One of the injured children arriving from Gaza died in an ambulance near Parma

In his very short life he has only known days of war. Along with 15 other children wounded in attacks in the Gaza Strip, Italy represented a hope of survival for him and his family. The Palestinian child was only six months old when he died last night in an ambulance after landing at Bologna’s Marconi airport, headed to the Niguarda hospital in Milan, where he was supposed to be treated.

His conditions had appeared very critical, the little boy was very debilitated. At the height of Parma, however, his heart stopped. A news that clouded what should have been only a story of hope for sixteen children who, together with their families, arrived yesterday evening at 7:30 pm at the Bologna airport from Cairo, where they were welcomed for an initial screening, aboard an Air Force flight and one of the Guardia di Finanza.

At the Maggiore Hospital in Bologna, two girls aged 10 and 11 will be treated for maxillofacial surgery: one of them lost part of her face due to the explosions. A 13-year-old girl with heart problems that cannot be treated in Gaza has arrived at the Sant’Orsola Polyclinic. The other young patients have been transferred to the Regina Margherita in Turin, the Papa Giovanni in Bergamo, the Salesi in Ancona, the Meyer in Florence, the Burlo Garofalo in Trieste, the Santa Maria in Terni and the Santa Maria della Misericordia in Perugia. The medical evacuation was carried out within the framework of the European Civil Protection Mechanism, and is coordinated by the Department of Civil Protection through the Remote Centre for Health Rescue Operations (Cross) in collaboration with the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, the Interior, Health and Defence. The support of the Italian Embassy in Cairo and the Egyptian Ministry of Health has also been crucial. Since last autumn, approximately 300 Palestinian citizens have been evacuated from Italy as part of humanitarian operations to support the population of Gaza.