MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
The nation of Jordan is treating seriously ill and injured Palestinians from Gaza, including dozens of child cancer patients. They are among 2,000 children King Abdullah promised President Trump back in February to bring in for treatment. So far, though, only 39 have arrived, NPR's Jane Arraf has more from Amman.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Going up. Doors closing.
JANE ARRAF, BYLINE: The King Hussein Medical Center, one of the region's leading cancer hospitals, is huge and gleaming. There are floor-to-ceiling windows, stocked snack machines. It's a stark contrast to what some of its latest patients have come from.
ZAINAB AL-ASTAN: (Non-English language spoken).
ARRAF: Zainab al-Astan (ph) arrived two weeks ago from Gaza with her sons Qassim, who is 15, and Ahmed, 13. Both have lymphoma. Displaced repeatedly by Israeli airstrikes, the family lived in a tent. There's hardly any food, not even bread.
AL-ASTAN: (Non-English language spoken).
ARRAF: Here, Astan says, Ahmed can't get enough of chicken sandwiches.
QASSIM: (Non-English language spoken).
ARRAF: Qassim describes trying to get treatment in Gaza amid the attacks on hospitals and shortages of medical supplies. The U.N. says there isn't a single fully functional hospital or clinic in Gaza, with its population of around 2 million people. Israel says its attacks that have hit hospitals target the militant group Hamas.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Thank you very much. It's an honor to have King Abdullah with us.
ARRAF: In February at the White House, Jordan's King Abdullah made this offer to President Trump.
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KING ABDULLAH II: One of the things that we can do right away is take 2,000 children that are either cancer children or in a very ill state to Jordan as quickly as possible.
ARRAF: But almost four months later, only 39 patients have arrived.
MOHAMMAD MOMANI: There has been difficulties imposed by the Israeli authorities that is stopping with the way of making this happen smoothly.
ARRAF: That's Jordan's minister for government communications, Mohammad Momani.
MOMANI: We will take these children to treat them, but then after they finish their treatment, they should be going back to their homeland.
ARRAF: This week, more than two dozen more patients and their guardians were stranded in Gaza when Israel barred them from leaving, according to Jordanian officials. The Israeli military and the U.N.'s World Health Organization, which oversees evacuation logistics, did not respond to a request for comment. Cancer Center pediatrics chief Rawad Rihani says, while most childhood cancers are curable, recent arrivals are a special case.
RAWAD RIHANI: What we're seeing, which is really particular to Gaza patients - more advanced diseases, when the tumor is very advanced with the lack of proper treatment and proper evaluation, proper diagnosis, which makes them very hard to treat.
ARRAF: Rihani says some of the tumors are so big, they've damaged the children's organs. Many of the children are malnourished. The combination means not all will make it.
RIHANI: Some of them are very advanced and some went to palliative care.
ARRAF: Another patient, Suhair Zouroub, 13, has a much better prognosis.
SUHAIR ZOUROUB: (Non-English language spoken).
ARRAF: She was diagnosed two months ago with leukemia and will undergo chemotherapy. Before the war between Israel and Hamas shut down all the schools in Gaza, Zouroub was a star pupil, with a 98% grade point average.
SUHAIR: (Non-English language spoken).
ARRAF: Zouroub says in a quiet voice, "it's very nice here. But Gaza is more beautiful." She wants to go back after treatment. "There's nothing better than home," she says. Jane Arraf, NPR News, Amman. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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