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Reporter's note

Due to Israel’s ban on the foreign press, instead of reporting from inside Gaza, I’ve spent much of the year travelling around the Middle East, speaking to Palestinians who have managed to get out.

In Doha, I interviewed photojournalist Motaz Azaiza. In Jerash in Jordan, I visited the neglected refugee camp where a mental health crisis is brewing. And in Cairo, I met families who were struggling to survive after using up all their life savings to flee the besieged territory.

Then, a father from Gaza sent me a video of his daughter Mazyouna, a 12-year-old, who had sustained horrific injuries to her face when an IDF rocket hit her home.

The video – too graphic to share – made me feel sick to my stomach. It showed the terribly injured young girl being driven to hospital as she bled profusely, her jaw quite literally hanging off.

Her father told me he was trying to evacuate Mazyouna for medical treatment but the Israeli authorities had rejected her application five times and her condition was deteriorating.

I contacted Cogat, the Israeli body overseeing the civil administration, several times while writing my story about Mazyouna’s situation, but it did not respond to my requests for comment. Only afterwards, when the story had been published, did they get in touch requesting details about her case.

A few days later, I received the wonderful news that Mazyouna had finally been granted permission to leave Gaza. Last week, she was flown to the US with her mother and young sister, where she will receive surgery.

While this is incredible news, I can’t help but feel it is not enough. One young life was saved because media attention moved the Israeli authorities to act – but not enough to open the door for thousands of children like her, who remain stuck in the war zone that is Gaza and in need of immediate evacuation.
Thaslima Begum, reporter

Spotlight

Israel-Gaza war
Mazyouna, whose face was ‘ripped off’ by Israeli missile, allowed to leave Gaza