Friday, 15 May 2026
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Dressed for the Clinic: How Tearfund-Supported Care Helped Eight-Year-Old Raeda Walk Again

Eight-year-old Raeda from Khan Younis was paralysed after an airstrike destroyed her home. Doctors said she would never walk or speak again. Three months of daily physiotherapy at a Tearfund-supported clinic changed everything.

Young girl in a physiotherapy clinic in Gaza, warm editorial photography

Analysis

There are stories that stop you in your tracks. Raeda's is one of them.

Eight years old, from Khan Younis in Gaza, Raeda was displaced to Deir Al Balah after an airstrike destroyed her family home. The blast left her with a severe head injury and complete paralysis on her right side. She could not walk. She could not speak. Doctors told her family there was no hope.

Then her father was killed in another airstrike while trying to fetch her a blanket from the hospital.

What happened next is nothing short of remarkable. Anera's primary healthcare clinic in Deir Al Balah — supported by Tearfund — began providing Raeda with daily physiotherapy sessions. Week after week, session after session, something began to change. After three months, Raeda walked independently into the clinic. She spoke in full sentences. She dressed herself for the appointment.

Tearfund works with Anera to fund three clinics in Gaza, provide hot meals, and support humanitarian workers operating in extraordinarily difficult conditions. For every Raeda whose story reaches us, there are thousands more whose names we may never know — children whose futures depend on whether the world chooses to act.

Tearfund is calling on the UK Government to press for an immediate ceasefire and ensure humanitarian access is maintained. You can support their Gaza response at tearfund.org.