BUTLER, Ohio — Their bodies are maimed or burned. Their childhoods have been shattered. And their futures are filled with uncertainty as war rages in Gaza.
But for one week, three dozen wounded Palestinian children and members of their families have found a respite from the fighting at a summer camp in Mohican State Park, just an hour north of Columbus.
Thanks to HEAL Palestine, a nonprofit group that aids the youngest victims of the Gaza war, children like 7-year-old Qamar Alkordi, who uses two-hand crutches to walk, have been able to play in a safe place with other wounded children and feel less alone.
Huda Alkordi and her daughter Qamar.NBC News
“There’s other kids, they have the prosthetic, they are walking, and this is, like, it makes me happy to see this,” her mother, Huda Alkordi, said about the sleepaway camp, where Qamar played in an inflatable pool and sprayed other kids with water.
“And I really hope that Qamar, one day, she gonna walk, inshallah [God willing].”
Qamar Alkordi with her brother.
HEAL runs field hospitals and food kitchens in Gaza and runs educational programs for children who haven’t been inside a school since Israel Defense Forces invaded the crowded Palestinian territory after the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel, in which 1,200 people were killed and 250 were taken hostage.
“A lot of them are facing a future of near illiteracy,” said a HEAL co-founder, Dr. Zeena Salman, referring to how schools have largely ceased functioning in the shattered enclave.
In the 19-plus months since Israel began bombing Gaza and with most of its 2 million residents forced from their homes, Gaza has become an especially dangerous place for children.
About 1,309 children…