A Turkish pediatric surgeon who spent 65 days working in Gaza through the World Health Organization (WHO) said Palestinian children continue to show resilience and hope despite living under Israeli attacks and amid widespread destruction.
Dr. Ibrahim Uygun, head of the Department of Pediatric Surgery at Kutahya Health Sciences University, traveled to Gaza last year as a volunteer doctor through the WHO and performed surgeries at hospitals across the region.
Uygun described witnessing the conditions faced by children during his assignment, including children wounded, killed and left paralyzed in airstrikes.
He said he visited hospitals in both northern and southern Gaza, participated in numerous operations and witnessed extensive destruction in the streets, saying he found it difficult to put the humanitarian tragedy in Gaza into words.
Despite the conditions, he said, children continue to find ways to play and experience moments of joy.
“The children of Gaza are truly very steadfast, very patient and deeply religious people,” Uygun said. “They continue their lives without being afraid in any way of the planes or bombs.”
He said he saw children playing soccer with small balls or tin cans found among the ruins, as well as children running through the streets, playing football and flying kites despite aircraft and drones overhead.
Uygun said images of children flying kites in marketplaces and along Gaza’s shores had left a deep impression on him.
Uygun said kites carry a broader meaning, describing them as a universal symbol of freedom, hope and eternity.
“Now the genocidal forces say, ‘The kites threaten our security,’” he said. “You also know that a kite universally represents freedom.”
Uygun said the Israeli occupying forces would not tolerate people in Gaza, including children, playing joyfully, holding weddings or flying kites, arguing that they wanted people to live in constant fear and in shelters.
“They may shoot down the children’s kites, but they can never shoot down the children’s love of life and freedom,” Uygun said.
“The children of Gaza are maintaining their faith in the future. These children who fly kites today will eventually fly drones and armed unmanned aerial vehicles, and tomorrow they will liberate their own land and Al-Aqsa Mosque,” he added.
