A letter from a Paduan doctor to Deputy Prime Minister Tajani: "Five wounded Palestinians need saving in Gaza."

He took advantage of his visit to Padua to ask for help: Salim El Maoued, a general practitioner of Lebanese origins but a resident of Arcella for over thirty years (so much so that he ran for mayor in 2022 on the "Padova di Tutti" list), delivered a letter to Antonio Tajani, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, on Monday, making a heartfelt appeal to bring five seriously injured Palestinians to Italy.

The letter, signed by several organizations, including "Sanitari per Gaza," states: "We take the liberty of delivering this urgent appeal to you as citizens deeply committed to ethical principles and the sanctity of life, and, above all, as professionals faithful to the values ​​underlying the Hippocratic Oath, associated with the Voluntary Organization "Sanitari per Gaza," whose purpose is to welcome and assist people, especially children, in need of medical care due to the ongoing war in Gaza. Our sharing of these principles leads us to express serious concerns regarding the current health crisis in Gaza, a situation that has reached inhumane and unacceptable levels. As health workers, we are firsthand witnesses of this crisis as, even though we are far away, we receive medical records from numerous patients who implore us for help, requiring immediate transfer to medical facilities capable of intervening competently and promptly to save their lives. We ask you to use your position of influence, confident in your commitment to supporting and undertaking diplomatic facilitation efforts, to issue visas and provide assistance to the individuals whose brief medical profiles we attach below, who are in urgent need of treatment and with whom we have been in contact for several weeks as they await visas to leave the Gaza Strip. Our duty as healthcare professionals extends beyond our country's borders, and we firmly believe that every human life deserves compassion and care. As Foreign Minister, we hope you share this same urgency. We therefore reiterate the urgency of completing the bureaucratic procedures that will allow these patients from Gaza, for whom we already have medical documentation that meets the clinical criteria for evacuation, to reach Italy along with their companions. We also ask that the procedures for activating medical evacuation procedures for the medical emergencies reported to us daily be made easy and transparent, including for future cases.

The stories are moving: the first is that of a young mother with an injury to her right eye, resulting in a ruptured globe, vitreous hemorrhage, and retinal detachment due to an explosion. Her children and husband lost their lives, leaving her with only one young child. The vitreous hemorrhage causes intense pain and increased intraocular pressure. Prompt surgery in a highly specialized setting is therefore urgently needed to restore full visual function and prevent further complications, while also allowing this young mother to care for her only surviving child.

Then there's Lana, who is not yet two years old. The girl is the only one without an approved document, having repeatedly fled with her mother and younger sister without being able to attend the official medical examination required for such a document, which was repeatedly rescheduled. Her medical records, however, certify the urgency of her evacuation from Gaza for urgent medical reasons, as she has experienced episodes of loss of consciousness and falls, which doctors believe are likely epileptic in nature. Her nine-year-old brother also suffers from an unidentified neurological disorder, believed to be caused by a genetic mutation resulting from phosphorus bombs dropped on Gaza while their mother was pregnant. This heightens the urgency of clarifying Lana's diagnosis, with tests currently unavailable locally.

They are joined by a 42-year-old mother with amputated fingers on her left hand and an open fracture of the heel of her left foot, both resulting in unhealed areas requiring reconstructive plastic surgery as well as nutritional, psychological, and prosthetic rehabilitation. And she is not alone: ​​with her are her two daughters, aged 18 and 8, the only survivors of a horrific explosion: the adult daughter had one leg amputated above the knee, while the eight-year-old daughter had both legs amputated above the knee and therefore requires a special psychotherapeutic technique under general anesthesia to overcome the trauma.