Gaza’s medical teams are faced with the horror of finding relatives among the victims
In the emergency department of Nasser Hospital in the Gaza Strip, which is being subjected to heavy Israeli bombing, doctor Mahmoud Al-Astal was treating those wounded in one of the strikes when a colleague informed him that his sister and her entire family had died.
The 34-year-old emergency medicine doctor told Agence France-Presse at the main hospital in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, “I went to the morgue and found her charred and in pieces.”
He explains, “On the third day of the war, while I was working in the emergency room at Nasser Hospital, I discovered that my sister, her husband, and her children were a martyr.”
Israel began bombing the Gaza Strip on October 7, after an unprecedented attack by Hamas inside Israeli territory.
The strike caused damage to several homes and completely destroyed the home of his sister, Sadfa Al-Astal (40 years old), who died with her husband Hussein, their two daughters Fadwa (13 years old) and Azar (6 years old), and their two sons Ahmed (12 years old) and Suleiman (eight years old). He confirms, “Since my sister’s martyrdom, I have had nightmares… The nightmares do not leave me. I imagine that my sons Muhammad and Suleiman or my daughter Munira will come in pieces to the hospital.”
He goes on to say: “My children’s dream was to travel… Now I don’t know whether they will emerge from the war alive.” Despite the tragedy he experienced, the doctor confirms, “This affects us, but there is no choice but to work and serve the injured to save them.”
The smell of death
Walaa Abu Mustafa (33 years old) also works as an emergency doctor in the same hospital. She discovered with horror that her aunt Samira Abu Mustafa (38 years old), her husband Tawfiq (40 years old), and their son Sharif (15 years old) were among “dozens” of victims of an Israeli strike who arrived at dawn. Friday, to the hospital.
She explained that her aunt and son were dead when they arrived at the hospital, while her husband died shortly after. She says, “My cousin’s body parts were wrapped in a sheet.” The doctor adds with difficulty, “I cannot speak. I am shocked by what happened. My aunt is like my mother. My mother loves her very much,” but she confirms, “I will continue my work because it is my duty and there are no doctors.”
Her colleague, pulmonologist Raed Al-Astal, was in the hospital on Monday when he received a call from his wife telling him that a raid had targeted a building opposite their apartment in the Al-Mahatta neighborhood in Khan Yunis.
He says, “My aunt, her husband, her daughters, my cousin’s wife, and her son were martyred,” explaining that he rushed to the emergency department, where the bodies were transferred. The doctor adds, “The smell of death is in every alley, neighborhood, and house… The attacks and crimes are fierce.”
The Israeli raids caused the deaths of more than 7,300 Palestinians, the vast majority of them civilians, including more than 3,000 children, according to the Ministry of Health of the Hamas government.
The continuous retaliatory bombing began after the Palestinian movement launched an unprecedented attack on Israeli territory, which led to the killing of more than 1,400 people, the majority of whom were civilians, according to Israeli officials.
2023-10-28 07:16:32
#Egyptian #Ministry #Health #injured #explosive #object #fell #Taba
