An American doctor gave a chilling testimony as she detailed the killing of children in Gaza, calling on US politicians to act to end the war.
Dr Tanya Haj-Hassan, a paediatric intensive care doctor, spoke at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) as calls mount for US presidential candidate Kamala Harris to take steps to stop Israel's invasion of Palestine.
She has worked on the front lines in Gaza and the West Bank for more than a decade. Her account included the harrowing story of a young boy severely injured in an attack.
“I received a young boy into the emergency department during one of the mass casualties who had half his neck and face blown off. Luckily, the organs that are vital for breathing and blood supply to the brain were preserved. They were visible but preserved,” Haj-Hassan said.
The boy, who could not see his injuries, kept asking for his sister.
“His sister was in a bed next to him. The majority of her body was burnt beyond recognition. He didn’t recognise that the girl in the bed next to him was his sister. His entire family, parents and siblings were killed in the attack. That boy survived,” she said.
She described the boy’s profound despair. “The next day, I went to see him. A very young plastic surgeon, one of the few remaining plastic surgeons in Gaza because the others have either been killed or have fled understandably, had removed part of his chest and created a graft to cover those vital organs on the neck. He was lying in bed and mumbling because it was difficult to talk. I got really close to him, and he said, ‘I wish I had died too,’ and I said, ‘What?’ and he said, ‘Everybody I love is now in Heaven. I don’t want to be here any more.’”
Haj-Hassan said this was just one of many similar stories.
“I am giving you the story of one child for the children I treated who were discharged and survived. They face a Russian roulette of 100 ways that they will potentially die when they leave the hospital due to circumstances incompatible with life that have been architected by this military assault. Direct bombing, starvation and dehydration, disease,” she said.
'A boy had half his neck and face blown off': US doctor recounts Gaza horror
'His sister was in a bed next to him. The majority of her body was burnt beyond recognition.'
An American doctor gave a chilling testimony as she detailed the killing of children in Gaza, calling on US politicians to act to end the war.
Dr Tanya Haj-Hassan, a paediatric intensive care doctor, spoke at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) as calls mount for US presidential candidate Kamala Harris to take steps to stop Israel's invasion of Palestine.
She has worked on the front lines in Gaza and the West Bank for more than a decade. Her account included the harrowing story of a young boy severely injured in an attack.
“I received a young boy into the emergency department during one of the mass casualties who had half his neck and face blown off. Luckily, the organs that are vital for breathing and blood supply to the brain were preserved. They were visible but preserved,” Haj-Hassan said.
The boy, who could not see his injuries, kept asking for his sister.
“His sister was in a bed next to him. The majority of her body was burnt beyond recognition. He didn’t recognise that the girl in the bed next to him was his sister. His entire family, parents and siblings were killed in the attack. That boy survived,” she said.
She described the boy’s profound despair. “The next day, I went to see him. A very young plastic surgeon, one of the few remaining plastic surgeons in Gaza because the others have either been killed or have fled understandably, had removed part of his chest and created a graft to cover those vital organs on the neck. He was lying in bed and mumbling because it was difficult to talk. I got really close to him, and he said, ‘I wish I had died too,’ and I said, ‘What?’ and he said, ‘Everybody I love is now in Heaven. I don’t want to be here any more.’”
Haj-Hassan said this was just one of many similar stories.
“I am giving you the story of one child for the children I treated who were discharged and survived. They face a Russian roulette of 100 ways that they will potentially die when they leave the hospital due to circumstances incompatible with life that have been architected by this military assault. Direct bombing, starvation and dehydration, disease,” she said.
She also highlighted the severe deterioration of health conditions, including the emergence of polio, an illness which affects nerves in the spinal cord or brain.
“Alarming reports of the first cases of polio in Gaza right now. Polio is a potentially deadly disease that causes paralysis, including paralysis of the muscles needed to breathe. That has been eradicated for decades in that region. There has been a polio vaccination campaign that essentially has eradicated the disease from the majority of the world, and now we are seeing cases emerging in an area of the world that has a healthcare system that has been annihilated.”
Haj-Hassan spoke of the increasing frequency of massacres and the impact on healthcare workers.
“For the past 10 months, we have witnessed civilian massacre after civilian massacre. School massacres, which have internally displaced people with sheltering. The Flower Massacre, massacres of people trying to collect water, massacres of people trying to collect aid at aid sites. Entire families exterminated in one single bombing,” she said.
She noted the rise in paediatric amputations and the term “Wounded Child, No Surviving Family” (WCNSF), which has been coined to describe the children left without family members.
“We have treated so many children who have lost their entire family. This (WCNSF) is a term that has been coined since October to describe this very frequent phenomenon that I have personally witnessed more times than I can count while I was there.”
She highlighted the critical humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the desperate need for international support and action.
“We have no choice but to exert as much pressure as possible and use all the leverage we can to change direction.”
Her testimony sheds light on the severe humanitarian crisis that has unfolded since October 7, 2023.
The war in Gaza started when Hamas gunmen attacked Israeli communities, killing about 1,200 people and abducting about 250 hostages, according to Israeli sources.
In response, Israeli military operations have devastated Gaza, displacing nearly all its 2.3-million residents and causing thousands of deaths.
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