Three Israeli judges will hear a case this week brought on behalf of a six-year-old Palestinian girl who was paralysed from the neck down in an Israeli missile attack.

The High Court judges will be asked to decide whether the Israeli government should help Marya Aman, from Gaza, who depends on a life-support machine, by allowing her to stay in Israel with continuing financial support from the authorities. Her supporters say if she loses the case it will amount to a death sentence.

Marya, who has been sustained in part by donations of more than £38,000 from readers of The Sunday Times, has chosen to attend the hearing in person.

Two years ago an Israeli plane targeted a vehicle in Gaza and killed a Palestinian militant. But the blast also hit the Amans’ car, killing Marya’s mother and grandmother, her elder brother and her uncle.

She was discharged from the Alin hospital in Jerusalem last year but cannot leave because the authorities refuse to grant her residency, although they bear the £10,000-a-month cost of her hospital bills and school fees.

Cheques to Marya Aman Appeal can be sent c/o Foreign Desk, The Sunday Times, 1 Pennington Street, London E98 1ST

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