As 15-year-old Majd al-Shaghnobi pulled into Heathrow Airport with a surgical mask covering his broken jaw, he couldn’t smile but his eyes told it all. Behind them was a tale of suffering, survival, and a long journey from devastated Gaza to an opportunity for repair in the UK.
Majd is the first Palestinian child wounded in the Israel-Gaza conflict to have war-related medical care in Britain. He was hurt in February 2023, attempting to access humanitarian assistance in Kuwaiti territory of northern Gaza. A shell from an Israeli tank detonated close by, maiming his jaw and leg. He was at that time assumed dead until he shifted his hand to indicate that he wasn’t.
Gaza doctors saved his life, but he lay in hospital for months connected by a tracheostomy tube. Last February, with the permission of Israel, he was evacuated to Egypt for more treatment. Now, as the result of the volunteer-run project Project Pure Hope, Majd has arrived in London to undergo reconstructive surgery at Great Ormond Street Hospital.
This UK-based project, funded entirely through private donations, aims to bring severely injured Gazan children to Britain for treatment. “The UK has world-class paediatric care, but we’ve lagged behind other nations like the US, Belgium, and Italy in supporting these children,” said Omar Din, co-founder of Project Pure Hope. The group has identified 30 more critically injured children waiting for help.
Majd’s operations will be conducted by Professor Noor ul Owase Jeelani, a top paediatric neurosurgeon. “We can’t undo everything, but we hope to give him back the ability to talk, eat, and communicate,” he said. “It could be a turning point in his life.
His visit comes after Prime Minister Keir Starmer recently vowed to airlift additional injured Palestinian children, but the British government has not yet explained how that operation will work.
Two others, Rama (13) and Ghena (5), arrived in the UK earlier this year on Project Pure Hope. Both had pre-existing medical problems undermined by Gaza’s ruined healthcare system. Today, having been operated on, they are recovering though their mothers are still haunted by relatives left in harm’s way there.
While Majd anticipates a new existence, his mind is with his brothers in Gaza. “I just want them to be safe,” he says.
For now, his journey is a glimpses of hope one child at a time.
