown abroad for treatment.
It is a massive diplomatic and bureaucratic challenge.
For now, Julia, her family and many thousands of others are going nowhere; trapped inside Gaza after more than seven months of war.
Israel has said it will allow a “basic quantity of food” into the besieged enclave of Gaza to avoid a “starvation crisis” following a near three-month blockade.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the decision was “based on the operational need to enable the expansion of the military operation to defeat Hamas“.
Gaza, where local authorities say more than 53,000 people have died in Israel’s 19-month campaign, has been under a complete blockade on humanitarian aid since 2 March.
It comes as global food security experts warn of famine across the territory and after a UN-backed report from last Monday which warned one in five people in Gaza were facing starvation.
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Israel ramps up bombing in Gaza
The statement from the prime minister’s office said it would “allow a basic quantity of food to be brought in for the population in order to make certain that no starvation crisis develops in the Gaza Strip”.
“Such a crisis would endanger the continuation of Operation ‘Gideon’s Chariots’ to defeat Hamas,” it added.
“Israel will act to deny Hamas’s ability to take control of the distribution of humanitarian assistance in order to ensure that the assistance does not reach the Hamas terrorists.”
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Gaza is ‘a slaughterhouse’ says surgeon
It comes after a British surgeon working in Gaza said in a video to Sky News the enclave is now “a slaughterhouse” amid Israeli bombardment.
Israel has just ramped up its offensive in Gaza – where it’s been conducting a military campaign in retaliation for 1,200 people killed and 251 taken hostage by Hamas on 7 October 2023 – with Palestinian health officials reporting at least 130 people were killed overnight into Sunday.
Israel Defence Forces (IDF) confirmed troops had begun “extensive ground operations throughout the northern and southern Gaza Strip”.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said 464 people had died in Israeli military strikes in the week to Sunday.
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In a statement on Sunday, IDF said its air force struck “over 670 Hamas terror targets throughout the Gaza Strip to disrupt enemy preparations and support ground operations” over the past week.
Israel has launched an escalation to increase pressure on Hamas, seize territory, displace Palestinians to the south and take greater control over the distribution of aid.
Pro-Western candidate Nicusor Dan has unexpectedly beaten hard-right populist George Simion in the Romanian presidential election.
Mr Simion, 38, and his rival – a centrist who’s mayor of Bucharest – faced off in the second round of the contest.
According to the official tally, Mr Dan was leading by nearly nine percentage points with more than 98% of the votes counted.
Pic: Reuters
Mr Dan and his supporters celebrated the exit polls. Pic: Reuters
After exit polls suggested he wasn’t going to win, Trump-supporting Mr Simion rejected the result and said estimates put him 400,000 votes ahead.
Speaking after voting ended, Mr Simion said his election was “clear” as he posted on Facebook: “I won!!! I am the new President of Romania and I am giving back the power to the Romanians!”
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Romania’s last election was annulled after its highest court ruled the leading candidate, nationalist Calin Georgescu, should be disqualified due to claims of electoral interference by Russia.
The result is surprising because in the first round, 38-year-old Mr Simion, founder of the right-wing Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), took 40.96% of the vote – almost 20 points ahead.
George Simion rejected the polls but official counting saw him slip behind. Pic: Reuters
Supporters of Mr Dan celebrated on the streets of the capital Bucharest. Pic: AP
An opinion poll on Friday had it much closer, but still suggested the two men were virtually tied.
Mr Dan, a 55-year-old mathematician, is running as an independent and has pledged to clamp down on corruption.
He is also staunchly pro-EU and NATO, and has said Romania’s support for Ukraine is vital for its own security.
When voting closed at 9pm local time, 11.6 million people – about 64% of eligible voters – had cast ballots. About 1.64 million Romanians living abroad also took part.
About 11.6 million people – 64% of eligible voters – cast ballots. Pic: AP
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The election is being closely watched across Europe amid a rise of support for President Donald Trump.
After polls closed, Mr Dan said “elections are not about politicians” but about communities and that in the latest vote “a community of Romanians has won, a community that wants a profound change in Romania”.
“When Romania goes through difficult times, let us remember the strength of this Romanian society,” he said.
“There is also a community that lost today’s elections. A community that is rightly outraged by the way politics has been conducted in Romania up to now.”
Israel has said it will allow a “basic quantity of food” into the besieged enclave of Gaza to avoid a “starvation crisis” following a near three-month blockade.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the decision was “based on the operational need to enable the expansion of the military operation to defeat Hamas”.
Gaza, where local authorities say more than 53,000 people have died in Israel’s 19-month campaign, has been under a complete blockade on humanitarian aid since 2 March.
It comes as global food security experts warn of famine across the territory and after a UN-backed report issued last Monday which warned one in five people in Gaza were facing starvation.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Israel ramps up bombing in Gaza
The statement from the prime minister’s office said it would “allow a basic quantity of food to be brought in for the population in order to make certain that no starvation crisis develops in the Gaza Strip”.
“Such a crisis would endanger the continuation of Operation ‘Gideon’s Chariots’ to defeat Hamas,” it added.
“Israel will act to deny Hamas’s ability to take control of the distribution of humanitarian assistance in order to ensure that the assistance does not reach the Hamas terrorists.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Gaza is ‘a slaughterhouse’ says surgeon
It comes after a British surgeon working in Gaza said in a video to Sky News the enclave is now “a slaughterhouse” amid Israeli bombardment.
Israel has just ramped up its offensive in Gaza, with Palestinian health officials reporting at least 130 people were killed overnight into Sunday.
Israel Defence Forces (IDF) confirmed troops had begun “extensive ground operations throughout the northern and southern Gaza Strip”.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said 464 people had died in Israeli military strikes in the week to Sunday.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
In a statement on Sunday, IDF said its air force struck “over 670 Hamas terror targets throughout the Gaza Strip to disrupt enemy preparations and support ground operations” over the past week.
Israel has launched an escalation to increase pressure on Hamas, seize territory, displace Palestinians to the south and take greater control over the distribution of aid.
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