A heroic British aid worker nicknamed the “Angel of Mostar” has helped evacuate nine sick and seriously injured children from war-torn Gaza by private jet.
Sally Becker spoke of her “relief” at saving the children, including 3-year-old double amputee Ahmed Shabbat, after the plane landed in Trieste, Italy, yesterday.
And incredible footage showed how another young man, Yousef Hatab, who lost his lower leg when a missile hit his apartment building, waved as he was wheeled to safety.
Sally said of the mercy mission, which is the first privately funded airlift of children from the war-torn region: “I just hope other countries open their doors to help more children who urgently need specialized treatment.”
The aid worker, who received her nickname after saving hundreds of children in the Bosnian war, spent months planning the mercy mission with her partners Gaza Kinder Relief and Project Pure Hope.
Sally Becker (pictured) spoke of her “relief” at saving the children, including double amputee Ahmed Shabat, 3, after the plane landed in Trieste, Italy, yesterday.
Yousef Hatab, left, who lost his leg, was also on board the private plane flying to Italy.
Joudi, who suffers from thalassemia and requires blood transfusions, was among nine children on the plane leaving Egypt.
And after first negotiating with Palestinian and Israeli authorities to bring the children to Egypt, he reunited them with a team of doctors at a military base in Cairo.
The children and their mothers were then flown to Italy, where they were loaded into a fleet of ambulances and taken to Burlo Garofolo Children’s Hospital around 1am.
Sally said: “I was very relieved when we finally landed as it seemed very unlikely at times.” Our colleagues at Gaza Kinder Relief have spent months establishing connections with the various authorities in Egypt.
“And the Italian embassy has been incredible, staying open for several hours well into the afternoon to issue visas in time for the medevac flight.”
‘I had been watching all the images on TV and normally I would go and help, but Gaza is a different story. It’s basically blocked everywhere. I can’t just cross the border and evacuate the children myself.
Sally said she felt comforted that she was finally able to give little Ahmad the treatment he needed and was amazed by the resilience of the children she had helped.
She said of his evacuation: “It was fantastic because that poor boy suffered quite a bit.” Now, no doubt, he will be very spoiled.
‘Most of their luggage was full of toys they had been given in Egypt and the plane was full of gifts from the Refugee Foundation.
‘But what is most surprising is their resilience. She expected them to be severely traumatized and instead they accept what happened to them.”
Sally, who runs the British charity Save A Child, received referrals of injured children from the Gaza Kinder Relief agency, which has helped dozens of children receive medical treatment.
But Sally also approached humanitarian groups Project Pure Hope and Direct Relief to fund a private charter plane so specialists could help some of the children in Europe.
She revealed that she feared the mission could fall apart at the last minute due to problems with paperwork and logistics.
She said: ‘It wasn’t until 2am on Monday that we finally got clearance for the kids to fly, and we were flying at 9am; There were only a few hours to spare.
Children being unloaded from ambulances after arriving in Trieste, Italy, on April 30, 2024.
Ahmad Shabat, who lost most of his family and both members in the bombings in Gaza at the beginning of the war, was aboard the mercy flight.
Children and their travel companions waiting to board a flight to Italy from Cairo, Egypt, April 29, 2024
“Gaza Kinder Relief had to move them all in the last few days to Cairo and one girl, Julia, only crossed the Gaza border the night before, so we didn’t even know if they would arrive in time.”
Sally’s plane landed Monday with three doctors and a nurse on board at a military base in Egypt, where sick and injured children were waiting with their mothers and siblings.
Five suffered explosive injuries and amputations, while the remaining four suffered from a variety of illnesses, including long-term congenital conditions.
Sally said of her encounter: ‘When we get these referrals directly from the hospitals, I can see the injuries when they first occur and it’s just horrendous.
“Of course, it’s different now because several weeks or months later their wounds have healed to some extent and they need revision surgeries so they can have prosthetics fitted.”
‘But it’s like the photos have come to life. Suddenly, this shocking image of a child who could be any of the thousands of children who were injured takes me by the hand.’
The children later disembarked around 1 a.m. Tuesday at Trieste airport, where local authorities had prepared emergency vehicles for them.
But Sally recalled the moment when 14-year-old Kamal, who had lost a leg just below the groin, refused to be taken off the plane and walked down the stairs himself.
She said: ‘They wanted him to be on a stretcher or in a wheelchair, and he flatly refused. He walked on crutches no matter what.
“He will receive, like all of them, advanced prosthetics made especially for them in Bologna once his wounds are sufficiently healed.”
Despite the comfort of knowing she had helped these children, Sally said it was a sad fact of modern conflict that so many civilians were caught in the line of fire.
She said: “If there must be war, then I wish it were like not so long ago, when armies fought their battles in some remote field and women and children stayed safe at home.”
“Instead, it is women and children who suffer the most.”
