Burned in a bombing in Gaza, a Palestinian teen finds healing in San Jose with a Jewish surgeon
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Layan was among the last few children evacuated from Gaza to the United States by the nonprofit HEAL Palestine for medical treatment, arriving in the Bay Area less than two weeks before the Trump administration halted visas from her home country. She recently began the trek home after a series of surgeries and procedures, performed by Sheckter, and will continue treatment in Egypt until it’s safe for her to return to Gaza, where her father and six other siblings remain.
That first meeting between Sheckter and Layan helped bring back a 14-year memory for the surgeon, who is Jewish, of the last time he was in Israel in the city of Sderot, across the heavily secured border from Beit Hanoun. As a 26-year-old, he looked out at the wall separating where he stood from Gaza and wondered — would he ever meet someone from the other side. He had just gotten his answer.
“When you think of the broader context of the world right now, there’s a lot of Islamophobia, there’s antisemitism and these things are both growing at the same time,” Sheckter said in an interview. “At least here in San Jose, to be able to have a Jewish surgeon and a Palestinian Muslim girl injured in war, for those things to come together and to have a good outcome, it feels really good.”
More than 73,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the two-and-a-half-year conflict between Israel and the militant group Hamas, according to the latest estimates from Gaza’s Health Ministry. The war has fueled a humanitarian crisis in Gaza as concerns of a widespread scarcity of food grow, and medical supplies and care cannot keep up with the more than 172,000 injured, according to estimates by the World Health Organization.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2026/07/09/burned-in-a-bombing-in-gaza-a-palestinian-teen-finds-healing-in-san-jose-with-a-jewish-surgeon/
It should be noted that it was the trump administration who halted this help to critically injured soldiers. It was announced by Secretary of State Rubio in mid-August 2025.
"Washington, DC – United States Representative Jimmy Panetta (CA-19) joined colleagues in calling on the Department of State to swiftly reverse its abrupt decision to halt the approval of temporary medical-humanitarian visas for children from Gaza.
On August 16, the State Department announced, without prior notice or clear explanation, that it would suspend all visitor visas from Gaza, including those for children in need of urgent, lifesaving medical care, while conducting a review of its processes. The Department has not provided evidence of security risks or a timeline for the suspension, despite the fact that all Palestinians leaving Gaza for medical treatment are already subject to extensive vetting by Israeli authorities.
“This pause will deny children the medical care they desperately need,” the members wrote. “We appeal to you to immediately reverse the State Department’s decision and resume allowing those from Gaza with approved temporary medical-humanitarian visas to enter the United States to receive the lifesaving care they need. We expect a written response 30 days after receiving this letter.”
In their letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Rep. Panetta and his colleagues criticized the lack of transparency in the decision and emphasized that the suspension could block children from receiving critical medical treatment. The lawmakers urged the Department to immediately reverse the policy and, at minimum, exempt urgent pediatric cases while the review is underway."
https://panetta.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-panetta-urges-state-department-reverse-halt-humanitarian-visas-children
and just to make it clear, this has NOT been reversed, and why the stupidity of those who refused to vote for VP Harris thought it was a good idea is so infuriating.