Amir is 9 years old. He has undergone several amputations in the right foot and has the body covered with burns, his right shoulder is saved by a miracle. Like him. Survived two bombings in the city of Deir al Balah, 14 km south of Gaza City, Amir today is in a safe place, At the “Ernesto Balducci” reception center in Zugliano, In the province of Udine, together with his two older brothers and his mother Heba. Another of his brothers, the adult, remained in the Gaza strip with his father.
“When our house was bombed for the first time, we were in a room that fortunately was not struck,” he says Heba Abbo Aisha40 years old, Amir’s mother. «I remember having heard a deafening silence which was followed by a bombing, and then smoke and flames. When I began to hear the sounds and noises again, I looked around and saw that we were all crouched in a corner and there was a strong confusion that came from outside. I got up and saw that Amir had the right side of the face covered with blood. I was terrified, I thought he had lost his eye. Then, only afterwards did I realize that it was a not very serious wound like those reported by my in -laws, my husband and the rest of the family. Our neighbors, however, at least fifteen people, died ».
After the bombing of December 2023, Heba, her husband and their children, who remained homeless, move from a relative to the same city. But after three months, in March 2024, while he is at home with Amir and the other son arrives another bomb that, this time, hit the room in which the children are in full. “I launched myself into the room to look for my children, but I didn’t see anything, there was smoke. So I started running from one side to the other to ask for help. I shouted desperate, I called them “Ali, Amir”, then, while the smoke was slowly taking it, I found myself standing in front of me with my face covered with blood. He cried strong and told me that Amir was dead. I went to him, I found him on the ground, I pulled him on but he did not react, so I convinced myself that he was dead. I went out on the street with him in my arms and saw the holes throughout the body, I could also see the bone of the hand. One of my neighbors arrived, he tried to calm down and tell me not to give for sure that Amir was dead. So, we loaded it into a car and went to the hospital ».
Amir with his mother Heba Abba Aisha (photo by Valentina Barile).
Heba’s story has the details of terror. Moment after moment, families, women, Palestinian children live a daily life marked between systematic persecution and death. Amir had to wait a few days before being cured because the wounded in the hospital were too many. He had the right side of the body covered with splinters, the skull, shoulder and back seriously injured. The doctors applied plates to the shoulder and foot but in the following days the wounds began to emit bad smell. Thus, he was transferred to the Rafah hospital accompanied by his father while Heba, his mother, waited for the pass to cross the pass and bring amir to Egypt given his serious condition. Once in Egypt, thanks to Gaza Children’s Relief And Save the ChildrenAmir was transferred to the “Burlo Garofalo” pediatric hospital in Trieste. «When we arrived in Trieste it was one in the night of April 30, 2024. The doctors, nurses and the Islamic community welcomed us to the hospital. We were seven families from the Gaza Strip “says Heba doing deep breaths. «We then remained in Trieste two months and mid -June we received the news that the Balducci center could welcome us. Just the day we moved here to Zugliano », closes the eyes while the tears strictly his face, “Another bombing hit my parents’ house and my father and brother died”.
«When Amir arrived with his mother and the other two brothers in Zugliano, he immediately breathed the effort and suffering of that experience. We were all clumsy, But it was enough that a Ukrainian boy launched a ball among the new guests to dissolve the tension, make the smiles sprout and start the reception on the right foot: Thus started the insertion in the center and to school, and the learning in a short time of the Italian language “, he adds Don Paolo Iannacconepresident of the Balducci Center. «Children are in power a revolution, they are an incredible renewal force! And they trust me that another world based on the conviviality of the differences is really possible ».
(High photo by Valentina Barile: Amir, 9 years old, with the Palestinian flag)
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