15-year-old Palestinian amputee arrives in Bay Area to get prosthetics

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — A 15-year-old boy from Gaza landed at San Francisco International Airport on Tuesday to receive new prosthetics after doctors amputated his legs after an airstrike.

“I’m very happy and excited,” Ahmed said through an interpreter. “I really want to thank everyone for the support.”

One of the doctors who treated him was Dr. Mohammed Subeh, who works at El Camino Hospital in the South Bay. He recently returned from treating patients in Gaza and says Ahmed’s story touched him.

“When he arrived at our field hospital, he came in with mutilated lower extremities — his legs were torn,” Dr. Subeh said. “He was bleeding profusely. He lost half of his body blood volume, was in hemorrhagic shock, and was unconscious intermittently.”

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Ahmed will soon be treated at Shriners Children’s Hospital in Sacramento, where he will be fitted with prosthetics and taught how to use them. Dr. Subeh says it was a miracle that Ahmed survived.

“Anyone who is familiar with double amputations, most people don’t survive, even in the best of circumstances,” Dr. Subeh said. “When I saw Ahmed wake up 72 hours later and smile at me, that in itself was a miracle.”

An airstrike hit a farm where Ahmed, his brother and a friend were. His brother was also injured and his friend died. Ahmed says the war has devastated the area.

“Gaza is completely decimated, it’s completely turned upside down,” Ahmed said. “There is no life left in Gaza.”

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According to Dr. Subeh, the situation is dire.

“All humanitarian aid is controlled by Israel,” he said. “We can’t even treat fever. Tylenol and other medicines like that are not allowed.”

He calls on world leaders to take action to stop this war.

“We need the international community to fight for what is right and that means holding leaders accountable,” he said. “To make sure we ask the right questions and use the right language, because the lives of children like Ahmed depend on it.”