Medical evacuation Jana, eight, on brink of death in wait for Israel to approve her transfer from Gaza

Jana, eight, on brink of death in wait for Israel to approve her transfer from Gaza

- Malak A Tantesh Gaza William Christou Beirut

In recent photos, Jana Ayyad is curled up in a ball, her face covered with her hands. Sometimes the emaciated eight-year-old sobs, crying out for her father, who has been marooned outside Gaza since the war started 23 months ago.

Jana is on the brink of death. Her only hope is a medical evacuation from Gaza so that she can receive treatment abroad.

Her health crisis started with severe malnutrition and has since led to complications such as severe acidosis - where body fluids contain too much acid because the kidneys and lungs can't keep the body's pH in balance, and which doctors say they don't have the supplies to treat. Over the last month, her body has begun to swell, a hallmark of both malnutrition and acidosis.

"The doctor told me bluntly: 'Your daughter's condition is bad; at any moment you could lose her,' said Nesma Ayyad, Jana's mother. Two months ago, Jana's two-and-a-half-year-old sister, Joury, was taken to hospital after suddenly developing a sickness where her skin peeled and bled. Within a month she had died. Ayyad fears that without urgent action, Jana will suffer the same fate.

Israel controls who enters and leaves Gaza, and people who need medical treatment abroad must have their exit approved by Cogat, the Israeli military agency in charge of humanitarian affairs for Palestinians. Palestinians must pass a security check by Israel and also locate a country willing to take them in.