The children, who were injured or suffered malnutrition, were greeted at Kennedy Airport with toys and balloons. “These are their first memories here,” one supporter said.
The four children had survived horrors in Gaza.
But on Sunday morning, they reached the end of an arduous journey out of the conflict zone and into American hospitals to receive urgent medical care. They flew from Cairo to Kennedy Airport, where they were greeted with much fanfare by a crowd of about 50 people carrying plush toys, flowers and bobbing balloons.
Among the children was Fadi Alzant, 6, a gaunt boy with pale skin and strawberry blond hair who appeared dazed as the crowd rushed around his wheelchair. An airport employee grew agitated and shouted at people to disperse and to put away their cameras.
Fadi, who has cystic fibrosis and weighs about 25 pounds, is suffering from severe malnourishment caused by famine, according to the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund, which coordinated the children’s journeys with assistance from the World Health Organization.
He will be treated at Cohen Children’s Medical Center in Queens. Paramedics lifted the tiny, wide-eyed child out of his wheelchair and onto a gurney that dwarfed him even further. Then, they carried him to an ambulance bound for the hospital.
“We love you!” said a woman in the crowd, who was dabbing her eyes.
“Let’s not overwhelm them, guys,” someone else said. “Did they get water?”
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Source: Elections - nytimes.com
