CODEPINK / September 12, 2024
CODEPINK’s Medea Benjamin talks with Dr. Tammy Abughnaim who recently returned from a medical aid trip to Gaza, as part of a team under the World Health Organization. Dr. Abughhaim exposes the devastating impact of Israeli attacks on Gaza’s healthcare system, where even soap and medical supplies are blocked.
Medea: We’re here with Dr. Tammy Abughnaim who just had a very devastating panel by Rebuilding Alliance on what is happening in Gaza and I just wondered if you could tell us some of those stories that you recounted during this briefing ?
Dr. Abughnaim: So we heard from two other doctors, including myself, about the public health situation and crisis in Gaza right now. They gave testimony about deliberate targeting of civilians and children, the targeting of infrastructure, specifically healthcare infrastructure, but everything that supports it as well. We discussed specifically the evacuation of children which is an ongoing concern. We’re not able to sufficiently evacuate the number of children that we would like to as a result of Israeli restrictions.
So really the message of the doctors is the same everywhere we go. Every time we speak it’s the same. The United States has the power to pressure Israel into ending this war or at the very least pressuring them into making humanitarian aid more accessible.
Medea: So you’ve been there as a doctor, you’ve worked there, you’ve seen these tragedies… Could Gaza ever be rebuilt ?
Dr. Abughnaim: It can! There’s evidence that they are rebuilding it right now. When the Israelis entered Shifa Hospital back in November, we did not think that Shifa would ever be functional again. After they destroyed basically all of the buildings, all of the equipment, but just this past week the Shifa emergency department reopened. So yes, Gaza can and it will be rebuilt. Gazans are really relying on themselves and whatever existing infrastructure they have, repairing it, and then being able to do that.
Israel will not allow in the parts needed to repair a CT scanner. It will not allow in certain surgical instruments. Those things are all restricted items by Israel, but in order to rebuild it to the level that we need it is going to need outside equipment and help. When I was in Gaza recently we didn’t have soap in the emergency department. Soap, bleach, hand sanitizer, cleaning products, laundry detergent. I mean, these were all things that people were scrambling to find because for some reason Israel has decided to restrict this entry. I mean, there’s no way that soap can be used as a weapon, right? So it’s ludicrous to think that restricting soap does anything except target civilians for infectious disease and death.
Because we don’t have cleaning products in the hospital, infection control is impossible. Almost 100% of our patients that survive Israeli bombings end up with horrible wound infections and die as a result of them. In the ICU every single day there are nurses that are pulling maggots out of their patients’ mouths and flies out of their patients’ mouths because we don’t have enough cleaning products to prevent the spread of flies. These are sedated patients. You know they have tubes in them. They are in medically induced comas. They cannot swat away flies. There are family members whose whole role in the ER and the ICU is to just swat flies away to prevent their family from suffering.
Medea: Why do you and the other doctors risk your lives to work in Gaza and go back again? What motivates you ?
Dr. Abughnaim: I do this because I want to support the doctors that are in Gaza but also I can’t stand by and watch 2 million people be caged and not go help. We understand the danger when we do this but the danger to the Gazan healthcare workers far exceeds any danger to us foreign healthcare workers. They are the ones that are targeted. They are the ones that are in danger every single day and they still do this. So we just want to stand by them. Every single doctor here will agree with that—we want to stand next to our colleagues.
Medea: And finally, your message to people watching this, especially if they’re US citizens ?
Dr. Abughnaim: As a US citizen, it is your right to demand what be done with your tax dollars and it is your right to oppose the United States arming and sending weapons to Israel. It is your right to demand an arms embargo and so I would encourage you to do that in any way that you’re able to.
