Malnourished baby Siwar evacuated from Gaza

The cry was frail but I could hear Siwar Ashour even before she was carried out of the coach.

It was the cry of a voice that won’t give up, of a child born in this war and who has now, for a while at least, managed to escape it.

In person six-month-old Siwar is tinier than any visual image can convey. She weighs 3kg (6.6lb) but should be twice that. Her mother, Najwa, 23, smiled as she described her feelings on crossing into Jordan on Wednesday, when her daughter was evacuated from Gaza with other Palestinian children. The first thing she noticed was the quiet.

“It feels like there is a truce,” she told me. “We will spend our night without rockets and bombing with God’s will.”

Siwar was also accompanied by her grandmother Reem and her father Saleh who is blind.

“The first and last goal of this trip is Siwar,” said Saleh. “We want to get her to a safe shore. I want to make sure she is safe and cured. She’s my daughter, my own flesh and blood. And I’m so deeply worried about her.”

It was Reem who carried Siwar off the bus onto Jordanian soil, forming her fingers into a V sign as she came.

“Until now I can’t believe that I have arrived in Jordan. I saw King’s Abdullah’s photo at the border and I felt so happy I got off the bus and made the sign of victory…for the sake of Siwar.”

Back in April when the BBC first filmed Siwar at Nasser hospital in southern Gaza, her mother and doctor said she was suffering from malnutrition because the special milk formula she needed could not be found in sufficient quantity. Her body was emaciated. Najwa said then she could not breastfeed Siwar because she herself was suffering from malnutrition.

Tins of milk formula were found and delivered by the Jordanian Field hospital and by private fundraisers. But with an Israeli blockade on aid, which was partially eased three weeks ago, and an escalating military offensive it was clear Siwar’s condition needed more comprehensive testing and treatment.

In a deal announced between King Abdullah and US President Donald Trump in February, Jordan offered to bring 2000 seriously ill children to Amman for treatment.

Gaza’s devastated medical system cannot cope with the level of sickness and war wounded. Since March, 57 children along with 113 family escorts have been evacuated. Sixteen children came on Wednesday, including Siwar.

Cradled in her…