Eyewitness accounts surfacing from Gaza's hospitals are harrowing and disturbing. An entire generation of doctors and health care workers has been targeted in this War on Hospitals. #NotATarget . A 🧵
A painful number of my close friends and colleagues were killed by Israeli strikes. They were not just doctors, but leaders who chose to be in Gaza and build a top notch health care system.
Dr. Medhat Mheisen was the first doctor I met in Gaza - a dentist who believed in what I was doing and made sure I landed on my feet. He took over admin of Wafa Hospital - completely destroyed by Israel in 2014 - because others wouldn't. He was killed in the hospital on Nov 17.
Dr. Rafat Lubbad was killed shortly after. He was a titan of internal medicine, a visionary who patiently corrected me in matters of medicine in the ER & strategy outside of it. When he was killed, he was building an international conference of experts to share medical knowledge
Dr. Hammam Alloh was killed when he went to check on his family between shifts at Shifa Hospital. He was pure of heart and clear of mind, gearing up for the prime years of his life and building a subspeciality nephrology program. He leaves a wife and three children.
Dr. Maisara Al Rayyes found me in the ER when he was a second year medical student because he heard I could teach point of care ultrasound. When he was killed, Maisara was better than me at POCUS. His smile will haunt and comfort me until the day I die.
Maisara was killed by an Israeli strike on November 5. His brothers were killed several days later while trying to pull his body from the rubble.
Dima Alhaj was one of my favourites at the WHO office. She always had a secret stash of sweets and alternated between advice on the best food shops and inside-out knowledge of needs of the health system. She was killed with 50 family and community members, including her 6 mo baby
These are my stories of some of my friends. Every health care worker killed has a story. Look at them. All of their deaths are stains on our collective consciousness, and very likely meet definitions of war crimes.
Israel has already arrested - and is almost certainly torturing - doctors as well. I know all of the Shifa-based doctors who were arrested very well. They are my close friends and colleagues. Based on Israel's pattern of behaviour, they are being abused as we speak.
Part of any genocide is not just killing people, but killing leaders and destroying the future. We must continue our calls for the death and killing to stop. We must also commit to participating in the rebuilding of Gaza once this war ends. Until then, #NotATarget
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