Roba Abu Jibba looked shocked when the doctor told her the news: she could not have the operation she so desperately wanted. She nervously wrinkled the fabric of her dress, fighting back the tears that were beginning to flood her remaining eye.
The 19-year-old Palestinian had pinned all her hopes on getting a prosthetic eye after suffering life-changing injuries in an accident. Israeli strike in Gaza. She was brought to Doha for treatment by the Qatari government.
But once again, his dreams were shattered.
“I came here, and now they say I won’t be able to have a prosthesis,” she told CNN between sobs. “Why am I here? I knew I wouldn’t be able to see with it, but it’s fine and my eyes will be the same.
Abu Jibba lost her right eye and the surrounding part of her face in early January when an Israeli bomb hit the warehouse in central Gaza where she and her family had been sheltering for months.
Three of his brothers and two of his sisters were killed. Her injured mother and three surviving siblings attempted to get help and left her behind, later believing she was dead. She spent more than three days surrounded by the bodies of her siblings before going to the hospital – only to find that there were no doctors there to treat her as most of the medical staff had fled the fighting In the region.
One week CNN investigation The circumstances of the attack revealed that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), without prior warning, attacked an industrial zone housing dozens of civilians using a heavy munition, the consequences of which were comparable to those of ‘a 2,000 pound bomb, depending on the weapons. experts.
The Israeli military told CNN it carried out “a precise strike” after its troops came under fire from there. Survivors told CNN in January that no militants were hit in the warehouse, but they said they heard “resistance gunfire” in the area.
Looking back on that night, Abu Jibba told CNN that she blamed both Israel and Palestinian militants for what happened to her family. She added that she believed Hamas or other militants had fired a mortar shell from a nearby area.
“I blame people…” she said, reflecting on his words. “And Hamas – and this situation. Because we had been living in the warehouse normally for a month… Without those who fired the mortar, the incident would not have happened. We didn’t even want to stay in the warehouse, but the (Israelis) made us stay there,” she told CNN, using a derogatory term for Israeli troops.
“I blame the Israelis for killing these children. They spared no one,” she added.
Deep wounds
Abu Jibba was once gregarious and outgoing. After seeing her siblings killed in front of her, she became silent and deeply depressed. Her aunt who accompanied her to Qatar told CNN that the young woman now prefers solitude and rarely goes out. She spends most of her time looking at photos of her family taken before the war – the few she still has.
She said her only source of happiness was Mohammed, a friend of her brother. The two met after his family was displaced from their home in Gaza City and became close after the January attack. When Abu Jibba and her family were separated and she was hospitalized, Mohammed offered emotional support that she desperately needed. She said they were going to get engaged and get married.
“He didn’t care what people said about my appearance, when people said, ‘How could you marry her after she was injured in her eye and body?’ He was like, ‘I don’t care about his body, I care about what’s in his heart,'” she told CNN.
Seven days before Abu Jibba left Gaza for treatment, Mohammed was killed by an artillery shell while collecting firewood in Rafah, she said, adding that his cousin who was with Mohammed had been injured in the attack and had lost his leg.
Abu Jibba said she did not even have a photo of Mohammed, having lost her phone in the carnage.
Difficult choices
Abu Jibba’s injuries were so serious that Gaza’s health ministry put her on the list of people requiring treatment abroad. Three days after CNN’s report on Abu Jibba aired in February, she was allowed to medical evacuation. After weeks of waiting, she was able to enter Egypt and was then flown to Qatar for treatment.
Most of the 2.2 million Palestinians who live in Gaza have never left the Gaza Strip. Before the war, some 18,000 of them had work permits allowing them to work in Israel. But after Hamas launched its deadly terrorist attack from Gaza on October 7, Israel closed the borders, generally allowing only foreigners and a few hundred seriously injured people to leave the territory.
“It’s difficult to leave your family, especially during war and in a difficult situation,” she said. “I’m afraid something else could happen to them and I can’t take them with me.”
Abu Jibba told CNN she decided to leave because she believed doctors could surgically restore her vision. In Egypt, he was told this would not be possible because his entire eye had been removed, but the Qatari government offered him further treatment.
But his stay in Doha turned into another traumatic experience.
The doctor told him that Qatar did not offer orbital prosthetic implants and that his problem was simply “cosmetic”.
Research has long shown that ocular prostheses lead to significant improvements in the patient’s physical and psychological health. The prosthesis consists of an artificial eye, eyelids, and any part of the orbit or surrounding area that is missing. It is a cost-effective and less complicated alternative to reconstructive surgery and is performed regularly around the world.
As Abu Jibba left the doctor’s office, the weight of the moment crushed her. She shook and panted. Panic set in and she seemed to be reliving the worst moment of her life. She pressed her hands to her ears, leaning against the wall.
The nurses put her on a stretcher. She curled up into a ball and hid under a blanket.
She hides the news from her mother, fearing that the shock will cause her even more pain.
“She pushed me to leave to have surgery. I don’t want to come back to her with this patch,” she said. “I (need) it so my mother doesn’t see me like that and doesn’t get depressed.”
Later in the day, Abu Jibba told CNN that what she wanted more than anything was to return to Gaza.
“Yes, there is a war in Gaza, but at least you are with your family and loved ones,” she said. “I just hope this war is over…but even if there is a war, I want to go back.” »
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