Turkey to help disabled Palestinian children in Gaza

By Duygu Yener and Yesim Sert Karaarslan
ANKARA (AA) – Turkey will help improve conditions of three disabled Palestinian children in Gaza Strip, which is hit by a decade-long Israeli blockade, Turkish health minister told Anadolu Agency.
A photo of Palestinian child, who was born with a congenital amputation, gained attention of Turkish Health Minister Ahmet Demircan, who voted the picture for Anadolu Agency’s Photo of the Year Award.
The seven-year-old Mahmud can be seen swinging on a makeshift swing with a smiley face despite lack of sufficient health treatment in his country.
After learning the stories of Mahmud and his two other disabled brothers — 9-year-old Secud and 9-month-old Enes — Demircan gave instructions to ministry officials to reach out to the children.
“Let's help these children for their treatment,” the Turkish health minister said.
Demircan also said Turkey has built a hospital in Gaza and it would open soon. “We might go to Gaza in the coming months. We would definitely want to reach these disabled brothers,” he said.
Due to an Israeli blockade, the Gaza Strip’s roughly two million inhabitants have come to rely on a sophisticated network of cross-border tunnels to import basic commodities — including food, fuel, and medicine.
Turkey’s state-run aid agency has been providing humanitarian assistance to Palestine for the last 10 years.
The Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) has carried out 400 projects across Gaza, Jerusalem and the West Bank since 2005, when it launched an office in Palestine.