Dr. Ehab Bader had travelled from London, Ont., to Gaza for a family visit, to see his aging parents.
Now trapped in the besieged Palestinian territory, he is volunteering at GazaB次元官网网址檚 largest hospital, which is overwhelmed by people in urgent need of life-saving care as medical supplies run short.
B次元官网网址淧eople are waiting outside, severely injured and sometimes you have to choose unfortunately, who do you serve,B次元官网网址� the neonatologist told The Canadian Press, speaking from his parentsB次元官网网址� home in Gaza City.
B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 a difficult choice for those who work at the emergency room. The situation will be better described as catastrophic.B次元官网网址�
Bader, 47, arrived in Gaza less than two weeks before Hamas militants crossed through IsraelB次元官网网址檚 highly fortified separation fence and killed over 1,300 Israelis in a brutal rampage.
IsraelB次元官网网址檚 military told about one million Palestinians to evacuate northern Gaza on Friday and head to the southern part of the sealed-off coastal enclave, an unprecedented order applying to nearly half the population ahead of an expected ground invasion against Hamas.
The order sparked panic among civilians and aid workers already running from a barrage of Israeli airstrikes, as the U.N. warned staging such an evacuation on a 24-hour deadline would be impossible and potentially calamitous.
The war has claimed at least 2,800 lives on both sides.
Bader said he was asked to volunteer at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, where the morgue was overflowing, and workers had to stack corpses outside the walk-in cooler and put dozens more, side by side, in the parking lot.
Israel said that nothing would be allowed into Gaza until the release of around 150 hostages taken captive by Hamas.
Egypt says it has engaged in intensive talks with Israel and the United States to allow the delivery of aid and fuel to Gaza through its Rafah crossing point, which remained closed on both sides Thursday.
Bader said Canada and the broader international community need to raise their voices louder in calling for the creation of a humanitarian corridor that would allow food, water, and medicine to enter Gaza.
Shifa and other hospitals are desperately trying to save whatever diesel remains in their backup generators, turning off the lights in all hospital departments but the most essential B次元官网网址� intensive care, operating rooms, oxygen stations.
Israeli Energy Minister Israel Katz has said, B次元官网网址淣ot a single electricity switch will be flipped on, not a single faucet will be turned on, and not a single fuel truck will enter until the Israeli hostagesB次元官网网址� Hamas militants captured from Israel are returned home.
Bader accused Israel of inflicting collective punishment on Palestinians in Gaza who played no role in the Hamas attack, insisting that ensuring access to medical supplies and other essentials for non-combatants should not be a subject of negotiation.
B次元官网网址淚f we are principled, we should ask ourselves, why we canB次元官网网址檛 help those who are trapped in Gaza Strip,B次元官网网址� Bader said.
B次元官网网址淎 government like (Canada should) put enough and extra pressure, often, to stop this disaster. WhatB次元官网网址檚 going on in Gaza is a crime because we have no access to our basic needs.B次元官网网址�
Israel has enforced a strict blockade of Gaza since 2007, the year Hamas took power in the coastal enclave. Egypt also tightly controls the flow of goods and people through the Rafah crossing.
A senior official with the International Committee of the Red Cross has warned that the lack of electricity could cripple hospitals, put newborns in incubators and elderly patients on oxygen at risk, and stop kidney dialysis and X-rays.
B次元官网网址淲ithout electricity, hospitals risk turning into morgues,B次元官网网址� said Fabrizio Carboni, ICRCB次元官网网址檚 regional director.
Bader said he has been surrounded by scenes of death and destruction. The beds at Shifa are full, with patients crowding the hallways.
He told The Canadian Press that he is not sure what he will do if given the chance to evacuate, expressing conflict about leaving Gazans in desperate need of help.
B次元官网网址淪o many like me are torn between our family, our relatives, our colleagues, our friends, our neighbours in Canada, and the family that we left behind,B次元官网网址� Bader said.
- with files from The Associated Press.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 13, 2023.
Fakiha Baig, The Canadian Press
