Teen treated in the Bay Area hurt again in Gaza

FOSTER CITY, Calif. (KGO) -- As violence flares between Hamas and Israeli forces. U.S Secretary of State John Kerry is heading to Egypt to meet with officials about the crisis. And in the meantime, the Bay Area is playing a small but significant role in helping the wounded heal.

Abdallah al-Athamna has lived most of his life surrounded by violence. He lost a leg and 18 of his family members when he was six during a rocket attack on his home in the Gaza Strip.

The teen came to the Bay Area in 2006 and again last year to get a new prosthetic leg. Now, he can't walk because that leg has been damaged by shrapnel.

"All of them are scared in here, in Gaza," he said. "All the families are scared."

Abdallah spoke with us on the phone; our conversation occasionally interrupted by the sound of gunshots and explosions.

He says he was injured after a missile was fired in his neighborhood. Abdallah was hit by shrapnel. His grandfather had to help carry the 15-year-old to shelter a quarter mile away.

"We escaped from my house and we go run on the glass and stones in the street," he said."

Rima Qaru helped to translate.

"They had two minutes to run again, 15 of them, and now they went to the third house where they are just huddling together," she said.

Rima and her daughter Shireen work with the Palestine Children's Relief Fund which helps get kids caught by the crossfire get medical treatment.

"We have doctors how are ready to go to Gaza as soon as Israel allows them in," Shireen said. "We have medical supplies that we're ready to send to Gaza."

They do plan to bring Abdallah back to replace his artificial leg. But right now the focus is keeping him safe and alive and offering support.

"Stay safe, stay safe, okay?" Rima said. "We're there for you, you're not alone."