A Glimpse into the Reality of a Medical Mission in Gaza: Reflections from the Field.
15 – 29th April 2024
Medical Mission Gaza – 2024
In April, GMF Australia’s medical team embarked on an UN-sanctioned mission to Gaza. After obtaining permits, we travelled to Cairo for security briefings from WHO and the UN. Carrying essential supplies, we joined a UN convoy through the Sinai desert to Gaza. After a 550 km journey and numerous military checkpoints, we reached the Rafah crossing. There, hundreds of trucks loaded with food and essential supplies awaited entry. After a seven hour wait at this crossing, our team got the clearance to enter Gaza.
Upon arrival, the constant buzzing of drones and distant gunshots greeted us. We were transported to a safe house in Rafah, passing countless tents sheltering around 1.5 million internally displaced people at the time. That night, briefed on security measures, we prepared for the tasks ahead, unaware of the gravity daylight would reveal. We managed to get a few hours of sleep, waking up regularly to the sound of bombs, at close intervals. The bombs were hollow, with a deep sound that reverberated throughout the surrounding areas.
Our team was split into two groups in the first week. GP’s worked at a makeshift Primary Health Clinic (PHC) in Tal Al Sultan, Rafah and the surgeons at the Al Aqsa hospital in Deir Al Balah. The roads leading up to the health facilities were lined with closely nestled tents, reflecting the dire living conditions. People were living in crowded tents, about 100-150 people sharing 1-2 toilets, water was scarce and there was no electricity. People queued for bread in makeshift bakeries, children crowding around large water tankers, carrying containers in their little hands. Stagnant water, garbage, and sewage spills were common sights. Each day, we encountered an overwhelming influx of patients suffering from respiratory and gastrointestinal infections, each with their own story, but a common theme of suffering, pain and resilience. Additionally, there was an outbreak of hepatitis A and skin infections and managing these conditions was extremely challenging.
Children’s malnutrition was particularly heartbreaking, with one in ten in South Gaza and one in three in North Gaza severely malnourished. The blockade of supply trucks exacerbated this crisis. Postpartum women, also malnourished, struggled to produce enough breast milk, compounded by the pervasive lack of privacy within the tent, further worsening the situation for their children.
Al Aqsa Hospital, which was originally a maternity hospital, was now inundated with patients suffering from trauma and chronic conditions. Bombings were frequent, and the hospital was overwhelmed. Many patients, including children, suffered horrific injuries. The lack of medications and resources made treating chronic illnesses and injuries very difficult.
Among the many heart-wrenching cases, innocent children who were victims of bomb blasts, like Hamza, a 6-year-old who died from injuries to his head and torso, 12-year-old Jamal, who died a painful, horrific death from shrapnel wounds, Fatima a 7-year-old who presented with her left arm blown off and 3-year-old Isa who died in his parents’ arms with bullet wound to the head. The hospital had patients lying on floors and in corridors due lack beds and space in the wards.
These were just a few of the cases we saw, in our two-week mission in Gaza.
I grapple and continue to struggle to justify our inaction at these atrocities and the absence of humanity in this situation. We all share the one world, yet, voiceless in the support of one another. It’s been just over two months since I have returned from Gaza. The smell of the hospital, sounds of drones, and faces of people I treated are still vivid in my mind. For peace to prevail, the humanity in us needs to alight. The people of Gaza are resilient and show unimaginable strength in the face of extreme hardship, much of which is attributed to their strong faith. The children of Gaza have lost their childhood yet look to the world with hope to end this war and reclaim their future. It is now, more than ever that we need to stand up and be the voice for the unheard, call from an immediate cease fire and allow entry of humanitarian and medical aid.
