It was before dawn in southern Gaza when Ahmad Shahada and his mother arrived at the European Hospital in Khan Younis.
The avid football player was not there to seek treatment. He was there to wave goodbye.
Supported by crutches, and missing the lower part of his left arm, 13-year-old Ahmad bears the scars of the 16-month-long war in Gaza.
"A bomb exploded while I was out collecting water — we were walking when a small boy was playing with it, and he exploded," Ahmad recalled of the day his life changed forever.
"With God's will, my arm is amputated and they will treat my leg, and now I am travelling for treatment."
The cross-country journey from Gaza to Jordan would be with his sisters, rather than his mother, Elham.
Israeli authorities stopped her from accompanying her son to the hospital, rejecting her request three times.
The pain of separation was clear, tears welling up in Elham's eyes as she spoke.
"I was surprised that [Israel] refused me again, so the children will travel on their own," she told the ABC.
"I am sad and afraid because I have to send my children on their own."
It is a situation that weighed heavily on Ahmad's young shoulders.
"I want to sustain my mother and my sisters," he said.
"My father and uncles are all dead. I am the only man left."
But Ahmad needed to leave. Gaza's medical system, stretched and tested during Israel's bombardment of the strip, cannot support him.
His dream of returning to the football field can only be achieved if he travels to Jordan, to be fitted with a prosthetic and to have nerve damage in his leg treated.
"I promised [my mother] once I am out to do everything I can to bring her to us," Ahmad said.
Jordan's medical mercy mission begins
Ahmad is among 2,000 Palestinian children who will be evacuated from Gaza in coming weeks and months, taken to Jordan for desperately needed medical treatment.
The children being evacuated for medical treatment range from babies to teenagers.
Twenty-nine children were among the first group to be evacuated.
It does not seem right to describe the children as lucky, but they are fortunate to be able to seek support outside Gaza, given the strict controls on entry and exit from the strip.
They have experienced horrors no children should face, with many permanently maimed as a result of the war, while others wait for care for conditions such as cancer.
The first group of 29 kids and 44 chaperones — Ahmad and his sisters among them — were evacuated on March 4.
The World Health Organization (WHO) coordinated the mercy mission with the Jordanian Government, which is opening the doors of the nation's hospitals to the children in need.
The plan was announced by Jordan's King Abdullah, while he sat across from US President Donald Trump in the White House in February, discussing stability in the Middle East and the future for Gaza once the war finally ends.
"After completing the provision of medical care, they will be returned to the Gaza Strip," Royal Jordanian Army spokesman Brigadier General Mustafa Al-Hiyari said.
A long cross-country evacuation
A convoy of ambulances and buses crossed the Jordan River into the West Bank early on March 4 — escorted through the Occupied Palestinian Territory and into Israel by the Israel Defense Forces and Police.
Their destination was the Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and Gaza — a stone's throw from the Egyptian border — to pick up their precious cargo before heading back to Jordan.
Four of the most unwell patients were loaded onto Jordanian choppers, along with their families, and flown to Amman rather than enduring the journey by road.
Israeli authorities did not allow media to join the convoy inside Israel and the West Bank, shepherding journalists away from the Kerem Shalom crossing and trying to stop cameras from capturing the moment the vehicles arrived at the border.
They were among the only vehicles crossing at Kerem Shalom.
The Netanyahu government's decision to block all aid entering Gaza has left the precinct almost empty, other than the Israeli defence presence.
The return journey was slow going.
It is only around 200 kilometres from southern Gaza, initially driving past lines of Israeli tanks parked in fields, to the Jordanian border — but there were severe delays navigating traffic, bureaucracy and the notoriously congested Allenby-King Hussein Bridge border crossing from Israel into Jordan.
Twelve hours after first gathering to begin their journey in Khan Younis, flashing blue and red lights appeared from between the sand dunes and the children finally arrived in Jordan.
From babies to teenagers
In one of the ambulances was Ines Abu Diqa and her six-month-old baby.
Nivine was wrapped tightly in blankets, sleeping ahead of the early morning departure from Gaza.
Ines Abu Diqa and her baby daughter Nivine made the journey from Gaza.
Nivine was born with a serious heart problem and has spent much of her six months in hospital.
By the time she arrived in Jordan, still in her mother's arms, she was wide awake — albeit crying loudly as the convoy stopped at the border for a break after the long journey.
"The road was very good with the presence of doctors with us. I was not at all tired and everything was perfect," Ines said, smiling.
Over the last six months, Ines revealed she had spent more time in hospital than in the tent she had come to call home with her family.
Nivine was born with a serious heart condition and needed intense treatment.
"I am very happy first of all because my daughter will get treatment. Also, everyone is very caring, much more than Gaza."
Like many others, the family has had to make a difficult decision. Ines left her other children behind to travel to Jordan with Nivine and another of her daughters.
Evacuations begin during Ramadan
The operation was the result of sensitive and delicate negotiations with Israel, which continues to control all access in and out of Gaza.
The first operation to bring children out coincided with the early days of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, putting added pressure on the Jordanian doctors, drivers and military officials managing the convoy while observing fasting.
One of the doctors on board, Dr Mohammed Al-Rahahleh said the children travelled well while others needed support.
"Their families got dizziness and vomited, and we helped them with IV fluids and medication," he said.
The WHO said the evacuation of children from Gaza was a priority, but there were still between 12,000 and 14,000 Palestinians also needing medical care not available in the strip.
Gaza's health system has all but collapsed, after almost a year and a half of war.
Complex surgeries are not possible, and many facilities are still running desperately low on vital medical supplies.
Before the fragile ceasefire came into force, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) repeatedly rejected accusations it was deliberately targeting hospitals — insisting Hamas was using the sites as strongholds and refuges, putting civilians at risk.
The Jordanian mission will need to run for months if it is to achieve its goal of getting 2,000 sick children out of the strip.
As one group returns from seeking treatment in Jordan, another group can be evacuated — the future of the operation is reliant on ongoing Israeli cooperation and the ceasefire in Gaza holding.
