Beshara | The National

Welcome to The National's weekly newsletter Beshara, where we share the most positive stories of the week.

Palestinians walk past a sand sculpture on the beach in Gaza city marking the new year. AFP

It's the first edition of Beshara in 2026, which puts pressure on me to set the tone and start strong – especially after some time away. But I have to be honest, the year hasn’t had the smoothest start for me.

We often step into a new year carrying the same baggage, some of it too heavy to put down. I have experienced profound personal loss and no turning of the calendar can erase that.

Around the world, the year has begun with troubling headlines – more unrest and more uncertainty. And yet, it’s precisely during moments like these that Beshara matters most. To offer light when it gets too dark, to make space for the good, to give a voice to the hopeful and humane, and to tell the stories that remind us of our shared humanity.

The first place we go for this today is Gaza, where people who have lived through the unthinkable teach us valuable lessons about gratitude. I am referring to people like Yumna Al Mahlawi, whose hand was shattered by a piece of shrapnel from an Israeli strike in June. Doctors initially thought amputation was inevitable, she told The National.

"The idea destroyed me,” Ms Al Mahlawi, 24, said. “The greatest gift of 2025 was keeping my hand."

For Salah Al Haw, the new year feels unreal because, until two months ago, he was certain he would never live to see it as a free man. The 23-year-old spent 18 months in an Israeli prison. “I thought my life was over. The jailers told us we would never see the sun or freedom again."

Then his name appeared on the list of Palestinian detainees to be released under the ceasefire deal. “I never imagined I would live to see a new year in Gaza," he added. "I hope it will be a year of goodness for me and for Gaza, that God compensates us for everything we lost.”

And that is my wish for you. For 2026 to be a year of joy, of goodness and compensation for any hardships you've been through.

RAK Hospital welcomes the first baby of 2026, a girl named Shamma, born at 6.28am

We spoke to families across the UAE who celebrated an extra special start to the new year as they welcomed their newborns.

Emirati Saif Al Rumaithi welcomed his first son on the stroke of midnight. He named him after his father, Saeed. “We chose the name Saeed because we hope our baby will always be happy and bring joy to our family in the new year,” his mother said.

For Sufyan Ali and Saima Naz, starting a family has not always been smooth sailing. Ms Naz had complications with her pregnancy, so she was delighted to give birth to a healthy daughter in the early hours of the new year.

Meanwhile, at Ras Al Khaimah Hospital, Shamma was the first child to proud Emirati parents. “Beginning the year with the birth of a healthy child is truly a blessing and we wish the parents and their little one good health, happiness and a bright future ahead," the family's doctor said.

- Assistant features editor Evelyn Lau on the rigidity of New Year's resolutions and how they rarely celebrate who we are as being enough.

Medcare Women and Children Hospital has administered Itvisma to three-year-old Hulus, from Turkey. Photo: AETOSWire

A Dubai hospital has delivered a pioneering gene therapy treatment to a three-year-old boy with spinal muscular atrophy, in what has been hailed as a “defining moment”.

Doctors at Medcare Women and Children Hospital administered the single-dose drug Itvisma to Hulus, a patient from Turkey. “This is a defining moment for SMA care in the region,” said Dr Shanila Laiju, group chief executive of Medcare Hospitals and Medical Centres.

“Families whose children were previously ineligible for gene therapy now have access to a revolutionary treatment that can significantly improve outcomes."

The drug, developed by Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis, received accelerated approval by the UAE on November 25 after clinical trials demonstrated sustained improvements in patients' motor abilities. Itvisma is a new version of Novartis' existing treatment, Zolgensma, which was only available to children under the age of two.