BEIRUT — When Zarifa Nawfal’s family arrived in Beirut for their injured daughter’s surgery, one of the first things she wanted to do was go to the beach. The Mediterranean had been a constant companion in their home in Gaza before the war.

“The moment I smelled the sea, I felt at peace inside – like I was in Gaza,” she said.

But soon their place of refuge reminded them of home in much more painful ways.

Nawfal’s 7-year-old daughter, Halima Abou Yassine, is one of ten seriously injured Palestinian children brought to Lebanon this year for treatment through a program launched by a British-Palestinian surgeon, Dr. Ghassan Abu Sitta.

But a few months after their arrival, Lebanon is itself involved in a war some fear it will end in Gaza-like destruction.

In February, Nawfal was staying with her five children and her mother in an apartment in central Gaza. They had been moved from their home in the north and Nawfal’s husband was missing, probably dead.

The children were filling water containers outside when two rockets hit, Nawfal said. He rushed outside to find Halima, the youngest, lying on the street, her skull cracked open, her brain exposed.

Through her shock, Nawfal said, “I was relieved that her body was in one piece.” In Gaza, explosions often tore people apart, leaving their loved ones without even a body to bury.

Halima’s brother was unconscious next to her. He was quickly revived at the hospital. But staff at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital confirmed Nawfal’s fears, she said: Halima was dead. Her little body was placed in the morgue.

But as the family prepared to bury her, the girl’s uncle noticed faint signs of life, the family said.

Al-Aqsa Hospital officials could not be reached to confirm the account. But Abu Sitta, who worked in several hospitals in Gaza during the war, said that in the chaotic situation it was not unusual for patients to be mistakenly identified as dead because normal protocols for emergency room examinations were often abandoned.

“Because of the large number of cases that would appear in each air raid … the ambulance staff would immediately take those they thought were dead to the morgue,” he said.

In the days after her daughter was determined to be alive, Nawfal stayed with her, manually pumping oxygen into her lungs. After a week, the little girl started breathing on her own. Finally, he woke up.

“Some of the doctors cried and said this is a miracle,” Nawfal said.

But they could do no more than keep the little girl alive. Her skull was still open, a shard of bone missing. Her brain was affected by the infection.

The family was evacuated to Egypt in May. In July, they boarded a plane to Lebanon.

The first of the injured Palestinian children arrived in Lebanon in May. Five-year-old Adam Afana nearly lost his left arm in an explosion that killed his father and sister. His arm was paralyzed and he needed complex surgery to correct the nerve damage.

At the time, Lebanon was already embroiled in a mild conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.

The Lebanese militant group began firing rockets across the border into Israel in support of his allyHamas on October 8, 2023, a day after Palestinian militants staged the deadly surprise incursion into southern Israel that sparked the ongoing Gaza war. Israel responded with bombings and airstrikes.

For months, the conflict in Lebanon was mainly confined to the border area, away from Beirut.

Abu Sitta said he chose Lebanon for the treatment of wounded children because the Mediterranean country has specialists with extensive experience in treating war wounds.

Lebanon has seen its share of conflicts, including a 15-year civil war that ended in 1990 and a brutal month-long war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006, as well as the spillover effects of other regional conflicts.

“Even after the end of the wars (in Lebanon), the wounded from Iraq and Syria would come here for this kind of complex and multi-stage treatment,” Abu Sitta said.

In July, Halima underwent successful surgery to repair her skull at the American University Medical Center in Beirut.

Nawfal said her daughter has persistent memory problems but is improving with therapy. A chipper, happy-go-lucky child, Halima thrived in Beirut. He swam in the hotel pool, liked to color and played with the other children in Gaza. She went with her brothers to pick fruit from the neighborhood produce stand, a straw hat covering the scar on the back of her head.

In mid-September, Israel launched a offensive against Hezbollah. It it struck wide stretches of Lebanon with airstrikes, including the southern suburbs of Beirut and some places in the city center.