A doctor caught up in the hospital attack has spoken out against Israel’s constant targeting of health workers.
This is Dr. Muhammad Sucker seconds before the strike. He says medical workers and patients are living in fear of these Israeli attacks: “We all feel really scared. We all feel that our life like it is threatened. They kill without mercy. They don’t have any considerations regarding medical staff or humanitarian war. Uh the thing that really scare us that we feel that they have the desire of killing. You know when you have the desire of killing just you are attacking the humans, you’re attacking people without any consideration. To be clear, they could take away everything in our life. They destroyed the whole city. They took away our houses. They took away our relatives. They took away uh like u our health facilities. But uh I promise you and I promise all the audience uh uh that they won’t take away the love in our hearts. We will keep uh being a human. We will keep love in our hearts and they won’t ever get love out of our hearts.”
AJ:
Let’s bring in Anneliese Stephenson-Wenn. She’s a critical care nurse at Nasser Hospital.
Q:You’re joining us, Anneliese, from Khan Younis. Thanks for your time today. What’s the situation at Nasser today? We know the attacks hit the fourth floor where the ICU is as well as operating rooms?
Anneliese Stephenson-Wenn:
The situation here is very tense. A lot of the staff has suffered severe psychological trauma. Um, they already know that Israel has no regard for their lives and this has really just cemented that. um targeting the hospital, targeting civilians, targeting journalists, targeting healthcare workers. These are all war crimes and they’ve been repeated over and over again and Israel seems to be able to continue doing this with no repercussions. Uh and they will continue to do it if there is no outcry or if there is no strong stance from the international community.
Q: How are the doctors doing? How is the medical staff doing? your nurse colleagues doing the stress levels are very high here?
Anneliese Stephenson-Wenn:
They’re already living in catastrophic conditions themselves and having to come to work and fearing for their lives every day while they’re already fearing for their lives outside of the hospital is are conditions that are unsustainable. Nobody can live like this. They’re coming in after not eating. They’re coming in after not having uh potable water. They’re coming in after staying up all night listening to bomb strikes hitting all around them and wondering if they’re going to be the next one that’s hit and if they’re going to end up as a patient in their own hospital. They’re coming in to work and they’re wondering if one of the bomb strikes near them is going to hit one of their family members that are in the displacement tents that are sitting um all around the hospital.
Q: What about the patients? Because as yesterday’s attack not taught us but reminded us, it is possible for patients to be in the operating room and hit by a missile?
Anneliese Stephenson-Wenn:
Absolutely. Uh the operating room that was hit um is used frequently um and it was out of commission and the one of the other strikes also hit our one of our patient care areas with shrapnel um and injured many of the patients that were in that area. So even when patients come here after being attacked outside of the hospital, they’re still in fear for their lives when they’re in the hospital. Being here is no guarantee of safety and it’s no guarantee of help.
Q: I understand that among the many supplies, whether it’s medicine or other medical supplies that are either completely missing or that uh that that that are not sufficient. Um there’s the blood issue. You you guys at the hospital, the medical teams do not have enough blood to work with to help the patients. Tell us about that.
Anneliese Stephenson-Wenn:
That’s absolutely true. The malnutrition in this area has caused all of the blood supply that we would normally be able to get just from regular civilians in this area to uh dwindle to almost nothing. The hemoglobin levels that are needed in order to donate blood uh safely um are just not there. So, people that aren’t being fed aren’t able to produce enough healthy blood. When internationals come in, they’re encouraged to give blood as soon as they come in because obviously, we’re coming from out of this area. We we’re well fed. Um but that’s not enough of a supply. The number of people that are able to donate blood here is not sustainable for the number of traumas that we see, for the massive bleeds that we see from the bombings, from the gunshots, from getting crushed by these aid trucks that are driving through um from the um explosive injuries that we see. The amount of massive internal bleeding that we have to treat is just impossible to do with the blood supplies that are available. On top of that, we don’t even have supplies to keep patients properly clean. So, if they survive the initial bomb blasts, if we’re able to stabilize them and we’re able to take care of them in critical care or our medical units, there’s not enough soap to keep them clean, to keep them from getting infections. There’s not enough nutrition for us to help them to close their wounds. The conditions in the hospital are catastrophic. There’s no way for patients to heal in this environment.
Q: Anneliese, I understand it is your first time in the Gaza Strip after all this destruction, after all the devastation, after 22 months of war. You’re walking in, I guess, being driven into the Gaza Strip for the very first time, laying eyes on all of it. What are your first impressions?
Anneliese Stephenson-Wenn:
It was … I don’t have words for what we first saw, especially after having driven through Israel and seeing that there are fields full of produce maybe a half an hour from the Kissufim crossing where we entered and then the stark contrast between the outside in Israel and then going through the barrier into Gaza where it’s just been decimated. It looks like somebody’s just come in and just crushed the entire area. Um, it looks apocalyptic. Um, and the stark contrast between both sides from Israel into Gaza, it’s it’s incredible. Um, and it’s horrifying. The fact that this has been done in such a targeted and such an exact way um just to destroy Gaza and all of these buildings is is horrific.
AJ: Anneliese Stephenson-Wenn you’re a critical care nurse at Nasser Hospital, the very hospital that was attacked yesterday, those two strikes which killed at least 20 people there uh in Khan Younis in southern Gaza. Thank you very much for joining us on the Al Jazeera NewsHour.