NEW YORK (Palestine Foundation Information Center) An American pediatrician and board member of Doctors Without Borders USA has given a harrowing account of the humanitarian and medical catastrophe in Gaza, describing it as a genocide in which Israel “deliberately uses cruelty and evil.”
In a blog post titled Humans of New York, Dr. Aqsa Durrani recounted her two-month humanitarian mission in Gaza, where she witnessed not only relentless Israeli bombardment but also what she described as a suffocating starvation campaign that targeted everyone, including medical workers.
She said the Israeli occupation forces imposed severe restrictions even on humanitarian staff, allowing her to bring in no more than seven pounds of food. “I’m a humanitarian doctor, why is there even a food limit? I’ve worked in places with extreme hunger, but in Gaza, Israel’s cruelty and malice are intentional,” she said.
“As a pediatric intensive care doctor, I am used to seeing children die as part of my work, but I have no words for what I saw in Gaza,” Durrani continued. She described treating children with missing limbs, severe burns, and other injuries, often without pain medication. “But the children don’t scream from the pain,” she said. “They scream: I’m hungry! I’m hungry!”
Durrani also spoke of the doctors and nurses working alongside her, many of them exhausted, malnourished, and living in tents, some having lost 15 or 20 family members.
She said she felt a deep sadness and an urge to stay when her mission ended, an emotion she had not experienced in nearly 20 years of humanitarian work. “I was ashamed as an American and as a human being that we could not stop this genocide,” she said.
Recalling her departure from southern Gaza, she described seeing Rafah reduced to rubble, then crossing into Israel where “life seemed normal.”
“The first thing I saw was a group of Israeli soldiers at a table eating lunch,” she said. “I’ve never felt more nauseated in my life than when I saw that table full of food.”
Since October 7, 2023, Israel, with US backing, has carried out a genocide in Gaza involving mass killings, starvation, destruction, and forced displacement, defying international appeals and International Court of Justice orders to halt its actions.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, the genocide has killed 61,499 Palestinians, wounded 153,575, left more than 9,000 missing, and displaced hundreds of thousands. The siege has triggered famine, claiming the lives of many, including dozens of children.
