US doctors recount horrors of children shot in the head in Gaza: NYT
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An anesthesiologist, Dr. Ndal Farah, says shot children had "non-curable, permanent brain damage" in what can be described as a near-daily occurrence.
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Mourners pray over the body of a Palestinian child, Hosam al-Khaldi, killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip outside the hospital morgue in Deir al-Balah, on October 9, 2024. (AP)
American physicians have recounted distressing tales and a pattern they witnessed while operating in Gaza: children being shot in the head, The New York Times reported.
Dr. Feroze Sidhwa, a trauma and general surgeon, worked in Khan Younis, Gaza, for two weeks in March and April, and he said that he was astonished to find that other healthcare professionals had also witnessed minors being shot in the head or chest while "Israel" bombarded the strip.
The doctor revealed a chilling account of how despite working in conflict zones "nearly every day I was there, I saw a new young child who had been shot in the head or chest, virtually all of whom went on to die. Thirteen in total."
Sidhwa expressed that he believed this was due to a specific member of the Israeli occupation forces being stationed nearby where he operated.
However, upon returning to the US, he recalled telling another physician, “I couldn’t believe the number of kids I saw shot in the head."
To his amazement, the doctor responded, "Yeah, me too, every single day."
Sidhwa spoke with 65 additional healthcare workers about what they had witnessed in Gaza, and 44 of them reported seeing cases of children shot in the head or chest.
Of the 65 people who spoke about their experiences, 57 went on record.
Dr. Mohamad Rassoul Abu-Nuwar, a bariatric and foregut surgeon, explained that within 4 hours in the emergency department, he saw "six children between the ages of 5 and 12, all with single gunshot wounds to the skull."
Children shot in the head daily
Dr. Irfan Galaria, a plastic and reconstructive surgeon, told NYT, "Our team cared for about four or five children, ages 5 to 8 years old, that were all shot with single shots to the head. They all presented to the emergency room at the same time. They all died."
An anesthesiologist, Dr. Ndal Farah, stated that many children shot had "non-curable, permanent brain damage," decrying how that was a near-daily occurrence.
Almost all of the healthcare personnel reported that Palestinians were typically malnourished.
A nurse by the name of Merril Tydings stated that "these people were starving," detailing how they had learned not to eat or drink in front of Palestinian healthcare workers because they had been deprived of it for days.
More than 20 healthcare personnel reported seeing healthy infants delivered only to die in the hospital due to dehydration, hunger, or illness.
The circumstances in Gaza and the ongoing war have also caused "psychiatric distress" among children.
According to the poll, 52 healthcare personnel "observed nearly universal psychiatric distress in young children, and saw some who were suicidal or said they wished they had died."
Tanya Haj-Hassan, a pediatric critical care doctor, recalled one child saying, after his whole family was decimated, "Everyone I love is in heaven. I don't want to be here anymore."
Sidhwa demanded that the United States stop arming "Israel", accusing the occupation and the US of "turning Gaza into a howling wilderness."
“The horror must end. The United States must stop arming Israel,” Sidhwa wrote, adding that afterward, "we Americans need to take a long, hard look at ourselves."
