「自分・家族のため強くなりたい」　ガザ空爆で脚を切断された子どもたち

【ハンユニス（パレスチナ自治区）ＡＦＰ＝時事】ラヤン・バズさん（１３）は、イスラエル軍によるイスラム組織ハマスが実効支配するパレスチナ自治区ガザ地区への空爆で負傷し、両脚を切断した。鎮痛剤の効果が薄れるたびに、苦痛のあまり涙を流す。（写真はガザ地区南部ハンユニスのナセル病院で治療を受ける１４歳のラマ・アガさん）
　ラヤンさんは、入院先の南部ハンユニスにあるナセル病院でＡＦＰの取材に応じ、「義足はいらない」と語った。いずれにせよ、義足を手に入れることはほぼ不可能だった。
　１０月７日にイスラエルがハマスへの報復攻撃を開始して以降、ガザは封鎖されており、食料や水、燃料、医薬品が不足している。
　「脚を返してほしい。お医者さんならできるでしょ」と、ラヤンさんは小児科病棟のベッドの上で絶望的な様子で語った。
　ハマスが実効支配するガザ地区の保健当局によると、同地区では戦闘開始以降９５００人近くが死亡した。うち少なくとも３９００人が子どもだった。
　ラヤンさんの母親は、ラヤンさんが負傷した空爆で、娘２人と生まれたばかりの赤ん坊を含む孫２人が死亡したと話した。出産したばかりだった娘を手伝うため家族が集まっていたという。
　遺体はズタズタだった。イヤリングや足の指から身元確認をしたと語った。
　ラヤンさんはいまも顔や腕のあちこちに傷がある。「友達は歩いて行けるのに私は歩けない。どうやって学校に戻ればいいの」と言うと、母親は「私がそばにいるから大丈夫。あなたにはまだ未来がある」と慰めた。
　■「まだ生きている」
　ラマ・アガさん（１４）と姉のサラさん（１５）は隣り合ったベッドで、やけどの治療を受けている。
　母親によると、２人は先月１２日の空爆で負傷した。１５歳と１２歳のきょうだいは亡くなった。
　ラマさんの髪は治療のため半分ほどそられており、手術とやけどの痕が見えていた。
　「ここに搬送された時、看護師さんに起き上がるのを手伝ってもらった。その時、自分の脚が切断されているのに気付いた」とラマさん。「とても痛かったけど、まだ生きていることに感謝している」
　「義足を着けて、医師になるという夢をかなえるために勉強を続ける。自分と家族のために強くなりたい」と語った。
　ナセル病院の院長は、多数の死傷者が出ている上にリソースが減っていることから、合併症を防ぐため、手脚を切断することが多いと説明した。
　■打ち砕かれたサッカー選手になる夢
　緑色のサッカー用のトレーニングウエアを着たアハマド・アブ・シャーマーさん（１４）は、松葉づえをつきながら、ハンユニスの廃虚と化した自宅周囲を歩いていた。
　アハマドさんは空爆で脚を負傷したが、いとこ６人とおば１人は死亡した。
　手術後に目を覚ました時、兄に「僕の脚はどこ？」と聞いたと振り返る。兄は「そこにあるじゃないか。麻酔の影響で感じないだけだよ」とうそをついた。
　翌日いとこから本当のことを聞いたという。
　「たくさん泣いた。最初に頭に浮かんだのは、もう歩くことも毎日のようにサッカーをすることもできないということだった。戦闘が始まる１週間前にサッカーの学校に申し込んだばかりだった」【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2023/11/08-16:01）

Layan al-Baz cries in agony when the effect fades of the painkillers she receives after her legs were amputated -- the result of a strike on Gaza as Israel fights Hamas.
I don't want a false leg, the 13-year-old Palestinian tells AFP in Khan Yunis's Nasser hospital, in the southern Gaza Strip, where getting artificial limbs was nearly impossible anyway.
The impoverished Palestinian territory, under a crippling Israeli-led blockade for years and besieged since war erupted on October 7, suffers severe shortages of food, water and fuel, and medical supplies are scarce.
I want them to put my legs back, they can do it, Baz says in desperation from her bed at Nasser's paediatric ward.
Every time she opens her eyes as the painkillers wear off, she sees her bandaged stumps.
Her mother, Lamia al-Baz, 47, says Layan was wounded last week in a strike on Al-Qarara district of Khan Yunis, part of Israel's unrelenting military campaign in response to bloody Hamas attacks on October 7 that Israeli officials say killed more than 1,400 people, most of them civilians.
According to the Hamas-run health ministry, nearly 9,500 people have been killed in Gaza since the war erupted, including at least 3,900 children.
Four of them were Baz's relatives, killed in the strike that cost the 13-year-old's legs, her mother says.
Lamia says two of her daughters, Ikhlas and Khitam, and two grandchildren including a newborn baby were killed when the Israeli strike hit Ikhlas's home. The family were there to support Ikhlas who had just given birth.
Their bodies were in shreds, says Lamia, who had to identify her daughters' bodies at a morgue. I identified Khitam by her earrings and Ikhlas by her toes.
Layan, her face and arms dotted with injuries, asks: How will I return to school when my friends walk and I can't?
Lamia tries to reassure her: I will be by your side. It will all be fine. You still have a future ahead of you.
- 'I'm still alive' -
At the hospital's burns unit, 14-year-old Lama al-Agha and her sister Sara, 15, lie in adjacent beds.
They are treated after an October 12 strike that killed Sara's twin Sama and brother Yahya, 12, says their mother, sitting between the two hospital beds and struggling to hold back tears.
Stitches and burn scars are visible on Lama's half-shaved head and her forehead.
When they transferred me here, I asked the nurses to help me sit up and I discovered that my leg was amputated, the 14-year-old recalls.
I've been through a lot of pain but I thank God that I'm still alive.
Lama is determined not to let her injury decide her future.
I'll get an artificial leg and continue my studies, so I can achieve my dream of becoming a doctor. I will be strong for me and for my family, she says.
Hospital director Nahed Abu Taaema explains that due to the massive number of casualties and dwindling resources, medics are often left with no choice but to amputate limbs to prevent life-threatening complications.
We have to choose between saving a patient's life or putting it at risk while trying to save their injured leg, says Abu Taaema.
- Dashed football dream -
Sporting a green football jersey and matching shorts, Ahmad Abu Shahmah, 14, uses crutches to walk around the ruins of his family's home in Khan Yunis.
Now surrounded by several of his cousins, Abu Shahmah is at the courtyard where he used to play football.
But the building was destroyed in a strike that killed six of his cousins and an aunt.
When I woke up (after surgery) I asked my brother, 'where is my leg?' he recalls.
He lied to me and said it was right there, and that I couldn't feel it because of the anaesthetics.
The following day, my cousin told me the truth, says Abu Shahmah.
I cried a lot. The first thing I thought about was that I will no longer be able to walk or play football like I would every day. I signed up to an academy one week before the war.
Abu Shahmah supports FC Barcelona, while his cousins are die-hard fans of Real Madrid.
One of them, Farid Abu Shahmah, says that if he could turn back time and return Ahmad his leg, I'd be ready to give up Real and become a Barcelona fan like him.