My stories as an OB/GYN in Gaza reveal the truth of the Gaza genocide
A hospital room in Al-Aqsa Hospital where premature babies lay in incubators, facing danger due to power outages, in Deir El-Balah, Gaza on 29 May 2024
Areej Hijazi writes in Mondoweiss on 27 November 2024:
I am Dr. Areej Hijazi, an obstetrician and gynecologist. Before the October 2023 war, I worked at al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza, and now I work at the Emirati Hospital in Rafah. In this article, I will discuss my experience as an obstetrician and gynecologist during the Gaza genocide.
The war began while I was on duty in the obstetrics department at the al-Shifa Medical Complex. I remember the fear on the faces of most of the patients as they suffered from labor pains amid the sound of the missiles.
Pregnant women are the hidden victims in this war. I worked at al-Shifa for a month during the war, and then my work was transferred to Al-Helou International Hospital due to the large number of injured people. Al-Shifa’s maternity building was converted into a building for the wounded and injured of the war.
On November 1, when I was working at Al-Helou, I was taking a break in the emergency room after an exhausting shift. Soon, the thunderous sound of relentless shelling startled me awake. Israeli tanks were bombarding the hospital and its surroundings, targeting the fifth floor which is where all the cases from al-Shifa’s obstetrics department had been transferred to.
Fear gripped me. Everyone was in a state of panic, rushing outside. Pregnant women and patients still attached to IV fluids and urinary catheters were fleeing barefoot in sheer terror.