A Palestinian child has been given a chance at life thanks to the heart of a Jewish Israeli child with the transplant being the first time a Palestinian has received a Jewish heart.

The Palestinian baby, Musa (who you can see in the image above), is just six-months-old and was born with a variety of life-threatening conditions. The main condition being tumours surrounding his heart.

Musa was being treated in a Palestinian hospital in Ramallah but was transferred to Safra Children’s Hospital in Israel after Palestinian medical teams struggled to keep on top of the child’s conditions.

Musa’s new heart was given to him by a 17-month-old Jewish child who died of a chronic illness shortly after Musa arrived in Israel. The family agreed that Musa could have his heart.

One week after the surgery, Musa is still in a critical condition with a long road ahead of him, but it is amazing to think that this Palestinian child is bravely fighting for life with the help of a Jewish heart that is beating with all its strength to help him.

The Jewish News reported the following quotes from the Doctors and Musa’s family who are very grateful to both Israel and the Jewish family:

Dr David Mishaly, the chief surgeon at Sheba’s paediatric and congenital heart surgery unit, said: “There were several miracles associated with this complicated surgery. There is no such thing in the Palestinian Authority as an organ donor or organ waiting list.

“While organ donor and waiting lists exist in Israel, there was no Israeli baby on the waiting list when Musa was brought to Sheba in very critical condition.

“But by a miracle, Musa was able to receive a new heart from a Jewish child, whose parents had agreed a few hours earlier to the donation.”

Dr Mishaly added: “The transplant surgery was quite difficult because Musa was very sick to begin with. He survived the transplant, which is a miracle in itself. Though Musa has a chance of surviving, there are numerous complications that we will have  to deal with in the future.”

The baby has now made it through a week since the complex surgery and is “fighting for  his life”.

The staff, a mix of Jewish and Israeli Arab doctors and nurses, had worked “24/7” to save Musa’s life, said Dr Mishaly.

He said the team owed “a debt of gratitude to the Jewish parents of the child who died, and agreed to donate  his heart for this surgery. It was a challenge for us because we are all aware of the complications between Israel and the Palestinians. But at Sheba, there’s no politics. We are an island, an oasis of peace, where healing is the priority and everyone, regardless of who they are, is treated equally, dignity and respect.”

Musa’s grandmother said: “Our entire family is grateful for the heroic efforts by Dr Mishaly and the staff at Sheba to save my grandson.

“We hope this will create a more positive atmosphere between our two nations. We would like to meet the family of the Jewish child and thank them for their generosity”.