The twins watch a video on a phone. Photo: Shahed Abu AlShaikh

On July 26, 2021, Ahmed Abu Zer and his wife Fatima went to the maternity hospital in the Al-Shifa Medical Complex in the Gaza Strip. According to Fatima’s previous medical history and based on the doctors’ recommendations, she was admitted to the operating room to undergo a C-section. The surgery was successful, and Fatima and Ahmed were blessed with twins, Mohamed and Adam. Their family had been small, with just a son and a daughter, but now they were parents of four beautiful children.

When the twins were one, a routine check-up at the UNRWA primary care clinic flagged that they were not walking as they should be. The doctor recommended more tests, including an MRI for both children. This service is not available at government hospitals or those affiliated with UNRWA so Ahmed had to turn to the private sector; the costs were very high and, like most young men in the Gaza Strip, Ahmed was unemployed with no fixed income — his fate had been determined by the blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip for over 20 years.

Ahmed borrowed money from his relatives and sold belongings in order to pay for the necessary examinations for his children. The tests showed that the twins had suffered from a lack of oxygen during birth, which had led to muscle weakness in their legs. At this point, Ahmed realized that he had moved from being a father who worries about feeding his children to a much bigger and more difficult challenge. While facing the difficult living conditions that all Gazans endured under the occupation and blockade, he now had the additional responsibility as a father of two physically disabled children requiring special care.

After being informed that the already crumbling health system could not provide the necessary services for his children, Ahmed knew that the only option, once again, was to seek treatment outside the government system. He would have to bear the costs on his own.

As the twins grew, their special needs increased. Ahmed was forced to stay at home to help his wife care for the children. Finally, after months of searching, Ahmed finally found a clinic that would treat his children without charge: the Hamad Hospital in northern Gaza, which specializes in prosthetics and motor disabilities.

The prognosis was hopeful: Preliminary tests concluded that the twins were eligible for treatment and, provided they received continuous care from a specialized team at the hospital, their condition could improve. Ahmed, Fatima, and their whole family were hopeful that the twins’ treatment would be successful. Only a month later, Ahmed and Fatima were relieved to see a slight progress in their twins’ condition. They looked forward to the day when their boys would be able to walk and play alongside other children.

At the same time, and for the first time in over 20 years, Israel decided to allow thousands of workers from the Gaza Strip to work within the occupied Palestinian territories (what is known as Israel) under specific regulations and conditions. Ahmed took this opportunity to provide for his family and offer them a better life. Fatima, like most Palestinian mothers bearing the absence of a husband, shouldered the burden of running the household and taking care of the children on her own. But with Ahmed now working, it seemed that their hardship had ended.

And then came October 7, 2023. Israel launched its war against the Palestinians, using the Hamas attacks as a pretext for genocide. The Israelis and their Western allies saw these attacks as acts of terrorism, ignoring international laws that confirm Palestine is an occupied land and that Israelis are the occupiers. Bombardments hit all sectors of Gaza — its infrastructure, health, educational, environmental, and industrial facilities. Israel cut off electricity, water, fuel, and humanitarian aid from the residents of Gaza. The Israeli army began issuing orders to forcibly evacuate the northern Gaza Strip and displaced more than a million people to the south, where they continued to bomb and shoot civilians.

Fatima and her four young children were among those forcibly displaced. They settled in the shelters in southern Gaza without the most basic necessities. Alone with her children, Fatima faced the daily devastation of war. She feared especially for her disabled twins, worried that they would be harmed by the intensity of the bombing and shells. Each day she took the children with her to fetch water and other rations, fearing that they might all be killed.

On the other side of the fence, the Israeli army pursued Gazans who were working in Israel. They arrested and detained Ahmed. For nearly a month, he was interrogated, tortured, and abused. Finally he was released through the Kerem Shalom crossing in the south of Gaza.

As soon as Ahmed reunited with his family, he looked for a way to continue his children’s treatment. None of the field hospitals were able to help and the answer was always the same: ”We cannot accept these cases; the only hospital for children such as yours is Hamad Hospital, which was destroyed by the occupation in northern Gaza.”

For Ahmed and Fatima, the journey of their twins’ treatment and the dream of their recovery had ended before it even began. Filled with sorrow and living inside a tent shelter, they could do nothing but watch their boys’ health and mobility decline.

Today Ahmed, Fatima, and their children continue to pray that the war will end, hope will return, and they will find somewhere to treat Mohamed and Adam. But, following the destruction of all health facilities and the detention of hundreds of healthcare workers, their only hope is to find someone to help them get the twins out of Gaza and into a safe place for treatment. Maybe then will Mohamed and Adam learn to walk like other children and live in peace and security.