Healing far from home
The Egyptian Red Crescent’s lifeline for Gaza’s evacuees
Across Egypt, Palestinians evacuated from Gaza are finding care and the strength to heal, supported by the Egyptian Red Crescent Society, whose compassion turns recovery into hope.
Healing far from home
The Egyptian Red Crescent’s lifeline for Gaza’s evacuees
Across Egypt, Palestinians evacuated from Gaza are finding care and the strength to heal, supported by the Egyptian Red Crescent Society, whose compassion turns recovery into hope.
In a quiet hospital corridor in Cairo, the sound of footsteps echoes: slow, careful, uneven. They belong to a young man taking his first steps with a new prosthetic limb. Around him, Egyptian Red Crescent Society (ERCS) staff watch with pride.
Each step is more than a movement; it is a return to life.
Muhammad Mahmoud Khaled Haroun was evacuated from Gaza after a bombing in November 2023 destroyed his home and killed many members of his family.
“We were bombed four times — three near our home, and the fourth was a direct strike. I lost nearly my entire family. Only my brother and sister survived. I lost my father, mother, another brother, and sister.
“After my injury, I lost my leg and my ability to shoulder responsibilities. I had been the main provider for my family, carrying most of the burden. I also lost my job.”
“I believe true strength doesn’t come from the body, but from the will,” he says, adjusting his balance on the new prosthetic leg.
That quiet strength — the belief that healing is as much about will as it is about medicine — runs through every story the Egyptian Red Crescent accompanies.
For thousands of Palestinians evacuated from Gaza for medical treatment, recovery in Egypt has meant more than hospital care. It has meant the comfort of being seen, supported, and helped as they rebuild their lives from the ground up.
Beyond treatment: a journey toward healing
Over the past two years, as waves of medical evacuations have brought thousands from Gaza to Egypt, the Egyptian Red Crescent Society has stood by those in need of care.
More than 7,000 patients and 15,000 family members have received support during this time.
While public and university hospitals under the Ministry of Health provide in-patient treatment, ERCS ensures that healing continues beyond hospital walls.
At recovery centres across Cairo, Port Said, and North Sinai, ERCS teams visit families every day — bringing medicine, food, clean water, and other essentials.
They check on patients discharged from hospitals, provide non-food items such as hygiene kits, clothing, blankets, and mattresses, and ensure that families’ daily needs are met with dignity and care.
Equally vital is the attention given to emotional recovery. ERCS volunteers offer psychosocial support, with a special focus on children who have endured trauma and displacement.
In child-friendly spaces established within these centres, children are invited to play, draw, and take part in creative activities that help them heal and feel safe again.
For many evacuees, the Egyptian Red Crescent is more than a humanitarian organization. It has become family.
Grief, courage, and the will to rebuild
After surviving the bombing that took his leg and much of his family, Muhammad Mahmoud Khaled Haroun continues to rebuild his life one step at a time.
He now lives in Cairo, Egypt with his surviving family, including his infant son, born just a month before his injury.
“I had been married for eleven months, and my son was born just a month before I was injured. One of the hardest moments after the injury was not being able to hold him and walk even a few steps. It’s painful to see someone you love needing help and not being able to offer it — to become the one who now depends on others.”
Even after all he has endured, his voice carries deep determination.
“As long as there is hope and determination, we can overcome anything.”
He dreams of starting his own small business - not as a return to what was, but to reclaim purpose.
Today, Muhammad receives ongoing care and rehabilitation through ERCS-supported services. His prosthetic fitting, therapy, and counseling sessions are small steps toward rebuilding the life he once carried on his shoulders alone.
To walk again, to live again
Among those recovering in Egypt is Ibrahim Said, a farmer who was severely injured in February 2024 when his village came under artillery fire.
After months in a hospital bed and the amputation of his left leg, he arrived at an ERCS-supported recovery center in Cairo for rehabilitation.
Before the injury, he tended to his farm every morning. “I worked with my hands and feet,” he said. “After the injury, I could no longer move or provide for my family. What I needed most was a prosthetic limb; to walk again, to live again.”
With ERCS’s help, he was fitted with a prosthesis and began physical therapy. Standing again for the first time marked a new beginning, a small but powerful step toward rebuilding his life.
Steps toward tomorrow
Recovery, for many evacuees, means learning to take the next step: literally and emotionally.
Yazid Mahmoud Shana’a — once self-employed in sales and trade, as well as a sports coach and runner — lost his leg when he was hit by a missile while returning home from his uncle’s house.
After his evacuation, he received a prosthetic limb and started dreaming again of returning to sports, of running, of coaching.
“The most important thing for me right now is to regain my ability to walk and exercise — especially since I used to be an athlete. I was a team coach, and we had a very strong club; we used to organize races and activities with other clubs.”
For Yazid, Muhammad, and thousands of others, that dignity has been restored through care that is practical and profoundly human, the kind that sits beside you, listens to you, and stays long after the crisis fades from the news.
The heart of a national effort
Across more than 10 locations in Egypt, ERCS staff and volunteers visit families regularly, listen to their stories, and respond to their needs. They provide food and hygiene kits, fix household issues, and organize activities for children who have endured far more than any child should.
Behind every patient’s recovery is a network of coordination.
Working alongside the Ministries of Health, Social Solidarity and others, the Egyptian Red Crescent ensures that evacuated families have safe housing, food, medical follow-up, and emotional support while they recover far from home.
From hospitals to recovery centers, from physiotherapy rooms to child-friendly spaces, the Egyptian Red Crescent stands with those rebuilding their lives.
Standing together in solidarity
The IFRC and its network continues to stand side by side with the Egyptian Red Crescent in its humanitarian response to the Gaza crisis. Through strategic, technical, and financial support, the IFRC helps sustain and scale up ERCS’s life-saving operations, ensuring that aid reaches those who need it most.
Every act of kindness counts.
By donating to the IFRC Middle East Complex Crisis Emergency Appeal, you help bring hope and life-saving aid to families affected by the crisis.
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