Consider This from NPR - Never give up - one Gaza boy's story trying to survive in Gaza

Episode Date: March 16, 2025

Nearly 40, 000.That's the United Nations estimate for the number of children who have been killed or injured since Israel began its war with Hamas some 18 months ago. Last year, NPR profiled one injured Gazan boy, Nimer Sadi al-Nimer, who was shot five times by the Israeli military while he and his father were gathering food dropped by parachute outside Gaza City. This week, NPR Gaza producer Anas Baba tracked Nimer down to hear what the past year has been like. NPR correspondent Rob Schmitz speaks with Baba about what he learned after reconnecting with Nimer.For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.Email us at [e-mail] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Nearly 40,000. That's the United Nations estimate for the number of children who have been killed or injured since Israel began its war with Hamas some 18 months ago. I've seen a lot and I never compare conflicts but that's got to be the most nightmarish thing I've ever seen and the most one of the most inhumane and cruel things I'll ever see. That's pediatrician Seema Jilani in a voice memo she recorded while volunteering in an emergency room of a Gaza hospital in late 2023. She was talking about an 11 year old girl burned in an explosion. To look at her was an infinite waterfall of pain coming out from her. It's the stuff of nightmares. Shortly after Dr. Jelani left Gaza, she spoke to NPR's Ari Shapiro

about what it felt like to be a pediatrician in a war zone. You know, as a pediatrician, I didn't think I would be very useful because this is war and in war I would imagine and think that the victims or the war wounded or the killed would be predominantly young men. I can say that on one day in our code room and our code resuscitation room, out of our five patients, four were children.

And I'm very sad and deeply disturbed to say that I was very useful as a pediatrician in a war zone. And that should never be the case. Consider this. Gaza's children have been on the front lines of the war between Israel and Hamas. They have been killed, they have been injured, and their society has disintegrated under the weight of the conflict. Coming up, we hear from one young boy trying to recover from his wounds and find a way forward. From NPR, I'm Rob Schmitz. Support for this podcast and the following message From NPR, I'm Rob Schmitz. paying for your celebration of life in advance protects your loved ones and gives you the peace of mind you deserve. It's truly one of the best gifts you can give your family. Dignity Memorial will help you take care of every detail with professionalism and compassion.

For additional information, visit DignityMemorial.com. It's Consider This from NPR. A year ago, NPR Gaza producer Anas Baba and I reported a story about Nimr Saddi al-Nimr, an 11-year-old boy who had been shot five times by the Israeli military while he and his father were gathering food dropped by parachute outside Gaza City. Israeli soldiers took Nimr across the border into Israel where doctors performed two surgeries on him, saving his life before returning Nimr to a refugee camp in the southern Gaza city of Rafa.

That's where Anas Baba found Nimr a year ago. He was in a makeshift tent with his grandmother and uncle crying out in pain from his wounds, as you can hear in our report from April of 2024. No! Nimr is in pain. his wounds as you can hear in our report from April of 2024. Nimmer is in pain. It comes in waves. He's just had surgery on his stomach, back, legs, and hand to remove bullets. Each left long incision wounds lined with stitches and dried pus. Flies are drawn to them. When he takes too deep of a breath, his skinny frame convulses uncontrollably like an electric shock shooting through him.

He cries out for drugs that will numb the pain, but there are none here. After this story aired a year ago, we lost track of Nimr. We didn't know if he was alive or dead. But this past week, Anas Baba found Nimr, who is now 12, thankfully alive, but still suffering from his wounds and the toll of the war in Gaza. Anas joins me now from Gaza. Hello, Anas, how are you? Hello, Rob.

Anas, I want you to tell me about Nimr. Where is he now and how is he doing? Nimr now is in Al-Buraj barrage camps in Gaza at his grandmother's house and has finally reunited with his mother and his family. He's suffering. He wears a knee brace and drags his right leg unable to control it after nerve damage. He cannot stand for long periods, but he's alive and that's a miracle by itself. Yeah, that is a miracle given what Gaza has gone through in this past year. Here's a portion of your interview with Nimr about the lasting impact of his gunshot wounds a year ago.

