Community members gathered at DFW Airport to welcome a mother and son who flew all the way from Gaza to Dallas for treatment. The 9-year-old is being fitted with a prosthetic leg with help from Heal Palestine.
Twelve-year-old Adam and his mother arrived at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport on Friday to cheers, applause, and chants from dozens of people.
For months, a nonprofit humanitarian organization called HEAL Palestine had been trying to get Adam out of Gaza for treatment.
Adam is an amputee, losing his leg after an Israeli bomb demolished his home, said Afif Asmar, spokesperson for HEAL Palestine.
Asmar said Adam will be treated at Scottish Rite for Children and fitted for an artificial limb.
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Adam is one of about 12 other children HEAL brought to the United States. Adam is the first and only one to come to Dallas during this war.
"We're a charity that takes care of children who have injuries because of conflicts or wars, and now there's plenty of children that... need medical treatment and medical care," Asmar said. "As you know... all the hospitals in Gaza are decimated by the war. There's only three hospitals left out of 36 hospitals."
He said HEAL built a field hospital to treat simpler cases in Gaza, but there are thousands of children who can't get help there, due to Israel's siege that restricts medicine and medical supplies.
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"They lost everything; they lost their childhoods, they lost their homes, they lost their schools. Some of them or most them lost even family members, or both parents. So, there's a lot of orphans, there's a lot of amputees," Asmar said.
He said they need the support of the community at large to keep helping children like Adam.
Adam's family was displaced more than five times, seeking refuge in different towns.
"One of the most painful things for parents is to see children being hurt. It doesn't matter where, it doesn't matter what country, it doesn't matter what the reason is. There's no reason for a child to be hurt," said Sam Mohamad, one of the community members who showed up at DFW International to give Adam a warm welcome.
"The least we can do here is to show support for the families," he said.
Mohamad, who is Palestinian himself and lived there as a child, said he's grateful to HEAL for bringing Adam here.
"That's one of thousands and thousands and thousands of children living in Gaza, living this everyday, and not able to escape death," he said.
He said it feels hypocritical to be welcoming and supporting tragedy-stricken families while his tax dollars go to weapons shipments to Israel.
"My message would be to our president, and whoever our next president is going to be, and all our politicians, is that we need to stop this atrocity. Because I know they're parents, and they wouldn't want this for their children," he said.
