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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.
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.”
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.
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.
“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.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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How to apply for a drone permit
- Individuals must register on UAE Drone app or website using their UAE Pass
- Add all their personal details, including name, nationality, passport number, Emiratis ID, email and phone number
- Upload the training certificate from a centre accredited by the GCAA
- Submit their request
What are the regulations?
- Fly it within visual line of sight
- Never over populated areas
- Ensure maximum flying height of 400 feet (122 metres) above ground level is not crossed
- Users must avoid flying over restricted areas listed on the UAE Drone app
- Only fly the drone during the day, and never at night
- Should have a live feed of the drone flight
- Drones must weigh 5 kg or less
