Shared from the site of Voices for Creative Non Violence, at
http://vcnv.org/left-speechless .
Left Speechless
Doctors and Medics Operate Under Fire and Siege in Gaza
December 5, 2012
Gaza City- Dr. Majdi Na’eim worked for eight consecutive days at
Al-Shifa Hospital throughout Israel’s “Pillar of Cloud” operation in the
Gaza strip. With hundreds of wounded pouring into the emergency room,
there was no time for him and many of his colleagues to even leave the
hospital. On the final and one of the most brutal days of the assault,
Israel targeted Ni’ma tower in Gaza City. Dr. Na’eim was in the
emergency room aiding physicians when he learned that one of the
arriving casualties was his two year old son, Abdel Rahman Na’eim.
Imagine a father’s horror and instant grief. At his son’s wake, Dr.
Na’eim
told friends and family who were seeking to comfort him, “I’m terribly sorry. I’m unable to talk about anything.”
Walid al Nassasra Stands next to the Former Home of His Brother near Rafah: photo by Johnny Barber
Gazans in the medical field have been working in unimaginable circumstances for years. During Israel’s
Operation Cast Lead,
“17 health personnel were killed and 26 injured. In total, 29
ambulances were damaged or destroyed by bombs or crushed by armoured
vehicles, while 48 per cent of Gaza’s 122 health facilities were either
directly or indirectly hit by shelling.” On November 29th, 2012, Bashar
Abu Murad, head of emergency and rescue services at the Palestine Red
Crescent, sat down with our delegation and gave us a first-hand account
of the January 15th, 2009, attack on Al-Quds hospital. He described the
panic as the hospital sustained two white phosphorus blasts from Israeli
forces. A massive fire broke out after the first munitions were
launched. It took six hours to squelch the fire with only water and
sand bags. Workers frantically scrambled to evacuate patients and others
who were taking refuge. Meanwhile, a journalist hid under the table.
Bashar personally carried three people from the intensive care unit to
safety. Though the first fire was eventually stopped, the hospital was
rendered useless after a second shelling of white phosphorus.
Our conversation moved to the experiences of this war. Though Al-Quds
hospital was not directly attacked this time and the doctors there had
not seen evidence of injuries from white phosphorus, they described
third degree burns and amputations caused from Israel’s “non-lethal”
warning bombs and the many casualties from larger missiles fired from
F16s financed by the United States. Bashar spoke of the difficulties of
functioning as a medical service in a society under siege. Emergency
medical technicians must improvise without basic supplies like gauze for
the injured and enough body bags for the intake of casualties. Field
medics and emergency medical technicians have limited contact with the
hospitals because the blockade restricts them to having only
insufficient analogue radios instead of modern digital communications
technology. Al-Quds was running off of a gas generator due to the
unstable supply of electricity. The hospital had just attained a three
month buffer supply of basic medicines, all of which were depleted in
the conflict. Abu Murad continued, “It is hard to even think clearly in
these conditions. All 1.5 million Gazans are suffering from PTSD from
this war.” The doctors were not excluded from his statement.
Later that afternoon, we interviewed two young ambulance drivers,
Shadi al Tayef and Aadl el Azbot. We asked them how they summoned the
courage to carry on in this work during the recent war after ambulances
were targeted in Operation Cast Lead. Shadi replied, “This war was not
unfamiliar from the last. In the final days, the streets were empty.
Everyone was waiting in their houses. We do it only because we care
about saving the people. It is all for the people.” Aadl continues to
drive ambulances and is not deterred even though he was previously
injured by shrapnel when the Israelis fired upon a site for the second
time after the emergency vehicles arrived. According to the drivers,
the Israeli military had to be aware of the emergency medics’ presence,
not only from the elaborate surveillance systems comprised of drones and
hot-air balloons equipped with cameras, but also because they must
first coordinate every rescue mission with the Red Cross which is in
direct contact with the Israeli military. Ambulance workers have often
been denied access to sites until it is too late to save the wounded,
only to be fired upon after receiving clearance. “We are still
suffering from trauma even up to this moment,” Aadl declared anxiously.
