Paralysis confines the child "Reem" and treatment outside Gaza remains her only hope

Five-year-old Reem Hassan Al-Sultan was hit by shrapnel in the neck on July 1, 2025, while in a tent in the Al-Mawasi area west of Khan Younis, causing quadriplegia and other injuries. She needs specialized treatment outside Gaza and has received a referral but is waiting to travel. She suffers from hunger and heat, and repeatedly asks to walk and play.

Since shrapnel pierced the neck of five-year-old Reem Hassan Al-Sultan on July 1, 2025, her life has completely changed. The shrapnel hit her spinal cord, leaving her with quadriplegia and other injuries, making her bedridden ever since. Reem was staying with her family in a tent in the Al-Mawasi area west of Khan Younis when occupation forces targeted nearby tents. She was hit by shrapnel that entered her neck and exited through her left shoulder, damaging her spinal cord, along with a fracture to her shoulder blade and a lung contusion that caused severe oxygen deficiency. Her health deteriorated after the injury, requiring several days in intensive care where she faced breathing difficulties and low oxygen levels before stabilizing somewhat, but she remained paralyzed and unable to move, along with losing control of her bladder and bowels. Today, Reem spends her days bedridden in a tent, while the physical and psychological effects of the injury continue to haunt her. Her mother told "Filastin" newspaper: "Her life has completely changed after the injury," explaining that doctors informed the family she needs specialized treatment outside the Gaza Strip, including a delicate spinal cord operation, along with specialized neurological treatment and medications not available in the Strip to the extent her condition requires. The injury alone was not the only burden on Reem's small body; the harsh humanitarian conditions in the Strip, days of hunger and extreme heat, increased her suffering. During periods of intense hunger, Reem would bite her hand, a behavior often linked to her inability to express her needs, along with the tension and distress she has experienced since her injury, which led to the bones of her hand becoming visible. The family would try to calm her and gently move her hand away from her mouth and provide whatever food was available, before this behavior decreased as food availability relatively improved. As for the heat, it was another chapter of her suffering; her mother recounts: "We moved the tent to the seashore on extremely hot days, hoping to get some air and ease the weather's impact on my child as she needs continuous care and rest." Reem's mother says her psychological state is difficult and fear never leaves her, while the family constantly tries to ease her burden, encourage her, and make her feel she is not alone. But what hurts her mother most is her daughter's repeated question about walking and playing: "I want to walk" in moments she finds no answer for. She added in a tone full of oppression: "Every day my heart breaks, I see my child who used to walk, and today her words defeat me: I want to walk and play and sit up, and I can't do anything." Reem, who was a little girl dreaming of playing and moving, now needs help with the simplest details of her daily life, while concern for her condition grows as the difficult health and humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip continues. According to her mother, Reem received a referral for treatment outside the Strip, but the family has been waiting for her travel since then, amid appeals to expedite her departure procedures before her condition worsens. Her mother concludes her plea: "The situation is very difficult. The doctors said she needs treatment abroad, and I ask everyone who can save her to help her and lend her a hand as soon as possible." All Reem wants now, as she tells her family, is to regain something of her childhood; to stand on her feet, walk, and play again.