NEW YORK (AP) — Omar Abu Kuwaik is far from his home in Gaza. The 4-year-old’s parents and sister were killed by an Israeli airstrike, when he lost part of his arm.
He’s one of the lucky ones.
Omar Abu Kuwaik poses for a photo at the Global Medical Relief Fund residence, Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2024, in the Staten Island borough of New York. On Dec. 6, 2023 two Israeli airstrikes slammed into Omar's grandparents' home in the Nuseirat refugee camp, in central Gaza.
Through the efforts of family and strangers, Omar was brought out of Gaza and to the United States, where he received treatment, including a prosthetic arm. He spent his days in a house run by a medical charity in New York City, accompanied by his aunt.
It was a small measure of grace in a sea of turmoil for him and his aunt, Maha Abu Kuwaik, as they looked to an uncertain future. The grief and despair for those still trapped in Gaza is never far away.
But it was a terrible choice. Going with Omar meant leaving her husband and three teenage children behind in a sprawling tent camp in Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah. With Israel carrying out strikes in areas where it told civilians to take shelter, including Rafah, Abu Kuwaik knows she might never see her family again.
“My kids love Omar so much,” she said. “They told me, ‘We’re not children anymore. Go, let Omar get treated. It’s what’s best for him. It’s his only chance.’”
Omar used to be an outgoing boy, she said, and he’s clever like his late father, who was an engineer. Now he’s often withdrawn and breaks into tears easily. He wonders why they don’t have a home like the kids he sees on YouTube.
Ask Omar a question, and he covers his ears with his right hand and the stump of his left arm, declaring, “I don’t want to talk.”
“Kindergarten was nice,” he eventually admits, “and I was happy on the first day.” He started school just weeks before the war broke out. But he says he doesn’t want to go to kindergarten anymore because he’s afraid to leave his aunt’s side.
His flight to New York may have given him a new dream, though.
“When I grow up, I want to be pilot,” Omar said, “so I can bring people places.”
Omar was the first Palestinian child from Gaza taken in by the Global Medical Relief Fund. The Staten Island charity’s founder, Elissa Montanti, has spent a quarter-century getting hundreds of kids free medical care after they lost limbs to wars or disasters, including in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Each child started out as a stranger. Each one joined what she calls her “global family,” and will come back to the U.S. for new prosthetic limbs as their bodies grow. Her charity sponsors everything except the medical treatment, which is donated, primarily by Shriners Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
When the war in Gaza erupted in October, Montanti knew she had to help. “But quite frankly, I said, ‘How? How will I ever get these kids out when they can’t even get out of Gaza?’”
Montanti had never laid eyes on Omar, but she understood that children like him were being severely wounded every day.
The deadliest round of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in decades was sparked Oct. 7 when Hamas-led militants broke through Israel’s security barrier around Gaza and stormed into Israeli communities. Around 1,200 people were killed and some 250 taken hostage.
Israel has laid waste to much of Gaza in response. In less than five months of war, Israel’s military has created a staggering humanitarian crisis and 80% of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have fled their homes. One assessment suggests half of the coastal enclave’s buildings have been damaged or destroyed.