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When she boarded the Emirati flight, Esmat Abu Aqlan looked pale and exhausted after 10 weeks of relentless war in Gaza, but said she was happy that her husband, a prostate cancer patient, would receive the urgent treatment he needed in the UAE.
She had only learnt that she and her husband would go to Abu Dhabi the night before. They immediately borrowed winter clothes from their relatives and prepared a small bag to carry their essential items: documents and a sandwich that their daughter had made.
“I had to borrow this from my in-laws,” she said of her fluffy blue jacket. “We left our house while the weather was hot. We don’t have winter clothes.”
She was referring to how they had to evacuate their home due to Israeli shelling and move to what they hoped was a safer place.
Ms Abu Aqlan and her husband were part of a group of sick and injured Gazans and their relatives flown out of Al Arish to get treatment in the UAE, which has conducted six flights so far with the aim of flying out 1,000 cancer and 1,000 paediatric patients.
In Abu Dhabi, a sense of relief washed over the more than 100 Gazans as they landed at the capital's international airport on Tuesday, bringing them closer to much-needed medical treatment after travelling for nearly a day.
They were seen hugging members of various teams from the UAE government who helped carry their belongings and their children on to buses that would take them to a place of safety and comfort.
The flight from Egypt's Al Arish military airport had to stop over in Cairo for transit, where an Etihad Airways crew on board was swapped out.
About 20,000 Gazans have been killed since the war with Israel began on October 7. The medical sector has been almost completely destroyed.
During transit, Ms Abu Aqlan's husband slouched over, having difficulty finding comfortable seating positions. He kept saying: “I'm tired.”
He and his wife had come from Nuseirat in Gaza, where they had resided with relatives after being displaced “nearly 10 times”, Ms Abu Aqlan explained, from their home in Gaza city.
“We took a risk coming from Nuseirat to Rafah because the road was closed due Israeli shelling,” she told The National aboard the flight from Cairo to Abu Dhabi.
“We had only learnt that our names were on the list of people approved for evacuation the night before.”
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Medical staff help injured people and cancer patients from Gaza board the UAE-bound Etihad aircraft at Al Arish airport in Egypt. All photos: Pawan Singh / The National -
These patients will receive treatment in the UAE -
This is the sixth flight organised by the UAE to fly out Palestinian patients for medical treatment -
Injured Palestinians and cancer patients arrive at Abu Dhabi International Airport -
Medical staff help a Palestinian patient into an ambulance -
Staff at the airport helped to carry belongings and children to buses -
More than 100 Gazans landed in the UAE capital, where they will receive much-needed medical treatment -
UAE officials said more flights were planned -
A woman disembarks the flight with a child -
Medical staff ferry sick and injured Palestinians to waiting transport -
A paediatric patient waves as she begins her journey to a medical facility -
A Palestinian patient prepares to board an ambulance -
Staff assist a woman as she leaves the plane -
Ambulances bring injured Palestinians and cancer patients from Gaza to Al Arish airport in Egypt -
The patients were flown to the UAE on an Etihad aircraft for treatment -
Medical staff carry the patients on to the plane -
More than 100 cancer patients and wounded Palestinians boarded the plane -
The UAE has committed to providing free medical care for 1,000 injured children and another 1,000 Palestinians with cancer -
Doctors and nurses from hospitals in the Emirates volunteered to be part of the operation -
The Etihad plane was due to land in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday morning -
The Etihad plane had 10 stretchers suspended over seats -
Patients will be brought for treatment at hospitals in Abu Dhabi, including Sheikh Shakhbout Medical City -
The UAE has conducted six flights so far to bring sick and injured Gazans out of Al Arish -
The level of preparation on the sixth flight appeared to be a lot higher than in previous ones -
Flight medical commander Joe Coughlan, right, briefs medical staff before landing at Al Arish airport in Egypt -
Patients suspected of having infections are clearly marked using two wristbands, while people who need wheelchair assistance are placed in the emergency exit aisle -
At the hangar in Al Arish, the patients were tended to by a team of about 40 people from different UAE government departments
She was worried – crying and shouting answers to questions doctors asked her as they tended to her husband. By then, he had been acting erratic, seeming more agitated than usual.
He had low sodium levels, was dehydrated and “just needed to sleep”, one doctor told The National.
Although happy her husband will receive the attention he needs in the UAE, Ms Abu Aqlan misses her three children at home.
She used a passenger’s phone aboard the flight to send them a message and tell them that she is OK.
“Hanin how are you; did you give your sister a hug?” she asked her daughter tearfully via audio message.
This is one of many more flights to come, said Maha Barakat, Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs for Health.
“Today on board we have about 130 passengers, most of whom are patients. We have children with injuries from the war, conditions that couldn’t be treated any more and adults with cancer. This is part of the UAE President’s pledge to bring in 1,000 children and 1,000 patients with cancer,” she told The National on the plane en route to Abu Dhabi.
“When they come to the UAE, they’re looked after in our hospitals in Abu Dhabi and we follow them up very regularly and visit them regularly. There really was no treatment for many of the conditions we’re seeing today and many of them would’ve died had they not come to seek treatment elsewhere.
“We’re hoping to have more flights in the coming days and weeks.”
Laila Abdelrahman is hoping for a new lease on life in the UAE for her 14-year-old amputee son, but said she does not know if she will see her children when she returns.
“I left a daughter, slightly older than my son Malik, 14, and a younger child. I left them with their 84-year-old father. They’re in a school, seeking refuge,” she said on board the plane.
“I don’t know whether they’ll still be alive when I return.”
Malik’s left arm had to be amputated after he was injured in an air strike on Al Nuseirat mall, where he was sheltering with his mother last month.
Ms Abdelrahman says she has never seen anything like this war before, despite living through several.
“They’re burying people alive. People are delirious.”
Originally a resident of the north, Ms Abdelrahman and her family were displaced six times.
She arrived at Rafah border crossing at 6am on Monday and boarded the plane to Abu Dhabi 18 hours later.
Despite near constant deprivation, she says there is not one single thing she has been craving.
“We’ve been deprived of so much, even a ripe tomato is a blessing.”
