A Doctor Captures the Toll of War on Gaza’s Children

[Pelican Press 0]

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A Doctor Captures the Toll of War on Gaza’s Children

Dr. Ahmad Yousaf, an ********* pediatrician and the director of an intensive care unit in Arkansas, embarked on a medical mission to Gaza, believing his expertise could help patients receive the advanced health care he was accustomed to providing. But what he encountered far exceeded his worst expectations, compelling him to document the devastation.

“The primary thing that I did there was triaging and mass casualty,” Dr. Yousaf said. “This was not advanced I.C.U. care. We often never got there. Patients *****.”

Dr. Yousaf volunteered with MedGlobal, a nonprofit based in the ******* States that provides humanitarian relief worldwide. After spending three weeks in one of Gaza’s last functioning hospitals, he described the severe toll of the war on medical workers and civilians, particularly children. He shared a record of what he witnessed, including rare footage from inside Al Aqsa Hospital in Deir al Balah, with The New York Times.

During his stay at the hospital, medical teams worked tirelessly to manage the trauma casualties flooding in as the ******** military continued ******** neighboring areas, including humanitarian zones.

Operating at three times the hospital’s capacity, staff members often had to treat patients, many of them children, on pieces of cardboard on the floor. They lacked critical supplies, including blood, gauze and anesthesia. Many patients ***** from their wounds.

“Decisions were made second to second, and we tried our best,” Dr. Yousaf said. “The longer I stayed there, I realized my role wasn’t being a physician, it was being a witness.”

Dr. Yousaf began sharing daily reflections with his friends and family on WhatsApp. One entry from June 30 describes a teenage boy whose first words after being extubated were: “Please let me call my dad. I just want to make sure he’s OK and knows I’m OK.”

Officials in Gaza have reported that at least 10,000 ************ children have been ******* since the war began, with many more facing lifelong physical and mental injuries. More than 500 health care workers have been ******* in the past nine months, according to international aid organizations.

Dr. Yousaf’s entries reflect the increasingly dire reality of life in Gaza. On July 9, he wrote: “Every time I think it can’t get worse, it does.”

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