And Nimr is telling you here that after he had a surgical procedure to deaden his nerve endings he still cannot run, he cannot play soccer, or even walk very far. He says he still has an electric shock feeling when he accidentally bumps his leg and that it often makes him cry. He's saying here that he mostly stays inside. When he does go outside, he says he sees his friends playing and running and he feels jealous. He says, I'm afraid they'll make fun of me for not being able to run. Honest, that is really sad to hear that.

I remember Nimr's favorite sport is soccer. I remember Lionel Messi is his hero. So this must be particularly tough on him. It's been a year since you last saw Nimr. And I understand that he's been in and out of makeshift field hospitals there in Gaza, constantly on the move, trying to evade Israeli missile attacks. How did he manage to survive the past year? So despite his injuries, Nimr endured the horrors of being trapped in a field hospital in Bafa. At that time, there was an ongoing Israeli

military operation. And that poor child, he witnessed an airstrike at the gate of the hospital itself. And he spent a month under the immense danger. And afterward, Nimran Zakaria, his uncle, finally managed to leave the field hospital. Okay. And they began the journey of displacement, which took them 12 times from a place to another. They moved to a house where an Israeli hostages extract mission took place, killing 250 person just to extract three Israeli hostages. And afterward they moved to a tent. And finally they returned to Gaza city

and settled at their own grandmother house. Honest, did you just say that he was at a house where a hostage extraction took place by the Israeli military? Yes, once he evacuated from Rafah, they rented a house in a not-so-right camp, okay, next to the extraction operation mission for the Israelis to extract three Israeli hostages. My gosh. And honest, we should mention here the Israeli Defense Forces maintained at the time that

less than 100 Gazans were killed in its hostage extraction operation. And he saw that and he managed to survive that. He managed to survive that with his uncle, yes. I'm reminded here that when you found Nimmer last year in that refugee tent in Rafa, he hadn't seen his parents since he was shot and nearly killed. Tell me about how he was able to be reunited with them. For such a child, returning to Gaza is a miracle. He needs someone to carry him all the way because there was no roads for cars at that

time. Every single person who wants to return to Gaza City means that you need to walk at least for eight miles. So a healthy grown-up man will feel tired. Just imagine a child that he's after one year of being shot from the Israelis is gonna take that journey You told me that he like asked his own uncle to carry him all the way and he was carried on his ankles Like on his ankle back or all the way to find out that his own like mother father and the siblings are waiting for him At the other end so honest let's go to your interview with Nimr about the moment he was reunited with his

family. And Nimr is saying here that the joy he felt when he saw his mother, father, and family again was beyond words. He says everyone was crying and he hugged his mother tightly, not letting go. His entire extended family was there too. Here's where Nimr's story takes a bit of a turn. Anas, you've learned that Nimr's parents have since divorced. Tell me about that. Yes. Unfortunately, Rob, this war, despite all of the killing, 46,000 people were killed, it's also affected the social fabric of Gaza. Okay, the unemployment and at the same time the war, the displacement, living in tents,

made the parenthood is a little bit hard, especially that you say as a parent, just like imagining the suffer that Nimr went through. So after 16 months, there was one problem that after three months of Nimr went through. So, you know, after 16 months, there was one problem that after three months of Nimr being pushed away to the south, we talked to him and other media outlets took to him. And after three months, his own family house got bombed by the Israelis. And the family blamed Nimr and his because Nehmer took to the news. So what you're saying here is that his family was saying, look, we were targeted because Nehmer, you spoke to the media, including Aura, the NPR, and that was their belief of what happened, that they were targeted for this.

