Dr. Thaer Ahmad, an experienced emergency physician who has worked in Gaza and Lebanon for over a decade, described the devastation in Gaza as a deliberate and systematic campaign rather than the collateral damage of war. He emphasized that hospitals and medical staff have been directly targeted, creating an unprecedented humanitarian crisis.
Half of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are no longer functioning, while the others operate only in a limited capacity. Dr. Ahmad recounted his own experience at Nasser Hospital, where he witnessed attacks on the facility. He said that in all his years working in conflict zones, he has never seen healthcare infrastructure and workers targeted at such a scale. Over 1,000 medical professionals have been killed and more than 200 imprisoned, leaving the health system in collapse.
Even international medical assistance has faced obstruction. Dr. Ahmad said he was denied entry into Gaza on four separate occasions despite traveling with humanitarian aid. In one instance, he carried baby formula requested for premature infants at Nasser Hospital but was prevented from delivering it. Such restrictions, he explained, directly contribute to the worsening crisis.
Beyond medical facilities, Gaza’s essential resources are also under attack. Water supplies and food distribution have been systematically disrupted, forcing families to go without meals for entire days. Dr. Ahmad described this as a calculated attempt to make life unlivable for Palestinians.
He warned that the muted global response to the crisis stems from a systematic dehumanization of Palestinians. According to him, the international community’s lack of urgency in addressing Gaza’s suffering reflects deeper biases that allow such atrocities to continue unchecked.
Dr. Ahmad concluded that the situation in Gaza should not be seen as isolated. He cautioned that the deliberate destruction of healthcare, food, and water in Gaza is a warning to the rest of the world. “Gaza and Palestine are just the beginning,” he said. “Tomorrow it’s wherever you are in the world.”
