LONDON: A 15-year-old Palestinian has spoken of his happiness after being taken to the UK for medical treatment from Gaza. 

Majd Alshagnobi suffered severe injuries in February 2024 after an Israeli tank shell exploded near him, causing him to lose much of his face, including all of his jaw and teeth.

His mother Islam told Sky News: “When Majd first got to the hospital, they thought he was dead because of the severities of the injuries on his face and leg, but when he raised his arm, they realized he was still alive.

“All the operating rooms were busy, so they carried out the operation in the kitchen to save him.

“It was very difficult for him to breathe, and they had to feed him through tubes and syringes through his nose. He really suffered.”

He was greeted with flowers, gifts and banners by well-wishers when he, his mother and two of his sisters arrived at London’s Heathrow Airport.

“Thank God I have the opportunity to receive treatment here … That’s the reason I’ve come, to get treatment,” he told Sky.

“Since I arrived, I’ve felt so much happier. We’ve been greeted in such a nice way, with gifts and things to help us.”

His mother said: “Right now my family in Gaza live in tents. We’ve lost our home, we’ve lost our memories, we’ve lost our dreams. Nothing is left in Gaza.

“My two children who are still in Gaza with their father, every day I wake up in fear that they’ve been killed. Anything could happen to them in Gaza.”

He is the third Gazan child to be medically evacuated to the UK since the outbreak of the war in October 2023, with the assistance of the Project Pure Hope charity.

So far, more than 5,000 children have been taken from Gaza for medical treatment abroad, most of them heading to Egypt and the Gulf.

Omar Din, co-founder of Project Pure Hope, said the UK government needs to do more to help children in Gaza in need of medical assistance. 

Last week, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was “accelerating efforts” to bring more to the UK.

“We’re hoping following the prime minister’s announcement last Friday, that in the coming days we’ll have some concrete actions,” Din said. “The more we wait, the more children die who we could be saving.

“We’ve done this privately because there was no other option available, but myself and members of my founding team have done lots of this work for Ukrainian refugees previously. There’s no reason we shouldn’t be doing that for Gazans.”