Doctors Speak Out About Gaza Conditions

On January 15th, 2024 Martin Luther King's Day, Union Square (New York) was filled with hundreds people (reported by the NY Post that the number swelled to thousands) to march in the “Flood Manhattan for Gaza March for Healthcare.” There were young, old and in between ages braving the bitter cold to listen to healthcare workers talk about the conditions in Gaza and demanding a ceasefire, an end to the occupation and to let humanitarian aid enter Gaza.

It was stated that presently, 31,000 people have been killed in Gaza, and 12,000 of them have been children, a little over 1/3 of all the people that have died. At least 10 children on average per day will lose a limb. There had been 36 hospitals in Gaza, and now they are only 6 left. There are 400,000 people in Gaza that have contracted infectious diseases. There is no potable water, no food, and bombs keep coming down without end.

Letters were read from doctors on the ground in Gaza telling of the horrific conditions that they are witnessing and working under. The doctors themselves have been fired upon while working in the ECU, and they have had to leave the patients behind while they ran for cover. One doctor wrote how charred babies have been brought in, one so badly burned and he couldn’t believe the child was still breathing, but he had no morphine to give the baby to relieve the horrific pain. They are bandaging some children that have lost both their arms. A doctor wrote how he had to treat a child with head injuries that was infested with worms in it. The doctors are having to perform surgeries in operating rooms with blood on the floor. Children walk around dazed, and are vomiting because of infections. Gaza itself was described that it looked like something out of the apocalypse. The doctors are working with no morphine, and no plasma. To date 337 hospital workers have been killed (more than the total number of healthcare worker deaths from all the conflicts last year, or in any year since 2016 – according to the Medical Aid for Palestine 19, Dec 2023 – quoting the UN).

A New York doctor that spoke said how he has patients that have to live under bridges, and on the street, and yet the U.S. sends billions of dollars to Israel so people can be killed. He quoted Rev. Martin Luther King and said that “Imperialism, Militarism and Racism are intertwined, and you cannot do away with one without doing away with the others, because they support one another.”

Lastly, I want to mention that a doctor in Gaza wrote and wanted it known that the people of Gaza are like any other people with dreams and aspirations, and they are not numbers, they are human beings.

Based on what has been reported there will be many more deaths as a result of the created conditions. If you have people without food, water, and no sanitation diseases will break out and many more will die. Already 400,000 have contracted infectious diseases, and the doctors said people will be start dying from things they normally would survive because of the lack of these most basic needs. This is a perfect storm for many people to die without any shots being needed to be fired. A very convenient way for a country to stop bombing, or shooting and to still achieve the goal of having people die on masse, and be distant enough from it to say these are the outcomes of war. What is war? According to the dictionary it is an armed conflict between two nations, or entities even within a nation. I don’t know that any of the Palestinian children have killed anyone, and yet they continue to be attacked and to be made into bloody fodder in this conflict.

This is not an isolated tactic of creating catastrophic conditions that will cause death. When Puerto Rico was hit by hurricane Maria, it was not the winds or the water that killed over 3,000 people, it was lack of potable water, food, and the lack of access to medical care. And all of this happened when there was more than ample food, and supplies sent to help Puerto Rico, but the appropriate actions needed for their distribution were not taken. Needed food, water and medical supplies are being prevented from entering Gaza. But the biggest question is why are they continuing to bomb? What is the goal? If it is to kill the people, regardless if they get Hamas, then that is being achieved.

The doctors are speaking out because they are seeing firsthand the reality of the bloody hell that is being rained down on these people. These stories need to be told. There were 12,000 children that were like yours and mine, children that were gifts from God, and all they wanted was to love, be loved and be cared for, and they are now dead. This didn’t have to happen. Violence is a choice.

Was Hamas wrong? Yes, they were wrong. Violence begets violence. And, so it has. Does being more brutal and violent solve the problem? No, it does not, it only exacerbates it. I grew up with the words “Never again,” in regards to the Holocaust. And yet, here we are again. There needs to be an end to this bloody extermination. Some people’s lives are not of more value than another’s. We are all God’s children, and the death of 12,000 children and the maiming of countless more is not what God wants or the continuance of this bloodshed.