01-14-2011 13:46 BJT
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A Palestinian girl paralyzed in an air strike on Gaza will be allowed to remain in Israel for medical care.
The Israeli government has labelled her a "special humanitarian case" and granted the girl and her family temporary residency. But while the medical care she receives may ensure the girl's survival many of her fellow Palestinians blockaded in the Gaza Strip are not so fortunate.
9-year-old Marya Amen was wounded in a 2006 air strike that was allegedly targeting militants from the Islamic Jihad group in Gaza City. Her mother, brother and grandmother were all killed in the attack.
Since then, she has been at a Jerusalem hospital while her remaining family members fought attempts by Israel to transfer her to a West Bank facility where they say her condition could not be treated as she needs a respirator to breathe.
The surprising decision announced on Thursday will not only enable Marya, along with her brother and father, to stay in Israel as temporary residents, but also ensure she receives state-sponsored health insurance and compensation.
Hamdee Amen, Father of Marya Amen, said, "We were very, very surprised. We didn't know about it and it was a great surprise. People called me to tell me 'we heard in the news that you are getting Israeli residency, so now you can get everything that a citizen is entitled to for an injury like Marya's'."
Despite the guarantee of medical care, doctors say they expect Marya to remain paralyzed from the neck down for the rest of her life. Medical care can only assure that Marya now has a much greater chance of survival.
NGO workers in Israel say the decision has come too late.
Ran Yaron, Physicians for Human Rights, said, "It took a lot of time, maybe too much time, until the family finally received this residency. It actually means that she can stay in Israel and be alive."
Israel has regularly carried out air strikes in the Gaza Strip targeting militant groups that have killed civilians. About 1,200 people were killed during a 22 day Israeli offensive in 2008.
Israel says it will maintain its crippling blockade of Gaza, meaning residents have to find other ways of getting vital aid and supplies.
In 2010, pro-Palestinian groups and a Turkish human rights organization sent a flotilla of aid to Gaza. Turkey had urged Israel to allow it safe passage and said the 10,000 tonnes of aid the convoy was carrying was humanitarian. However the Israeli navy intercepted the convoy, killing 19 people on board.
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