In Gaza, a long path to recovery for one woman who lost eye, and daughter
Nuseirat, Gaza Strip – When Najwa Abu Atiwi opened her eyes on October 11, 2024, after weeks in a coma, her first thought was not
Nuseirat, Gaza Strip – When Najwa Abu Atiwi opened her eyes on October 11, 2024, after weeks in a coma, her first thought was not the extent of her injuries, but her desire to see herself. She knew that something significant had changed, but she did not understand how much her appearance had been altered after the Israeli air strike that hit her home in central Gaza’s Nuseirat camp. Najwa, now 42 years old, repeatedly asked those around her to let her see her face, but they delayed the moment, fearing the shock it would cause. “I kept asking to see what I looked like, but they would give me painkillers and medication to calm me down,” Najwa says. Later, doctors told her the truth: She had lost one of her eyes, and they were still trying to save the other, which had suffered internal bleeding. When she finally looked in the mirror for the first time, it was almost as if someone else was staring back. Her face, marked by severe injuries and fractures, had changed dramatically. “I looked at myself and did not recognise who I was. I felt as if I was looking at someone else, and I said: ‘Who is this?’” she recalls. The trauma would only compound later, when Najwa learned that her daughter, Hajar, had also been killed in the air strike that put Najwa in hospital. Hajar had been only days away from celebrating her sixth birthday. But for a month after she woke up from her coma, Najwa did not know about the tragic loss. During her time in intensive care, she dreamed of Hajar and repeatedly asked people around her to reassure her that her daughter was safe. She later learned the devastating truth, never having had the chance to see her daughter one last time or say goodbye, a loss that remains alongside the physical pain of her injuries.
Najwa has faced a long path of surgeries, treatment, and rehabilitation. Metal plates and meshes were placed in her face, and she continues to struggle to open her jaw, speak, and eat. “I still cannot eat normally. My diet is limited to soups, water, juices, and milk,” Najwa says. She is still waiting for the opportunity to travel for specialised treatment after doctors told her that some of the procedures she needs are unavailable inside Gaza – a result of years of Israeli blockade and the destruction wrought by Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, which has killed more than 73,000 people. Complex injuries Dr Ayman Saidam, a consultant in oculoplastic surgery, says Najwa’s case is among the most complex injuries he has treated, involving severe trauma to the eye, face, and jaw. When she first arrived for treatment, Najwa had suffered injury to her right eye that resulted in its loss, in addition to facial bone fractures and torn eyelids. Her other eye was also injured around the socket, which impaired her ability to fully close her eyelid, creating an additional risk to her vision. Saidam explains that treating such injuries cannot begin with cosmetic procedures alone, because the primary issue is the damaged facial structure. “Eye cosmetic surgery in cases like these must first be built on maxillofacial reconstruction [restoring the face, jaw, neck, and mouth], because cosmetic procedures alone cannot correct structural deformities,” he says. During Israel’s war, Saidam treated many injuries caused by shrapnel and explosions, including orbital fractures (broken bones around the eye), eyelid tears, loss of facial tissue, and injuries that resulted in eye loss or required complex reconstructive surgeries. He explains that some patients require multiple stages of treatment before receiving an artificial eye or restoring part of their previous appearance. Facial reconstruction is not a single procedure, but rather a series of interventions in which each stage depends on the success of the previous one.
The BriefWire