Palestinians receive medical care at the European Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on Friday.
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AFP via Getty Images
Palestinians receive medical care at the European Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on Friday.
AFP via Getty Images
Dr. Adam Hamawy, an American doctor currently in Gaza and a former U.S. Army combat surgeon, said he had “never witnessed in my career the level of atrocities and conduct against my medical colleagues that we saw in Gaza.” “.
Hamawi told NPR’s Danielle Kurtzleben that he and his colleagues were supposed to leave Gaza earlier this week but were prevented from doing so. “We were told that our security corridor had not been cleared and that we should not leave the compound. If we did so, we would do so at our own risk and we would become a legitimate target for the Israeli military.”
Hamawi was part of a team of Palestinian American Medical Association health care professionals who traveled to the Gaza Strip on May 1 to work on one of the few remaining functioning hospitals in the area, Khan Yoh in southern Gaza Strip. European hospitals near Nice provided assistance.
Seventeen of the 20 American doctors trapped in Gaza left on Friday after negotiations between U.S. and Israeli authorities allowed some doctors to leave, NBC reported.
Hamawi decided to stay. In a statement shared with NPR, he said, “I want our president to know that we are not safe. When I got the call to evacuate, I was given the choice to either evacuate and leave my team behind, or stay with them.
Hamawi did not disclose to NPR the nationality or number of remaining team members.
Hamawi told Kutzleben that the situation in Gaza was different from other conflicts he had been involved in because he was primarily treating civilians, not combatants. “What I saw were mostly children, a lot of women, a lot of old people – they had absolutely nothing to do with the war. And I saw very, very few people of fighting age.”
Hamawi also advocates for safer conditions for medical professionals providing aid in Gaza. “Anyone who provides medical care should be allowed to do so safely,” he said. Instead, Hamawi said there are concerns about what might happen to European hospitals. “Here, our doctors have been targeted. Our hospitals have been targeted.”
Hamawi said he told his family he was trying to go home. “I just have to do the right thing. And, we came in as a team and it wouldn’t be fair for me to leave just because I’m an American.”
Since October, NPR has spoken with doctors who describe dire conditions in Gaza’s hospitals, with limited medical supplies and fuel and many patients dying.
Many hospital buildings in Gaza were destroyed in Israeli attacks. The Israeli military says Hamas operates out of some of the hospitals, but doctors say the army’s actions violate human rights law.
