This doctor couldn't save one Palestinian toddler. Now he hopes to save all Gazan children.

Dr. David Hasan has a recurring dream. He is in a hospital in Gaza at the tail-end of 2023, treating a dying toddler.

The boy has come in with a wave of other injured Palestinians pulled from the rubble of a bombed-out building. Hasan has no means to help the boy and must triage those more likely to live in the bare-bones surgical suite. So he cradles the boy close to his chest and says a prayer.

The boy dies. He frantically searches for the parents, but they have also likely died. He doesn’t know the boy’s name, so he calls him Jacob.

The dream is a flashback — the boy real. And Jacob’s death, more than two years ago during Hasan’s first trip to Gaza, still haunts the Duke University neurosurgeon, who is now building one of the most ambitious Palestinian-Israeli humanitarian undertakings in Gaza, begun as the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took hold.

In the six months since it became a registered nonprofit, The Gaza Children Village, of which Hasan is founder, president and CEO, has built five Academies of Hope — wood-framed tent schools that also provide an estimated 8,500 orphaned and vulnerable children two hot meals a day, in partnership with World Central Kitchen, and give access to primary health care. The organization is now in the process of buying a semi-functional hospital in Gaza and transforming it into a pediatric health center for children with chronic illnesses who are unable to obtain ongoing care.

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In Opinion

And finally, A Muslim-owned thrift shop blends modest fashion, faith and sustainability

Kadjahtou Balde has a hard time parting with some of the vintage gems that make it into her Harlem thrift shop — a silk skirt adorned with traditional Palestinian embroidery, a pink wool sweater and an embellished blazer in perfect condition.

“Look at the level of detail on this abaya,” she said while unfurling a black dress handstitched with turquoise geometric designs, a type of garment often worn by Muslim women. “It’s so beautiful, I kind of wish I could keep it.”

Balde has long been an avid thrifter and sustainable fashion enthusiast. But even in a city with a bounty of vintage and thrift shops, she couldn’t always find pieces that fit her needs as a Muslim woman who dresses modestly — and fashionably. So when her father asked for help revamping his struggling Harlem gift shop last year, Balde knew a thrift store that celebrated modest fashion could become a much needed space.

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