A few days ago, I received a letter from a number of Arab doctors who live abroad yet still carry their countries, language, and culture in their hearts. They live the agonies and hopes of their Arab nation, exerting every effort to actively contribute to improving its present and future.

In this letter, they expressed their grief at witnessing the most brutal aggression perpetrated by a human against a fellow human being. What they have been witnessing for more than a month now had them believe that humanity has not progressed in the past 6,000 years. They even started to believe that history revolves around people killing other people they don't know.

They added, with special emphasis on this particular point:

"We cannot but ponder over the countless number of hours, days, months and years we've spent to cure an ill person. Meanwhile, this aggression and machinery of ethnic cleansing is killing thousands of healthy, innocent children, women, and men. The wounded are scattered here and there, hospitals are demolished, medical equipment are destroyed. Palestinians are deprived of medical assistance and are dying due to illness, hunger, and water deprivation." 

The doctors further elaborated in their letter: 

"The image of thousands of dead children and women in Gaza is the biggest shame that the entire humanity witnesses in the twenty-first century."

Palestinian medical teams and doctors in Gaza hospitals, which became a refuge for thousands of children and women after the destruction of their homes, demonstrate the most noble and human stance. None of these healthcare professionals – doctors and nurses alike – abandoned their hospitals despite Israeli threats to target them. They dedicated all their time and resources to treating the wounded, declaring that they would not leave and risk their patients' lives. This honorable stance signifies a humanitarian quality that restores our confidence in humanity during this time, especially when we are witnessing the brutal acts of a ruthless racist aggressor. The crime of the Israeli aggressors doesn't end here... "Israel" has killed more than 200 doctors and nurses and arrested several medical personnel.

Gaza hospitals have become an open battleground where the wounded, medical teams, their families, and those coming to assist in saving lives are subjected to torment and persecution. This marks the first time that anyone around the world can recall the transformation of medical centers into targets for genocide and racial cleansing as reminiscent of the Middle Ages and the colonial wars of Western colonization. This contradicts all ethics, norms, and international laws adhered to by all parties during times of war and throughout history. During World War II, combatants used to place a large X on the roofs of hospitals to signal to warplanes that this facility should not be bombed.

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What is even more appalling is the deafening silence of United Nations organizations and concerned entities on the arrest and killing of medical personnel, as well as the systematic destruction of hospitals, schools, churches, and mosques. Surely, Western media outlets have sided with the aggressors and shamelessly advocated for the right of apartheid to commit ethnic cleansing against Palestinian civilians. This confirms that these Western media channels are nothing but mere propaganda tools for oppressive, colonial, and racist regimes. 

On the other hand, the nobility and resilience of these Palestinian medical teams in providing assistance despite the risk of death had a profound impact on conveying the true recount of events to the world. This comes amid a campaign of deception, lies, and defamation orchestrated by the Israelis through Western media and its governments, falsely claiming that hospitals are either sheltering armed individuals or storing weapons. The Western world today, which is under the influence of the zionist lobbies and is plagued by its orientalist depiction of Arabs and Muslims, fails to understand how medical teams are exposed to killing, arrest, and injury yet refuse to abandon their patients and insist on sharing the same fate. 

As an honest tribute and a sincere salute to all the medical personnel who endured the war on Gaza, sacrificing and astonishing the world with their performance and ethics, I shall shed light on the Arab and Islamic heritage that has shaped the framework of these medical teams.

The Islamic Golden Age, spanning from the 8th to the 15th centuries, saw many great advances in science. One of these important scientific fields that witnessed a great evolution was Islamic medicine, which saw medical practice begin to resemble our modern systems. Certainly, this period of the history of medicine was centuries ahead of Europe, which was still living in the Dark Ages. Medical research trials to heal the ill and train young physicians were not merely scientific endeavors distant from the Islamic identity of Muslim scientists; rather they were a religious practice and an expression of their Muslim identity. The readings of the Qur'an and Hadiths, which state that Muslims are obligated to care for the ill, are fundamental to the practice of Islamic medicine. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) had said that God created a cure for every ailment and that it was the duty of Muslims to take care of the body and spirit. This certainly falls under providing a holistic approach to health and ensuring the right of all citizens to access medical services. 

The major contribution of the Islamic Age to the evolution of medical services was the establishment of hospitals, which were financed through charitable donations known as the Zakat tax. There is concrete evidence that these hospitals were established during the 8th century, then soon disseminated across the Islamic world reaching a sum of more than 30 hospitals. These hospitals provided healthcare to the ill on-site, sent medical physicians and midwives into rural areas, and also provided a place for medical physicians and other staff members to study and research.

Simultaneously, the system of teaching physicians was well structured, usually on a tutorage basis. Physicians in certain areas ensured that students would travel from city to city to learn with the best. In addition, the Islamic physicians were meticulous with their recordkeeping, partly as a way to spread and share knowledge, but also to provide notes for peer review in case the physician was accused of malpractice.

Syrian and Lebanese women who immigrated to Brazil in the late eighteenth century established a hospital in São Paulo, Brazil, known as the "Syrian-Lebanese Hospital." Today, it is considered the most important hospital in Latin America, preserving the heritage of ancestors by caring for both physical and spiritual healing. It also established a scholarship program and physician training, mirroring the practices of physicians in the Islamic era. These women, mostly Christians, have followed the achievements of Arabs during the Islamic Golden Age. Thus, the culture we all take pride in is by no means exclusive to Muslims. It flourished during the Islamic era and was maintained and contributed to by both Muslims and Christians alike in lands that never differentiated among prophets or among their followers.

To these savage Zionists and their Western allies, who kill thousands of people with their barbaric war machinery and do not understand the meaning of mercy, nobility, chivalry, and sacrifice, we say: You are attempting to destroy a civilization deeply rooted in history and embedded in the hearts of people, but, you will not succeed.

To all Arab medical teams and media crews who defied death to say "We will not betray our culture, history, and humanity," we say: Bless you, as you are the true beacon of humanitarian compassion in this era. Meanwhile, Western politicians and media outlets have descended into the dark ages that witnessed similar events: massacres, destruction of cities, and the bombing of hospitals and homes.  Your humanitarian torch will radiate the path of this nation to triumph despite all wars of extermination and ethnic cleansing. You have triumphed through your commitment to your history and ethics.