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BBC News reported that witnesses described an Israeli helicopter strike hitting the tent where Raseel al-Balawi and her family had taken shelter in the al-Mawasi displacement camp in late July. The six-year-old has since undergone more than 20 operations as infections have repeatedly set in within her wounds, necessitating frequent further interventions to manage complications. Israel’s military told the broadcaster it holds no record of the specific attack yet regrets any harm caused to civilians.
The BBC Eye Investigations team followed al-Balawi’s case through the summer as fragile ceasefire efforts collapsed and operations resumed across parts of Gaza. Local physicians have contended with acute shortages of antibiotics, sterile equipment and clean water, conditions that have amplified infection risks for trauma patients. The coverage forms part of a wider BBC World Service project examining how children in the enclave are managing after extensive damage to essential infrastructure.
A New York Times compilation of accounts from more than 50 international medical personnel who worked in Gaza found that 100 percent of surgical patients treated by some doctors developed infections, often linked to rubble-laden wounds and inadequate sanitation. The World Health Organization has documented how the territory’s health system, operating at a fraction of prior capacity, has seen preventable secondary infections become commonplace among the wounded. According to data cited in The New Yorker, external fixation procedures for fractures have carried infection rates as high as 80 percent in Gaza hospitals lacking proper irrigation fluids.
Similar patterns have appeared in other documented child cases, including that of 13-year-old Mazyouna Damoo whose face was partially destroyed in a June 2024 missile strike on Nuseirat camp, The Guardian reported. Damoo endured months of worsening infections and shrapnel pain before securing evacuation to the United States for multiple reconstructive operations at El Paso Children’s Hospital. ABC News has separately chronicled the case of 18-year-old Sara Bsaiso, who suffered burns across more than 60 percent of her body in a December 2023 strike and has required at least 20 surgeries to address grafting and infection issues.
United Nations agencies have determined that Gaza now registers the world’s highest per-capita rate of child amputees, with many survivors facing repeated procedures as they grow, according to a Democracy Now segment on a related documentary. UNICEF earlier placed the number of children who had lost limbs at around 1,000 within the conflict’s first two months alone, a figure that has since risen. Medical volunteers have noted that malnutrition, widespread across the territory, further slows healing and elevates infection susceptibility in pediatric trauma patients.
As of early September, al-Balawi’s treatment continued under constrained conditions while international organizations have pressed for expanded medical evacuations to handle complex cases that exceed local resources. A study of 74 facial soft-tissue injuries at one Gaza hospital, led by Palestinian physicians and referenced in Al Araby reporting, found that 46 percent involved children under 16, with explosions causing the majority. Such statistics underscore the long-term rehabilitative demands confronting Gaza’s youngest casualties.
