'You open your eyes under rubble': Gazans on UAE's floating hospital grieve their losses

Malak Khalid was buried under rubble after an Israeli air strike that killed her parents

Doctors from Gaza on the UAE floating field hospital docked off the coast of Al Arish, in Egypt. All photos: Chris Whiteoak / The National

The UAE's floating field hospital is a 100-bed repurposed vessel

A doctor from Gaza on the UAE floating field hospital

Doctors have treated hundreds of patients from Gaza on the UAE floating field hospital

Dr Hamd Al Ahmad with a young patient

The floating hospital was established to ease the strain placed by the continuing war on Gaza's overwhelmed health centres

A doctor on the UAE floating field hospital

Doctors and patients from Gaza on the UAE floating field hospital

Patient Adnan Shaheen on the UAE floating field hospital

Doctors and patients from Gaza on the UAE floating field hospital

Patients from Gaza on the UAE floating field hospital

A young Palestinian in an ambulance on the floating field hospital

A doctor from Gaza on the UAE floating field hospital

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A young Palestinian receiving care aboard the UAE's floating hospital in Egypt has described the horror of being buried under rubble for nearly an hour after an Israeli air attack killed several of her relatives.

Malak Khalid, 20, said she and her two younger brothers were left "without a family or house", following the deadly attack on their Gaza home in April.

She bears the emotional and physical scars of a conflict in which more than 38,000 Palestinians have died and more than 87,000 have been wounded.

Ms Khalid recalls a drone flying over their building in Nuseirat getting louder but she does not remember the explosion that followed.

“The memory of the aftermath is printed in my brain. You don’t feel the strike itself you just open your eyes under the rubble,” Ms Khalid told The National.

She immediately reached out for her relatives while trapped by the debris.

“My father, mother and brothers were killed in the attack. It was only me and other two younger brothers who survived. They are my only family now. We became orphans without a house or family."

The hospital's medical team said about 2,400 Palestinians have received care on board the 100-bed vessel, docked off the coast of the city of Al Arish, since it opened in February.

It was established to ease the strain placed on Gaza's overwhelmed health centres, which have also come under heavy bombardment during the nine-month war with Israel.

Surgeons aboard the UAE's floating hospital at Al Arish transplanted nerves to restore feeling and movement to Malak Khalid's hand. Chris Whiteoak / The National

Ms Khalid showed The National pictures of her family members, including her two surviving brothers.

“My brother Abdullah, five, was in bad condition in the ICU. My brother Ahmad has a fracture in his skull.”

She suffered injuries to both her hands and her face, leaving her with a scar.

Dr Hamed Al Ahmad, an Emirati oral and maxillofacial surgeon at the makeshift hospital, said Ms Khalid had received treatment for nearly three months but was now close to being discharged.

“Malak has undergone multiple surgeries to the hands and her face. We conducted a nerve transplant in her hands with the neurosurgeon who returned to the UAE," he said.

"We took a nerve from her lower limb and put it in her left hand. She is moving her hands now.

“I did cosmetic surgery in her face, removed some shrapnel from her face and upper lip. She is healing now she might be discharged after 15 days when she finishes her treatment follow-up and physiotherapy of her hand.”

Dr Hamed Al Ahmad with a young patient on the floating hospital. Chris Whiteoak / The National

While The National was speaking with Ms Khalid, she was informed that her aunt’s house was destroyed in an Israeli air strike on Wednesday.

“It was a quick call where I was told that some members of my aunt’s family were killed but the internet [reception] didn’t allow us to [find out] further details,” she said.

It served to highlight the relentless loss of life in a war where a peaceful solution still seems far away.

02:08

Woman loses 19 relatives in missile attack

Kefah Zaid Hassan lost 19 family members in an air strike that destroyed their home.

Only she, her two daughters and 18-year-old sister survived the attack on February 23.

She was seeking shelter with her husband, parents and brothers and sisters who had gathered together since the war began in October.

Kefah Zaid Hassan and her two daughters survived an Israeli strike that killed 19 of their loved ones. Chris Whiteoak / The National

“A missile destroyed the house. Everyone died. I lost 19 family members on that night,” she said.

Ms Hassan and her two daughters have received treatment at the hospital.

“I had burns in my face and body as well as a fragment-caused injury near my eye," she said.

"My right arm was broken. The medical team here were supporting us and provided us with everything we need. Words can’t describe my thanks to them and to the UAE.”

She said that she is recovering but she still needs physiotherapy and nerve surgery.

Ms Hassan said her 11-year-old daughter, Lyan, had to later recount the horrors of the air raid to her.

“I was unconscious and didn’t know what happened. I woke up in hospital inside Gaza," she said.

"My daughter Lyan, who suffered injuries in her head and face, was the only person awake after the attack. She told me what happened from the time the missile hit our home until we reached the hospital.

"I had four daughters but two of them died.”

Lyan remembers their house collapsing around them.

“I remember everything. I was saved from under the rubble,” Lyan said.

Ms Hassan's other daughter, Basmallah, 10, stood beside her mother with a smile during The National's visit, after doctors managed to treat her facial injury.

Dr Al Ahmad said the family came to the floating hospital directly after crossing the Rafah border.

He said Basmallah had surgery to remove the shrapnel lodged in her face and behind her ears.

“She will look beautiful again as she was before the attack,” he said.