Currently, these ten Palestinian children injured in Gaza are hospitalized in France, according to information from franceinfo, when Emmanuel Macron nevertheless assured, last November, that our country was ready to welcome “up to 50”. Franceinfo met one of them, who had a leg amputated.
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“Compared to children around the world, none of us have a normal childhood in Gaza“. After an explosion on October 16 in the center of the Gaza Strip, this 12-year-old boy lost his right leg and had to undergo an operation on the other leg. He is in a wheelchair, holding a stuffed toy Mickey in his hands and playing with a touchscreen tablet, like all children his age.
This boy will remain anonymous at the request of his mother who wishes to remain discreet. He loves football. But at the start of the war, his club closed, so he played outside in town: “When I went to get the ball, there was a big explosion and all of a sudden I found myself thrown to the ground, he remembers. At first I thought I had stuck my leg in a stone, then I realized I had lost it. The other leg is seriously injured with a fracture in the pelvis and hip.”
This child was first treated in hospitals in Gaza before being transferred to Egypt and then to France. He made friends there, he learned French but kept a close eye on the situation in his country. “We are united among ourselves, the children of Gaza, me too obviously. Because in addition to the bombings, there is famine”, he laments. Currently in rehabilitation, he is now waiting for doctors to install a prosthesis in the coming weeks.
Only one guardian, no brothers and sisters evacuated
This child has been in France for several months, with his mother. No other family member was able to join them. This is in fact the condition imposed by Egypt at the time of the evacuation. This is also the case for all the injured: only one guardian, no brothers and sisters. Concerning this 12 year old child, he never knew his father, who died a few days after his birth. On the other hand, he has several minor brothers and sisters still there.
“It’s as if my body was in France and my soul was stuck with my other children in Gaza.”
the mother of an evacuated Palestinian childat franceinfo
His mother thanks France for treating her son, but she absolutely wants to deliver this message: “I hope that the French authorities will do their best to evacuate my other children. The situation is very worrying. It is getting worse every day. I really want to have them evacuated as quickly as possible. I am afraid for them… As a mother, I am deeply psychologically affected. I am torn between the little one here and my children stuck in the middle of this war.”, she laments. This mother and her son applied for asylum a month ago. Once asylum has been obtained, they will be able to request “family reunification”.
“International conventions are not respected” by France
The delay in the family reunification procedure is likely to be very long. The only way to reunite this family and others currently in France is to submit a request for emergency evacuation to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which Amel Délimi, lawyer at the Seine-Saint-Denis bar, did: “We didn’t get any response.regrets this member of the France-Palestine lawyers’ collective. It is not because we decide to take care of children that we must separate families, it is not possible. We cannot, by deciding to take care of injured children, simultaneously violate the best interests of the children and not respect international conventions, of which France is a signatory.”recalls the lawyer.
“The silence we face is incomprehensible.”
Amel Délimi, lawyer member of the France-Palestine lawyers collectiveat franceinfo
Since the start of the conflict, France has evacuated a little more than 200 people from the Gaza Strip, each time requiring the agreement of the Israelis.
The fate of these families is being played out at the political and diplomatic level
Faced with the silence of the authorities on this subject, Pascal Savoldelli, communist senator from Val-de-Marne, officially asked the question in writing to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Stéphane Séjourné. He hasn’t gotten a response yet either. This senator also believes that the number of children hospitalized in France is very low given the situation in the Gaza Strip. Unicef indicates that “12 300 children would have been injured” since the start of the conflict. “You see the proportionality of the humanitarian disaster that it is and, on the other hand, an objective which is not very ambitious, points out Pascal Savoldelli. France knew how to do better. I think that from the point of view of the rank that France should be in its reception capacity in relation to its children, we are well below what we can do.”
“There is a lack of political will, it is undeniable.”
Pascal Savoldelli, PCF senator from Val-de-Marneat franceinfo
Italy, for example, takes care of four times as many children, currently 51. On the other side of the Alps, it is even estimated that it can accommodate more than a hundred young Palestinians. In France, the objective is to receive up to 50 minor patients. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirms to franceinfo “that 12 children are currently hospitalized in France and that he is “working on new operations”.