Is that what you're saying? Yes, that's correct. We didn't have any, like, let's say we didn't have any confirmation that that was the purpose of the target. But at that time of war, okay, even the families themselves turn around on each other because everyone wants to live raw. Me, myself, I was a journalist, and 160 journalists

got killed in this war, and I was prevented from renting a house or even parking in front of any other family house because they were seeing me as a moving missile that the Israelis are going to kill them. So every single person in Gaza was always being aware about his own life. Wow. Honest, we should mention here the human rights organization, Mazan, confirmed the details of this attack on the residents of the Nimr family. In a text to NPR, the Israel Defense Forces wrote,

quote, the IDF follows international law and takes feasible precautions to mitigate civilian harm. Honest, I think this illuminates at least the perception among people in Gaza, whether true or not, that media coverage can endanger the lives of citizens and it can lead to stress for families after family members speak to journalists, as we've seen in Nimr's case. Yes that's

totally correct and even talking to the media outlets here in Gaza started to be spreading between people here that's no I don't want to be photographed I don't want to be like saying any word outside to the media because may I may just like put myself in danger. Honest, were people hurt or killed in that attack on the Nimr residence? Unfortunately, yes. We do have four casualties. Three of them are women and one of them is Nimr's grandfather himself. Wow. There are many lessons that we can all learn from Nimr's story.

You asked Nimr what lessons about life he's learned from the past year of trying to survive in Gaza. And here's what he said. I learned, said Nimr, that extreme hunger makes people do things they never thought they would ever do. Nimr says he, for example, ran to a very dangerous place just to find food. He says another lesson he's learned is that even if they shoot at us, whether we're young or old, we should never give up.

Honest, you also asked Nimr about his future, his dreams, and if he sees a future for Gaza, and his answer was darker. And Nimr is saying here, there is no future. Gaza will never have a future. He goes on to say that he has dreams just like everyone else, but that the Israeli military has destroyed all of their dreams. He says nobody in his family has been untouched by this war. Honest, I think it's worth reminding our listeners that we are listening to the words of a 12-year-old

child. What's going to happen to children like Nimr in the future? The children like Nimr and Nimr himself are going to face the future that's totally dark. We can say that they witnessed multiple shades of war, which is the hunger and at the same time displacement and the killing for most of the population here. We're talking about the new generation that's gonna come here that also wants to revenge and not believe in peace as they should be. The last thing I wanted to ask you on is, Anas, because Nimr is still a child, I wanted you to ask him about his thoughts on school.

Nimr has not been to school since October of 2023. Here's what he told you. I miss school, I miss my friends, I miss learning, I miss school so much. I miss my friends. I miss learning. I miss writing. I just want to see my friends again and to play with them again. But the war continues.

What he asks, can we do? Anas, I want to thank you for all of your reporting from Gaza. You've brought us so many stories like this one. And they're very, very important for all of us to hear. Thank you, Anas. Thank you, Rob. That's NPR Gaza producer, Anas for all of us to hear. Thank you, Anas. Thank you, Rob. That's NPR Gaza producer, Anas Baba, joining us from Gaza.

This episode was produced by Kira Wakim, Erica Ryan, and Anas Baba. It was edited by Adam Rainey, James Heider, and Courtney Dornig. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigin. It's Consider This from NPR. I'm Rob Schmitz. This month, Shortwave is featuring a science and dog collab for the ages. Because sometimes, scientists need help, and have to call in dogs to get the research done.

Their powerful noses have earned some of them a job as conservation detection dogs, helping biologists sniff out things that are hidden or hard to find, like whale poop in the ocean. Here are the surprising ways dogs are pushing conservation work forward on ShoreWave, the science podcast from NPR. Hey, it's Amartines. A lot of short daily news podcasts focus on one story, but sometimes you need un poquito más. For Up First on NPR, we bring you the three top world headlines every single day in under 15 minutes because no one story can capture all that's happening en este mundo tan grande on any given morning.

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