8-YEAR-OLD GAZA BOMB VICTIM RECOVERS SIGHT IN TURIN

Turin, Italy – Asaad, an eight-year-old boy from the Gaza Strip, has regained sight in his right eye following a complex surgical procedure at the Città della Salute e della Scienza hospital in Turin. He arrived at the Molinette hospital just days ago as part of the "Food for Gaza" mission, organized by the Piedmont Region and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, after a bomb blast in Gaza amputated his right leg, caused severe burns across his body, and left him blind in one eye.

In that same Israeli raid, Asaad tragically lost his mother and younger sister. Accompanied by his father and younger brother, he underwent a long and delicate surgical operation at the Turin facility. This intervention was crucial to prevent permanent damage to his eye, made possible by cutting-edge medical techniques.

"The ocular clinical condition immediately appeared extremely serious," the hospital stated in a press release. "Various shrapnel fragments from the explosive device had impacted his face and eye, causing injuries to all ocular structures: cornea, iris, lens, vitreous, and retina, with foreign bodies even reaching the central portion of the posterior retina."

Surgeon: "Extremely Complicated 'Pole to Pole' Surgery"

Michele Reibaldi, director of University Ophthalmology, who performed the operation, explained that it was an "extremely complicated" procedure. He described it as "'pole to pole' surgery, precisely because one must work on the entire eye from the anterior to the posterior extremity. We initially repaired all the scleral and corneal wounds caused by the shrapnel entry. Subsequently, we performed a reconstruction of the anterior part of the eye with an iridoplasty (reconstruction of the iris) deformed by the injuries, the removal of the traumatic cataract, and the insertion of a special artificial intraocular lens used in cases like this, where the natural lens support no longer exists."

Finally, the most intricate part involved "vitrectomy to remove the hemorrhage in the posterior part caused by the trauma and to extract the foreign bodies present in the vitreous and on the posterior retina near the macular area," the surgeon added.

A Story of Hope and a Smile for the Future

Despite the dramatic circumstances, Asaad's story has a partially happy ending. "Asaad is doing very well now," concluded Reibaldi. "Thanks to this surgery, he will be able to keep his eye and his sight. The smile he gave us the day after the surgery, as soon as his bandage was removed, was an immense joy and a hope for the future."

Asaad arrived from Gaza with two other children, who have been admitted to the Regina Margherita pediatric hospital in Turin as part of the same "Food for Gaza" program.