"What I Saw Wasn't War — It Was Annihilation," Says U.S. Doctor Who Volunteered in Gaza Hospital

this is democracy now I'm Amy Goodman with Juan Gonzalez we end Today's Show on Gaza where the death toll since October 7th is nearing 30,000 amidst worsening hunger UNICEF is warning that the war torn territory is quote poised to witness an explosion and preventable child deaths which would compound the already unbearable level of child deaths unquote on Monday Palestinians rushed to get sacks of flour from a un Distribution Center in Gaza City this is a displaced Palestinian named Abdul because we want to eat we are dying of hunger why would someone put himself at risk of dying by coming here it is in order to feed the children we are dying of hunger and there is no food or drink left in Gaza there is a famine meanwhile Israeli forces reportedly open fire again at crowds waiting for humanitarian Aid we go now to Washington DC where we're joined by Dr Iran Galleria a plastic and reconstructive surgeon just back from volunteering in Gaza with a humanitarian a group Med Global his LA Times oped headlined I'm an American Doctor Who went to Gaza what I saw wasn't War it was Annihilation welcome to democracy Now doctor explain what you saw why you call it an Annihilation certainly Amy and Juan thank you so much for having me on the show and congratulations on 28 years look I understand in war you're going to have collateral civilian casualties you'll have displaced citizens but what I saw when I was in Gaza and what my team saw was vastly different what we saw was a collateral humanitarian crisis of an unimaginable scale over 1 million civilians struggling to survive struggling to find shelter struggling to find food struggling to find drinking water and what we also saw what appeared to be a deliberate attempt to strangulate these civilians we saw while we were driving to Rafa mil of trucks lining the road on the Egyptian side waiting to enter you know Amy and ju what's a very telling statistic is before this War Began almost 500 to 600 Aid trucks would cross through the borders daily it shows you how dependent this country was on Aid even before the war but now after the war or during the war the need is even greater and less than a 100 trucks are allowed to enter what I also saw and what our team also saw was a deliberate attempt to incapacitate the Health Care System the Health Care system in Gaza has collapsed hospitals have been targeted they no longer have the physical capacity or space to care for their patients Physicians are being killed healthcare workers are being killed they're being targeted they're being imprisoned there's no Medical Aid or medical equipment that's coming through you know we operated under unsterile conditions and we had outcomes and procedures that we had to perform in Gaza unfortunately because we didn't have access to basic medical equipment and Aid and the last thing i' would like to add is while they're facing this humanitarian crisis they're facing a Relentless attack bombs and missiles regularly and to me and to my team there did not seem to be a distinction between any military Soldier terrorist targets versus civilian targets the stories we heard over and over again were the same we took care of patients and civilians that were sleeping in their homes I'll give you one example there was a young child he was 14 years old a boy who I had taken care of he sustained what's called an open fracture on his left leg he lost so much flesh that his bone that was fractured was exposed his story was that he was lived in conun and they went to a local school trying to seek shelter with other families that school was bombed and his entire family was killed and he was orphaned so there seems to be a deliberate attempt to Target civilians and there doesn't seem to be a very reasonable attempt to protect them in this conflict and Dr garia you you wrote in your in your LA Times piece uh I couldn't help thinking that the lucky ones died instantaneously either by the force of the explosion or being buried in the rubble the survivors face hours of surgery and multiple trips to the operating room could you talk about some more about the the conditions under which you performed surgery while you were there yeah absolutely so I've been in war zones I've operated in small hospitals in Africa I was not I thought I was going to be prepared but I was not prepared for what I saw here in terms of not only the equipment and materials that had access to but the patients that I was taking care of we lacked as surgeons in the hosital hospital then basic equipment and basic materials such as sterile drapes basic surgical equipment there are a lot of procedures that we couldn't perform because we didn't have access to that equipment and as a result patients suffered because we couldn't provide them with procedures or services that we could have provide for them here in America Dr fun galleria we have to end the conversation here but we're going to continue online at democracy now.org people can hear and watch our web exclusive um Dr Galleria is a plastic and reconstructive surgeon uh he wrote an LA Times oped headlined I'm an American Doctor Who went to Gaza what I saw wasn't War it was Annihilation that does it for our show uh happy belated birthday to Neil shabata democracy Now is produced with Renee Fel Mike Burke Dina guzer Sharif abok kadus Messiah rhods n sh Maria terasa Tammy War trur malov Tam Mario John Hamilton Robbie Karen hany massud and Hannah alas our executive directors Julie Crosby special thanks to Becca Staley John Randolph Paul Powell Mike defilippo Miguel Nera Hugh gr Dennis moan David prud I'm Amy Goodman with Juan Gonzalez

Channel: Democracy Now!

Views: 89,776

Keywords: Democracy Now, Amy Goodman, News, Politics, democracynow, Independent Media, Breaking News, World News

Id: VDmsA9C2GIk

Length: 6min 30sec (390 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 20 2024