Christiane Amanpour interviewing Dr. Khamis Elessi, Professor of neuro rehabilitation and evidence-based pain medicine. AMANPOUR: And here’s just one scene unfolding in Gaza. A warning that the footage is graphic and upsetting. This is in a morgue overwhelmed with the dead. The Palestinian ministry of health says more than 800 people have been killed and more than 4,000 injured. This was the funeral procession today for two local Palestinian journalists who lost their lives in an airstrike. People on the ground are in a constant state of fear for what may be coming.
AMANPOUR: As Gaza is under siege, which the U.N. Human Rights Commission says is prohibited under international law, and you heard us — heard me talk to the former prime minister about this who says that they are doing everything they can to warn civilians inside Gaza.
AMANPOUR: So, let us go to a Dr. Khamis Elessi. Welcome to the program from Gaza City. Dr. Elessi, can you tell me what kind of warnings, what kind of time you have to escape? What are you doing under this current circumstance?
DR. KHAMIS ELESSI, PROFESSOR OF NEUROREHABILITATION AND EVIDENCE-BASED PAIN MEDICINE: Yes. Thank you so much for inviting me in, into your program. Well, the warning, usually people receive before their home is being demolished or before the building is being toppled down is a rocket from the military jets. So, it’s a small sized rocket that causes some issue — to maybe one floor or two floors.
And within 10 minutes, then the second rocket. It depends on the pilot and it depends on the one who is taking the — giving the orders, whether he will give 10 minutes or five minutes or sometimes one minute only.
This warning, you just run away with your kids. And sometimes people run away without taking their kids, because she’s able to carry one with her, but others are in the other room or in the second floor or in the third floor, no time, and the house will be demolished on top of them.
This is — if it’s — the pilots who is planning to bring down this building have some mercy on those people. But the many occasions, especially yesterday and the day before and today, so many buildings were brought down to the ground without any prior warning, and that blows up the number of Palestinian deaths from 400 yesterday to 870 today, including seven journalists. Three of them were trying to video a building which was hosting international news agencies, and they threatened in that building. They’ve given them 20 minutes to evacuate. Imagine to evacuate a 12-story building in 20 minutes. This is unbelievable.
And while trying to film this building from far away, the F-16 targeted those journalists, killing three of them today. This will add up to the other five who were killed in the other two days. And this will add up to the eight paramedics and one doctor who were killed in the previous three days.
AMANPOUR: Dr. Elessi, let me just ask a question here. There’s also, as you’ve heard and as the Israeli defense minister announced yesterday, a complete siege of Gaza. No food, electricity, fuel, water. That’s what the Israelis themselves announced.
DR. ELESSI: Yes.
AMANPOUR: Are you experiencing that lack yet? What is the situation in terms of food and water?
DR. ELESSI: Totally. To be honest with you, since 17 years, we are experiencing lack. And this, as a doctor and as a fellow of Oxford University evidence-based medicine, I can speak with numbers. We’ve been experiencing this for the last 17 years. We have a population of children under five suffering severe anemia. And this percentage reach 6 to 7 percent of all children suffering from severe anemia. Can you imagine? This will lead to something and a problem with growth.
65 percent of all childbearing women suffering from anemia. 70 percent of Palestinians suffering from malnutrition because not enough food is coming into Gaza. And we are not allowed to import from other countries aside from Israel.
But the good thing, maybe two years ago, three years ago, Egypt started sending some fruits and vegetables into Gaza. And this time, alleviated the problem on availability of these crops. But again, medicine, since 15 years until this moment, the essentials which contain drugs for kidney dialysis, cardiac patients, cancer problems, and these things is zero stock. 50%, imagine. When you’re speaking about 2020, 2022, and you have 50% of all essential drugs are lacking. So, people are dying.
With this siege, we have more than 570 individual civilians inside while waiting to get their meds to go out to Gaza. But this will never justify the killing or oppression of any civilian, whether it’s Palestinians, Israeli, Indian, American. So, no one will justify this. And tackling the root cause of the issue, I think, will lead to a lasting solution, which is ending the occupation and giving the Palestinian people their rights for self-independence and for self-determination, because this occupation is a long-lasting occupation ever been in history.
It’s been 75 years Palestinian were killed, we maimed, were imprisoned. We have our children under the age of 10 put on solitary isolation in prisons until they reach the age of 17 and then they are sentenced to life imprisonment or maybe 15 years, 20 years in prison.
So, I think, Palestinians have suffered a lot. Palestinians have endured wars repeatedly over the last 15 years, more than six wars and more than seven incursions, which lead to the death of more than 12,000 Palestinians over the last 10 years and more than 100,000 injuries.
AMANPOUR: Yes. Mr. Elessi — Dr. Elessi, can I ask you —
DR. ELESSI: Yes.
AMANPOUR: Can I just ask you on this issue.
DR. ELESSI: I wanted to give you a glimpse —
AMANPOUR: Yes.
DR. ELESSI: — our health system here.
AMANPOUR: Yes.
DR. ELESSI: Unfortunately, many of the medical equipment right here is not functioning well. So, it needs spare parts, but they are not allowed in. Many of the medicines are not available. Many hospitals have been demolished.
Yesterday, demolished the Al-Ahli hospital, the Al-Ahli international hospital. Part of Shifa neonatal unit was demolished. Part of a medical center in Al Shifa was demolished when they bombed the building. So, these acts will only breed more violence. Because violence breeds violence. I think the only solution is a peaceful solution is a diplomatic solution.