US doctors who served in Gaza treated 'children shot in head every day'

After witnessing the horrors of the conflict, 99 medics press the Biden administration to stop sending weapons to Israel

Injured children are carried into Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the aftermath of an Israeli strike on October 2. Ramadan Abed / Reuters

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Dr Feroze Sidhwa has worked in a number of global hot zones, including Ukraine – but he says he has never seen anything like what he saw during his time in Gaza.

“Absolutely nothing compares to the Gaza Strip, I mean, absolutely nothing,” the trauma and critical care surgeon told The National of his time working at the European Hospital in Khan Younis this spring.

Dr Sidhwa said that "in terms of sheer ferocity in violence", especially that directed at children, "I've never seen anything like Gaza".

"That was shocking to see."

He was one of 99 American physicians, surgeons, nurses and other medical workers who issued a letter this week calling for an international arms embargo on Israel and Palestinian armed groups.

The health workers wrote they are “among the only neutral observers who have been permitted to enter the Gaza Strip since October 7", with a combined 254 weeks in the enclave, to discuss the “massive human toll from Israel's attack on Gaza”.

More than 41,700 people have died since Israel launched military operations in Gaza, along with 96,790 people injured, according to the local health ministry. The physicians argue this is an undercount.

The medical professionals wrote that they saw widespread malnutrition, stillbirths, maternal deaths, jaundice, surgical infections and severe trauma among patients and Palestinian colleagues.

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Every signatory who volunteered in emergency, intensive care or surgical settings in Gaza claimed to have seen children “who were shot in the head or chest on a regular or even a daily basis”, the letter read, arguing it is “impossible” to consider it “accidental or unknown” to Israeli authorities.

Dr Sidhwa said that he “saw a child shot in the head, literally every day” during his time in Gaza this March and April, and that “almost all of them went on to die”.

The medical workers also saw a lack of basic sanitary supplies, surgical equipment, medication, antibiotics and potable water.

Dr Sidhwa described overfilled hospital rooms and corridors, as well as thousands of displaced people outside.

He said that “the need is so massive … there's a line of people out the door that need surgery”, estimating it would have taken “three weeks” just to get through wound care in the hospital if a ceasefire had been reached when he was there.

“It's the totality of the environment that you walk into, and it's just after you're there, even just for two or three days, it's just striking how extreme the environment is,” Dr Sidhwa said. “It's how inhospitable to life it actually is … it has been deliberately made.”

The signatories also sent letters to Canadian and British leaders, and they have requested a meeting with US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

“What I would tell the Biden-Harris administration is that we are not going to stop talking about this,” Dr Sidhwa said.

“We want to tell them, listen, please, listen: We saw these kids shot in the head with our own eyes. We saw plenty of other violence that had to be deliberately directed at women and especially at children.”

People sleeping in the corridors of European Hospital of Gaza this spring. Photo: Dr Feroze Sidhwa

The American doctors say that US and international humanitarian laws have been violated in Gaza, and that an arms embargo would help halt the suffering.

“If you want the hostages back – arms embargo; if you want Gaza to be reconstructed at some point in the next 100 years – arms embargo; if you don't want a war between Israel and Iran – arms embargo; if you don't want to know a war between Israel and Hezbollah – arms embargo,” Dr Sidhwa said.

“It's not complicated. There is nothing that leads to any kind of peace other than an arms embargo. It's so obvious.”

Dr Sidhwa said that there would be electoral consequences for Ms Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, if the Biden administration does not change its policy on Israel.

Ms Harris has said she will not support an embargo.

“It is very possible that this will cost you [Ms Harris] the election … I can't force you to change your policy, but I am not going to stop talking about this, and neither are any of the rest of us. And … if you lose Michigan, you lose the election,” Dr Sidhwa said.

A recent poll of the Arab-American community showed that Gaza is a top concern, and many voters in the demographic live in swing states vital for an electoral win.

A CBS News and YouGov poll in June found that most US adults believe Mr Biden should encourage Israel to either decrease or stop its military action in Gaza, and 61 per cent said the US should not send weapons and supplies to the country.

When asked if he would speak with Republican nominee Donald Trump's campaign, given the opportunity, Dr Sidhwa responded: “Oh, yeah, absolutely. If [Israeli Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu wants to sit down with me, I will do it.

“I'm a doctor. I'm not a politician … I just want this madness to end.”