Mohammed Rajab Mqat could not grasp that the crew on the evacuation flight from the Gaza Strip was offering him an entire roast beef sandwich – not one to be split with his four children travelling with him.
When each was given a tray with a sandwich, fruit, orange juice and water, the 37-year-old Palestinian father asked: “Wait, is this for each of us?”
After nearly two years of war in Gaza, Mqat said his weight had dwindled from more than 109kg to 75kg.
“Famine slaughtered us,” he said as they headed last month to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to get medical treatment for his 10-year-old son, who was hurt in an air strike in March.
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The medical evacuation flight organised by the UAE provided a route to safety for 155 Palestinians.
Their injuries and hunger were a visceral reminder of the continuing Israeli bombardment and the deepening humanitarian crisis in a war that has killed tens of thousands of people in Gaza. It’s a situation made more acute by the Israeli military’s ground offensive in Gaza City.
Since November 2023, shortly after the war began, the UAE has operated 27 such flights from Gaza, ferrying 2,904 patients and family members to a government complex in Abu Dhabi, according to the Emirati foreign ministry. Evacuations are in conjunction with the World Health Organisation (WHO).
When asked how long the evacuees could stay in Abu Dhabi, the Emirati government said in a statement, “These families must be able to return to their homes once their treatment is complete” and “when conditions permit them to do so in safety and dignity”.
About 16,000 people in Gaza need medical evacuation, according to a WHO estimate.
As the war drags on, the demand has grown, along with the challenges of treating the sick and wounded, aid officials and medical workers say.
[ Israeli tanks continue push towards heart of Gaza CityOpens in new window ]
“From the very first flight, we saw objective evidence of malnutrition: iron deficiency in blood tests, children who were visibly hungry and some who ran up to food like they had never seen it before,” Dr Maha Barakat, assistant health minister at the Emirati foreign ministry, said in an interview. “Starvation is a medical condition we thought the world had stopped needing to treat.”
In August, a panel of international experts reported that parts of Gaza were experiencing an “entirely man-made” famine, which a top United Nations humanitarian official said was caused by Israel’s “systematic obstruction” of aid. Israel imposed a blockade from March to May, when some aid distribution resumed under a much-criticised, Israeli-backed system that bypassed the United Nations.
The office of Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu has called the report “an outright lie”.
Israeli officials have said they let enough food into Gaza but argue that it was stolen or that aid agencies are struggling to distribute it properly. The United Nations and other aid groups say that Israel frequently denies or delays requests to pick up supplies waiting at the border and move them into Gaza safely, among other challenges.
The WHO said that, to be selected for evacuation, a patient must have been referred by a doctor in Gaza for treatment that is unavailable locally. It also said that Gaza’s health ministry then vets cases and, if approved, sends them to the WHO, which finds a host country and secures clearance from the Israeli authorities for the patients to leave.
The journey to Abu Dhabi was arduous for the evacuees in August: They entered Israel at the Kerem Shalom border crossing, in southern Gaza, and were then driven to Eilat in southern Israel before boarding the three-hour evacuation flight.
The trip had exhausted Asma al-Ladawi, who sat on the plane clutching her belly, barely noticeable even at eight months pregnant, with her daughter and son by her side.
Al-Ladawi said that a blast in December 2023 had landed close to their tent at a school in northern Gaza, throwing her son, Ahmad (12), into the air and breaking both his legs. The Israeli military asked for more information about the blast but did not immediately comment.
After Ahmad’s initial treatment, his mother said, she took him from one hospital to another, seeking advanced care. But Gaza’s medical system has been devastated by Israel’s military campaign. By the time he was evacuated, Ahmad was unable to walk unassisted.
The war’s toll on children in Gaza has been immense.
The ordeal of Iyad al-Masri (6) began in April when he picked up unexploded ordnance, said his mother, Shireen al-Masri. The resulting blast embedded shrapnel in his abdomen, severed two of his toes and shredded his legs.
Iyad’s legs were pinned with bolts, and he has relied on a wheeled mobility aid to walk. A bright boy who used to be gregarious, Iyad has become withdrawn, al-Masri said.
Al-Masri said Iyad was injured during a period of intense food shortages. The prospect of life in the UAE, and a full plate of food, felt like a miracle, she said.
On the flight, Mqat and other parents said they were grateful to be safe but were tormented by guilt and worry for loved ones left behind.
Mqat said that his wife was still trapped in the destroyed landscape of northern Gaza along with his mother and three eldest daughters.
“Half of me is here and half of me is there,” Mqat said, his voice breaking into a sob. “Imagine yourself in my place.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
