Main events on May 26th
- A source says Hamas has agreed to a 60-day Gaza truce proposal by United States special envoy Steve Witkoff, which includes the exchange of 10 living Israeli captives for Palestinian prisoners.
- A US official denied the claim, saying what Witkoff saw from the Palestinian group is “disappointing and completely unacceptable”.
- Medical sources tell Al Jazeera that at least 81 people have been killed in Israeli attacks on various parts of Gaza since dawn.
- A widely condemned new aid system network in Gaza – backed by Israel and the US – involves military contractors and is starting operations.
- A WHO spokeswoman says medicines are essentially gone from Gaza’s hospitals as the badly wounded from Israeli attacks continue to pour in.
Mother only able to bury 7 of 9 children killed in Israeli strike
A British surgeon who operated on the only child to survive an Israeli strike on the home of Dr Alaa al-Najjar says that the boy, Adam, could have long-term challenges, even if he is able to overcome his physical injuries.
Nine out of al-Najjar’s 10 children were killed in the Israeli strike, and the family has been prevented from recovering the bodies of two from the rubble for burial.
“Poor little Adam and his mother, and his father, if he survives, had an unimaginable tragedy. And even if his physical injuries recover, we don’t know the extent of his traumatic brain injury, and we certainly don’t know the lasting mental health effects,” Dr Graeme Groom, who is working at Nasser Hospital in Gaza, told Al Jazeera.
“I think the population here in Palestine is extraordinarily resilient. But they don’t want to be known as resilient. They want the bombs to stop.”
‘Horror on horror’ for injured, malnourished Gaza children
A World Health Organization (WHO) representative has described how Gaza’s healthcare workers are dealing with wounded children who are also starving because of Israel’s 12-week blockade.
“The little ones are so emaciated, so malnourished. When you put a skin graft on their burns, it doesn’t take. It doesn’t heal because their immune systems are failing. So you have horror on horror, and the only answer is a ceasefire,” WHO spokeswoman Dr Margaret Harris said.
Infections are a serious problem with no antiseptics in supply, she added. “They basically don’t have things to clean the floor. No antibiotics. People don’t even have an immune system to fight the infection.”
Medical workers themselves are enduring exhaustion, lack of food, and mental health issues, said Harris.
“They’re suffering enormous mental trauma as they don’t know if the next person they see is one of their children, their brother, sister, neighbour. And they don’t know if the next moment is their last.”
