Over the past few weeks, some 900,000 people have fled Northern Gaza and the southern Gaza city of Rafah. Some North Texas doctors and nurses returned to share their experiences of what it was like treating patients on the ground.
These doctors and nurses now share a common experience.
“I’m not sure how many words can do justice to the atrocities I witnessed in Gaza,” said Yasser Arain, a doctor who specializes in pediatric medicine.
Ameerah Muhammad, an ER and trauma nurse in Dallas, said nothing could’ve prepared her.
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“We were suturing deep wounds with children with no anesthetic with no numbing with no pain medication,” Muhammad said.
She talked about a young boy named Amir whose legs and arms were amputated following an explosion. She said Amir was one of dozens she treated while volunteering at a hospital in Rafah with limited resources.
“[People are] Burned from head to toe, explosive injuries gunshot injuries, snipers,” she said. “These conditions that we experienced, that we worked through, would be completely unacceptable in the West.”
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Muhammad was in Rafah as Israeli forces moved in and said she feels fortunate to have made it home. Just hours before she joined Friday’s press conference in Plano, the United Nation’s highest court ordered Israel to stop military operations in Rafah.
Mujeeb Kazi, president of the North Texas Islamic Council, joined Muhammad and others Friday in calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
“We all deserve to be free, deserve humanity, and every one of us deserves an equal right,” said Kazi.
Muhammad said the stories she brought back are endless. Now, she feels it’s her responsibility to share those stories.
“The longer we were there, the more and more injuries we saw,” she said.
On Israel’s side, a spokesperson for Israel Defense Forces gave a statement saying women, children, and babies are currently being held hostage by Hamas.
On its social media pages, the IDF shared videos of a bombed synagogue, saying they would continue operating on all fronts where its civilians are under terrorist threats.
