Ahmed Abu Athab's Aunt Jamila sobs as she implores the world to get the boy out of Gaza for medical treatment after he was injured by Israeli fire this week and joined the growing list of wounded stuck in the embattled territory without medical aid.
The boy had gone to the beach on Tuesday to wash with a group of children and a munition landed as they came out, hitting him with shrapnel, she said.
He now lies, swathed in bloody bandages, in Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis as Israel's assault on the border city of Rafah continues, part of a military campaign against Hamas sparked by the group's deadly Oct. 7 attack.
The attack on Rafah, the only part of tiny, crowded Gaza that Israeli troops had not entered in force, has cut off the main border crossing into Egypt, constricting aid and stopping what had been a trickle of people leaving for medical help.
"Where should I take him? Tell me. Where should I go?" Jamila Abu Athab said.
"I ask all the leaders of the world, anyone with a conscience, to open the border and allow these children to leave. What have they done to deserve this?" she added.
Like the vast majority of Palestinians in Gaza, Ahmed Abu Athab had already lost his home in Israel's assault on the enclave. He has also lost his mother - not to the war but because she left Gaza for cancer treatment.
When Jamila Abu Athab reached the child, he told her: "Auntie, I was looking for water. I want to bathe. I died, I died," she said.
At al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central Gaza city of Deir al-Balah, spokesperson Doctor Khalil al-Dakran said Israel's military campaign had unleashed a medical catastrophe.
"All hospitals are struggling due to lack of medicine and medical necessities and fuel," he said in video obtained by Reuters, adding that thousands of patients needed treatment abroad and were unable to travel after the Rafah border closure.
Egyptian officials and sources say humanitarian operations are at risk from military activity and that Israel needs to hand the crossing back to Palestinians before it starts operating again. Egypt is also worried about the risk of Palestinians being displaced from Gaza.
Palestinian Health Minister Majed Abu Ramadan said on Wednesday there was no indication of when the Rafah crossing would reopen.
Israel's ground and air campaign in Gaza has killed more than 36,000 people and wounded more than 81,000, health authorities in Gaza's Hamas-run administration say. The figures include both civilians and Hamas fighters.
In Al-Aqsa Hospital, Nashat Abed Bari said he had been trying to leave Gaza for medical help since being injured five months ago.
"There are no capabilities here in Gaza at all. I tried to look for doctors or to go around hospitals but no one was able to help me," he said in video obtained by Reuters.
"The border has been shut for more than 20 days. No one is going in or out. I need an operation urgently because my situation is getting worse every day."
![A child rests on the day Palestinians travel on foot along with their belongings, as they flee Rafah due to an Israeli military operation, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Tuesday. REUTERS A child rests on the day Palestinians travel on foot along with their belongings, as they flee Rafah due to an Israeli military operation, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Tuesday. REUTERS](https://cdn4.premiumread.com/?url=https://gulf-times.com/gulftimes/uploads/images/2024/05/29/182281.jpg&w=800&q=100&f=webp)
A child rests on the day Palestinians travel on foot along with their belongings, as they flee Rafah due to an Israeli military operation, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Tuesday. REUTERS
![Palestinians flee with their belongings on foot or in vehicles as they leave Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday. AFP Palestinians flee with their belongings on foot or in vehicles as they leave Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday. AFP](https://cdn4.premiumread.com/?url=https://gulf-times.com/gulftimes/uploads/images/2024/05/29/182275.jpg&w=800&q=100&f=webp)
Palestinians flee with their belongings on foot or in vehicles as they leave Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday. AFP
![A Palestinian child, who is suffering from malnutrition, receives healthcare at Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza Strip, amid widespread hunger, on April 7. REUTERS A Palestinian child, who is suffering from malnutrition, receives healthcare at Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza Strip, amid widespread hunger, on April 7. REUTERS](https://cdn4.premiumread.com/?url=https://gulf-times.com/gulftimes/uploads/images/2024/05/29/182280.jpg&w=800&q=100&f=webp)
A Palestinian child, who is suffering from malnutrition, receives healthcare at Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza Strip, amid widespread hunger, on April 7. REUTERS
![Palestinians fleeing with their belongings ride atop their vehicle in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday. AFP Palestinians fleeing with their belongings ride atop their vehicle in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday. AFP](https://cdn4.premiumread.com/?url=https://gulf-times.com/gulftimes/uploads/images/2024/05/29/182277.jpg&w=800&q=100&f=webp)
Palestinians fleeing with their belongings ride atop their vehicle in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday. AFP
![Displaced Palestinians sit by their tents at a makeshift displacement camp in Rafah's Mawasi area in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday. a site that was reportedly hit a day earlier during Israeli bombardment. AFP Displaced Palestinians sit by their tents at a makeshift displacement camp in Rafah's Mawasi area in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday. a site that was reportedly hit a day earlier during Israeli bombardment. AFP](https://cdn4.premiumread.com/?url=https://gulf-times.com/gulftimes/uploads/images/2024/05/29/182276.jpg&w=800&q=100&f=webp)
Displaced Palestinians sit by their tents at a makeshift displacement camp in Rafah's Mawasi area in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday. a site that was reportedly hit a day earlier during Israeli bombardment. AFP
![A delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) inspects a makeshift displacement camp in Rafah's Mawasi area in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday, a site that was reportedly hit during Israeli bombardment. AFP A delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) inspects a makeshift displacement camp in Rafah's Mawasi area in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday, a site that was reportedly hit during Israeli bombardment. AFP](https://cdn4.premiumread.com/?url=https://gulf-times.com/gulftimes/uploads/images/2024/05/29/182279.jpg&w=800&q=100&f=webp)
A delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) inspects a makeshift displacement camp in Rafah's Mawasi area in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday, a site that was reportedly hit during Israeli bombardment. AFP
![Children look into a vehicle carrying the bodies of Palestinians killed in an Israeli strike on an area designated for displaced people, during a funeral, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, on Monday. REUTERS Children look into a vehicle carrying the bodies of Palestinians killed in an Israeli strike on an area designated for displaced people, during a funeral, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, on Monday. REUTERS](https://cdn4.premiumread.com/?url=https://gulf-times.com/gulftimes/uploads/images/2024/05/29/182278.jpg&w=800&q=100&f=webp)
Children look into a vehicle carrying the bodies of Palestinians killed in an Israeli strike on an area designated for displaced people, during a funeral, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, on Monday. REUTERS