BERLIN- With the power out, the water off, medical supplies short and hundreds of war injured and sheltering Palestinians crowding the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, Ahmed Abunada was faced with impossible choices.
“Who do I let die, this woman or that man?… I do not have the time to do reconstructive surgery on this child, I will have to amputate,” said the 47-year-old surgeon, who left Gaza earlier this month to escape the fighting between Israel and Hamas.
“These are very difficult decisions for a doctor,” said the German doctor of Palestinian origin.
Abunada was received on Friday by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier along with seven of his compatriots, who were evacuated from the Gaza Strip when the Rafah border crossing between the Palestinian territory and Egypt was opened to foreign nationals.
“We were operating on the floor, on gurneys. There were no beds left,” he told AFP about his time in the hospital.
“The week that I left the hospital, the situation got worse. We had no more electricity, no more water, no more oxygen,” he said. Without oxygen, it was no longer possible for Abunada to operate. “That is why I left, on the 28th day of the conflict.”
Al-Shifa, the largest hospital in the Gaza Strip, was a key focus for the Israeli military, who said Hamas used a tunnel complex under the compound to stage attacks — a claim the Palestinian militants and hospital officials denied.
“I worked there as a doctor and I did not notice anything like that,” Abunada said, when asked about Hamas’s alleged presence at the facility.
Last week, the hospital’s director Mohammad Abu Salmiya, who has been frequently quoted by international media about conditions inside the complex, was arrested by Israeli forces.
“I hope they free him soon,” said Abunada.
‘Too loud to sleep’
Abunada, who did his medical studies in Germany, has lived in Gaza for the last eight years with his wife and four children, one of whom was injured before the family’s departure.
The war was triggered when Hamas gunmen stormed across the border into Israel, killing some 1,200 people and abducting around 240 others, according to Israeli officials.
Israel, which has vowed to destroy Hamas, responded with persistent bombardments and a ground campaign, which have killed nearly 15,000 people, according to Hamas officials.
As the head of vascular surgery at Al-Shifa, Abunada barely had time to rest after the war started. “Naturally, I had to have breaks to sleep. But sleeping without being able to lie down is difficult,” he said. He added: “The bombardments were everywhere. It was too loud to sleep.”
On Friday, Abunada gave his account to the German president and asked for more aid to enter Gaza. “I called for the creation of a medical air bridge from Germany” to deliver supplies, the surgeon said.
“There are lots of German doctors of Palestinian origin. They could be made available and could help.”
Not all members of Abunada’s family have left the Gaza Strip. “My mother is there, she is 85. I worry about her a lot.”
The elderly woman fled her home in Gaza to the south during the war on foot, he said.
WHO voices concern over fate of Al-Shifa hospital chief
The World Health Organization voiced concern on Friday about the fate of the head of Gaza City’s Al-Shifa hospital, whom Israeli forces detained over the facility’s alleged use by Hamas.
The WHO said in a statement that the chief of the biggest hospital in the besieged Palestinian territory had been arrested on Wednesday along with five other health workers, while they were taking part in a UN mission to evacuate patients. “Three medical personnel from the Palestine Red Crescent Society and three from the Ministry of Health were detained,” the WHO said.
Since then two of the six have reportedly been released, but “we do not have information about the well-being of the four remaining health staff, including the director of Al-Shifa hospital,” the statement added. The UN agency called for “their legal and human rights to be fully observed during their detention.”
A spokesperson for the Israeli army said on Saturday that hospital director Mohammad Abu Salmiya was being questioned. “We are currently moving forward with… questioning him over the fact that he was the head of a hospital that was really sitting on top of an entire terror network,” Doron Spielman said.
“How could he not know what’s happening? We have hostages that were on, you know, CCTV in his hospital.”
Abu Salmiya has been frequently quoted by international media about the conditions inside Al-Shifa, a major focus of the Israeli ground offensive following attacks by Hamas militants on October 7.
The Israeli army, which raided the hospital last week, has alleged that Hamas fighters used a tunnel complex beneath the facility in Gaza City to stage attacks. Hamas and hospital officials have repeatedly denied the claims.
The WHO has carried out three missions to Al-Shifa in the space of a week, the organisation has said, on one occasion managing to evacuate 31 babies from the hospital.
During the third mission on Wednesday, which was carried out in cooperation with the Palestine Red Crescent, 151 people were evacuated, including patients, their relatives and healthcare workers, according to the WHO. (AFP)
Follow this link to join our WhatsApp group: Join Now
Be Part of Quality Journalism |
Quality journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce and despite all the hardships we still do it. Our reporters and editors are working overtime in Kashmir and beyond to cover what you care about, break big stories, and expose injustices that can change lives. Today more people are reading Kashmir Observer than ever, but only a handful are paying while advertising revenues are falling fast. |
| ACT NOW |
| MONTHLY | Rs 100 |  |
| YEARLY | Rs 1000 | |
| LIFETIME | Rs 10000 | |