The Red Crescent society does offer psychological services to its
employees, but it hard to conceive that it can keep up with the level of
need. Six ambulances were destroyed and seven workers were injured
during the “Pillar of Cloud” conflict. “We must cope with the situation
at work, but we are given space to be human and take time at home,”
Shadi asserted.
Countries and organizations sympathetic to Gazans working under fire
have extended medical and financial solidarity to provide services to
the population and rebuild facilities. Around the corner from Al-Quds,
we toured a Moroccan military field hospital which was set up just days
after the major hostilities ended. Initially, we were somewhat
intimidated by the long lines, tight Moroccan security surrounding the
compound and the foreboding looking communications director. Wearing
opaque sun glasses, full army fatigues and towering over six feet tall,
this public relations representative looked more like a commander than a
humanitarian worker. We were put at ease when he welcomed us proudly,
“Ahlan wa Sahlan,”and readily introduced us to the primary physician.
Dr. Hassan Ismael explained that the Moroccan King ordered the
hospital to be equipped with 26 doctors and 15 specialists. As of the
4th of December, the doctors had been working for nine days, seeing over
4000 people and providing over 6000 services for no cost to the
patients. Services include treatment for severe burns and broken bones,
emergency surgical operations and the dispensing of medicines, many of
which were not regularly available in Gaza. The doctors were also happy
to provide care for illnesses not related to the war. We met with a
refugee, originally from Jaffa, who received injections for severe
arthritis. She stood up immediately, waving her arms emphatically.
“These doctors are from God… A gift from the God!” she repeats.
Nearby, a father from Khan Younis finally found appropriate treatment
for his epileptic son.
It was impressive to see the quality and efficiency of what was
taking place in the field hospital when the military infrastructure,
which is so often used by the majority of countries for nothing more
than a tool of domination and destruction, was converted to serve human
needs. When much of the world stood by silently and watched, Moroccans
also set up a similar medical camp and provided financial aid to rebuild
Al-Quds hospital after Operation Cast Lead.
Members from the international emergency delegation to Gaza reached
out to their circles to raise around 25,000 dollars for medication to
give to Gazan hospitals. Though the doctors and administrators we
encountered were grateful for the donations and gestures, they
emphasized that the problem that Gaza is facing is primarily political.
They desire an end to the siege, occupation, military incursions and the
right to self- determination, among other concrete demands. They
welcomed support, but they do not want to be reliant upon international
aid. They have the training, knowledge and dedication to do their jobs
well and to be self-sufficient. Dr. Khalil Abu-Foul, a spokesperson for
the Red Crescent, gave us a reality check, “You are our eyes in your
country. These rockets are from your country. Just send the facts, it’s
enough.”
Sitting with families over the past week, most of whom have “facts on
the ground” and stories every degree as distressing as that of Dr.
Majdi Na’eim’s tragic loss of his son, I have often felt a complete lack
of words. What can one say when visiting the home and farm of Walid
and Tawqfiq al Nassasra, Bedouin farmers and brothers living near
Rafah? On November 19th at 10 PM, an Israeli war plane targeted
Tawqfiq’s tin-roof home. The house was completely destroyed leaving a
massive crater in the ground. Tawqfiq’s two teenage sons, Ahmed and
Mohamed, were both killed. They did not suffer any bone fractures. The
pressure from the bomb caused their internal organs to explode. It is
amazing there were any survivors. Tawqfiq is still hospitalized, while
his wife was blinded and his young daughter was severely burned. What
apologies will matter to the wife or daughter, who are now permanently
disfigured and disabled, whose tearful gazes pierced our lifeless
cameras and shredded our notebooks full of numbers and statistics? What
prospects for recovery or receiving advanced treatment do they have
while Gaza is still under siege? I grasped for some condolence. The
words are insufficient. We all have a responsibility to take stronger
actions so that these tragedies will never happen again.
Joshua Brollier is a co-coordinates Voices for Creative Nonviolence. He can be reached at joshua@vcnv.org.
Karl Marx, 1818–1883...
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