Children amputated by Israeli attacks and elderly people in wheelchairs are among the patients on the converted ship off Arish, northern Egypt, funded and operated by the UAE.

About 2,400 people, injured by Israeli soldiers, have been treated at a temporary facility holding about 100 patients at a time, Deputy Medical Director Abdullah Al-Zahmi said.

If that only scratches the surface of the needs of Gaza, it reflects the difficulty of providing aid for the territory sealed and bombarded by Israel.

More than 38,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed by Israel in Gaza since the war on Gaza broke out nearly nine months ago.

Nine-year-old Yazan is one of those traumatized by the war, after being brought to the hospital about 40 kilometres from Gaza without his parents and having a leg amputated because of his wounds.

A young Palestinian amputee evacuated from the Gaza Strip gestures as he sits on a wheelchair inside an Emirati floating hospital in the Egyptian port of Al-Arish. AFP

Al-Zahmi jokes with the boy, asking how his parents are doing in Gaza and assures him he will soon have a prosthetic leg fitted.

"The traditional relationship between the patient and the doctor has dissolved,” the doctor tells AFP.

"Every day we see each other, we speak comfortably, and we care about their needs, problems, and psychological pain," he added.

Amputee Wants to 'Play Football'
 

Yazan's parents did not accompany him through the Rafah crossing into Egypt, Al-Zahmi says, without giving further details. The route was closed by Israeli forces in early May.

The boy's condition "was initially a concern for us, as dealing with him was difficult because he was emotional and in need of his parents."

"But as days passed, we began to consider Yazan as one of our family ... and now he has become an icon for us because of his clinging to life, his constant smile, and everyone's love for him," Al-Zahmi said.

The child is undergoing psychological and social rehabilitation and communicates daily with his family, he added.

Smiling as he sits inside one of the tents, Yazan shows the doctor a picture of him with his father before the outbreak of war last October.

After his artificial leg is fitted, Yazan says he wants to "walk and play football," adding that his "favourite player is (Cristiano) Ronaldo."

"I would like to return to Gaza and live with my father and mother," he says.

An injured Palestinian boy evacuated from the Gaza Strip uses a wheelchair inside an Emirati floating hospital in the Egyptian port of Al-Arish. AFP

More than 840 operations have been carried out at the hospital, which has a surgical department, an intensive care and anaesthesia unit, X-ray facilities, a pharmacy, and a laboratory, Al-Zahmi said.

Its 60-member staff specialties include orthopaedics, internal care, neurosurgery, and dentistry.

The hospital also provides communal spaces and communications with relatives in Gaza or elsewhere, he said.

"We provide them with high-speed Internet, outdoor areas for playing and resting, and a place for prayer," Al-Zahmi added.

An injured young Palestinian evacuated from the Gaza Strip is surrounded by patients and family members as he sits in a wheelchair aboard an Emirati floating hospital in the Egyptian port of Al-Arish. AFP

The Wound Runs Deep
 

In the main loading area of the 200-metre ship, ambulances are preparing to transfer patients to a plane to the UAE, where they will receive further treatment.

According to Al-Zahmi, they are among those chosen as part of a UAE initiative to receive 1,000 wounded children and 1,000 cancer sufferers from the Gaza Strip.

Other patients discharged from the hospital are taken to housing designated for them by the Egyptian authorities.

For any patients who need further treatment but are not being sent to the UAE, the Emirates Red Crescent will cover their costs at an Egyptian hospital.

An ambulance transporting injured Palestinians evacuated from the Gaza Strip arrives to the Emirati floating hospital in the Egyptian port of Al-Arish. AFP

Fadia Al-Madhun, 44, is in the floating hospital with her husband, who was injured in an Israeli bombing that targeted their home in Gaza.

"We left the house. It was bombed. We did not take clothes or anything else," Al-Madhun said, wearing a floral hijab.

"They gave us everything (including) psychological support for our children," she added.

The hospital staff has seen "many families who lost their children and people who lost their fathers and mothers, and therefore we understand the tragedies," Al-Zahmi said.

"We listen a lot and try to accept, but, in the end, no matter how much we console them, the wound runs deep and remains in the memory," he added.