People in Gaza are risking their lives to retrieve food from a group run by private American contractors as Israeli troops open fire nearby.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation 鈥� a group funded by the United States and Israeli governments 鈥� began distributing boxes of food at four sites in Gaza in late May. The United Nations reports that more than 400 Palestinians seeking aid have been shot and killed in and around these GHF food distribution sites.
Dr. Adil Husain, an American emergency medicine physician based in Dallas, spent the past two weeks volunteering at the Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza near one of the GHF aid sites. He described the scenes he witnessed as 鈥渁pocalyptic.鈥�
鈥淭hey鈥檙e weaponizing starvation to only lure them in and kill them,鈥� Husain said. 鈥淭hey either sit in their tents and starve to death 鈥� or they die trying to get food.鈥�
5 questions with Dr. Adil Husain
You have described each day as a mass casualty event. What do you mean?
鈥淲hat we saw was quite apocalyptic, to say the least. Some were calling it, sadly, 鈥榟ell on Earth.鈥� I was there for two weeks, and nearly every single day we sadly saw a mass casualty incident, MCI. And the sad reality was that these MCIs occurred primarily every morning, shortly after the opening of the food aid distribution sites.
鈥淓ven on my second day there, I woke up to the MCI alarm 鈥� this specific alarm that goes off at the hospital, meaning all hands on deck, we need every doctor available to come to the [emergency room]. So I rushed downstairs, and the scenes that I saw were none that you can even fathom. Right when I opened the doors of the ER, there鈥檚 just bodies everywhere. People with open wounds, open fractures, bleeding from the belly, evisceration of bowel 鈥� meaning their stomachs and the intestines were coming out. And you kind of just attended to the first person that you see.鈥�
What were some of the most frequent injuries you saw?
鈥淲hat we saw from these food distribution sites were primarily gunshot wounds isolated to the head, the chest and the abdomen. And at least for the food aid distribution sites, a majority of the demographic was young boys and young men. What鈥檚 so heartbreaking is so many children are going out for their families to try to be the man of the house and get this food and bring it back. And multiple times, I saw when I was exposing the patient, trying to look for other injuries, they had empty bags under their shirts and in their pants that they hoped to fill with food. Not only were they left with empty bags, but they were left with life-threatening injuries. And a lot of times, what I鈥檓 hearing from the families 鈥� and even the patients themselves 鈥� they said they鈥檝e literally been sitting there waiting patiently, not moving, and they鈥檙e being shot [from] above by snipers.
鈥淔or example, I just [treated] a young 10-year-old boy, and he had a bag with him that he hoped to fill with food. And he was shot through the face, through the jaw, and it went into his neck 鈥� his cervical spine. He鈥檚 having difficulty moving his arms. He鈥檚 likely going to be paralyzed.
鈥淲e talk about the deaths 鈥� like, yes, over 400 deaths in the food aid distribution sites in the past month. Granted, yes, all those lives matter. But what we don鈥檛 talk about is the hundreds of thousands of lives that have been changed forever. Just imagine 鈥� your brother, your nephew, your niece, your uncle, just being mindlessly shot in the head and the spine. And they will never live a normal life ever again. They鈥檒l never walk again. It鈥檚 quite appalling. And my heart goes out to them.
鈥淔or example, I had a woman who was 16 weeks pregnant, and she was sleeping in her tent, just trying to get some solace. And the family told me that they just heard shooting from a quadcopter above, just shooting into the tents. A bullet went through her abdomen, through the uterus. The bullet actually went partially through the face of the baby, the fetus. And she lost the baby. And they actually had to do a hysterectomy because the uterus was so damaged. So not only did she lose her child, but she鈥檒l never have a child again. So it鈥檚 just like that trauma of just one person mindlessly just being shot at in the Green Zone. It haunts me every day.鈥�
What are you hearing from Palestinians about their situation, their desperation, their lives in this moment of the war?
鈥淭he resilience and the hope and the optimism of the people of Gaza is out of this world. They live in such a dystopian world where there鈥檚 just pain and suffering constantly, yet they remain so positive. Yes, they cry in pain. Yes, they cry in suffering. But never do they lose hope. They鈥檙e just they鈥檙e the most patient of people. They say, 鈥楾his is what God decreed. We will get our justice at some point.鈥� And they keep moving on.
鈥淚n terms of the food aid distribution, the starvation is real. It鈥檚 not only in babies not getting formula 鈥� it鈥檚 also in the adults. The number of adults I鈥檝e confirmed death on in the ER with my cardiac ultrasound, checking for cardiac activity, I lost count. They鈥檙e just skin and bones. I myself lost 13 lb. People in my group lost 15 lb because we were just eating bread and beans once or twice a day, because there鈥檚 just not enough food. 鈥楽tarve to death鈥� 鈥� that phrase is real for them.
鈥淚 did not hear them curse 鈥� the Israelis or anything like that. The one thing I did hear was that they are really upset with the neighboring countries who have not let them in or not sent aid. The Arab countries, the Muslim countries, they are like, 鈥榃hy are they not speaking up for us?鈥� That鈥檚 what鈥檚 so heartbreaking. So I just pray that the government officials, the world leaders, hear this and see this and try to make change because it鈥檚 a humanitarian issue at the end of the day.鈥�
You are the father of a young child. How are you processing what you saw?
鈥淚 have a 6-month-old 鈥� love her to death. And that鈥檚 why the cases that really hit me were the pediatric cases. Not that other lives don鈥檛 matter. But I saw my baby girl in a lot of these kids. So those are the ones that really hit me 鈥� What we鈥檙e seeing is unnatural. It鈥檚 unnatural to see this amount of death, this amount of blood, this amount of bullets in children.
鈥淚 saw a couple of malnourished kids that literally died in front of me. I just saw them one day and I found out the next day that they passed away. There was a baby, Hassan, who actually wasn鈥檛 even a baby, but he was the size of a baby. He was 3 years old, weighed 6 kg, which is, like, nothing. He should be weighing at least 15 kg. And he had severe malnutrition 鈥� why? Because there鈥檚 not enough baby formula in Gaza. And the sad reality is that starvation is manmade. The baby formula is just miles away at the border. It鈥檚 just not being let in.鈥�
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
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