As an American doctor, I felt a mission to help Palestinians facing a collapsing health care system in Gaza. My first trip was in March, and before the Israel mission, I returned earlier this month for another mission. military attack on Rafah in southern Gaza; It was devastating. Now we have no way out.
of israel seizure The Rafah-Egypt border crossing is jeopardizing the planned departure of a medical team from Gaza on Monday in coordination with the World Health Organization.
We went to the European Hospital in Khan Yunis, near Rafah. When we leave and no new missions come in, the patients here will be abandoned and terrified.is more than 1 million people He took refuge in Rafah during Israel’s bombing of northern Gaza. hundreds of thousands of people They are now forced to evacuate the area Israeli attack here.
Patients often ask which hospital they should go to. They said some establishments were still open and asked my opinion on that. What should I say? Patients are well aware of destruction. Al Shifa and Nasser hospital. They know that patients have been killed with IV lines and catheters left in their bodies, and believe that if they become isolated and vulnerable to Israeli military attack, that is their fate. There is.
Meanwhile, limited humanitarian aid is coming in. Medical supplies entering Gaza often come with new volunteers. For this mission, he brought eight pieces of checked baggage packed full of wound care supplies. Patients come in with wounds to over 60% to 80% of their bodies, but they don’t even have the absorbent pads to keep the wounds dry, which is necessary to prevent hypothermia.
The Rafah invasion has also worsened the evacuation lives of both patients and medical staff’s families. Due to staff shortages at hospitals, family members are responsible for half of the nurses’ work. They help patients transition. They help change diapers. They transport the patient to the clinic and back to the ward. They feed them. Patients can’t be anywhere without their families.
I have no idea how these patients, especially those with limited mobility due to amputations, will survive if hospitals are abandoned or families are forced to evacuate. I imagine patients saying their final goodbyes to their loved ones.
Some doctors and nurses have been volunteering here for many years. Some of us have been to Gaza many times. But we continue to be shocked by its cruelty. We are not used to this level of carnage. Local staff are still in shock.
Local medical staff have avoided informing patients that our teams may have to evacuate before the next aid crew arrives for fear of causing mass panic. . No one likes to talk about evacuation. You can see they don’t want to use that word. Even if, as a doctor, I cannot save people due to limited resources, I can at least offer some protection as a foreigner, as a shield against possible massacre of my patients.
Despite the closure of the Rafah border, we continue to work with WHO on safe exit. However, on the scheduled retirement date, UN-marked vehicle shot at, foreign aid worker injured killed.
In the meantime, we will continue to see patients and provide care for as long as we are here.our organizationThe next team is waiting in Cairo, hoping to begin the mission.
I continue to be inspired by the tenacity of the people I have met. When some of my patients are under conscious sedation to get dressed, their inner world comes out and many call out to God.One patient repeated: Shahada — Evidence of Muslim faith. Another voice, a voice he had never heard before, raised his hands to the sky as he woke up and said: duaa prayer of supplication to God.
We hope that border crossings will reopen and new teams with more resources will arrive. I want a ceasefire to end this humanitarian disaster. For now, as long as I can testify to the strength of the people of Gaza and tell it to the world, I hope that I can be a part of these people who have given me more than I have given them. I feel honored.
Mahmoud Saba is a wound care physician originally from La Palma, California and living in Dallas..
