Dr. Sidhwa said tens of thousands are dying slowly of sepsis, a life-threatening condition marked by widespread inflammation following an infection and possible organ damage if untreated.
A US trauma surgeon has described the “shocking” and almost daily experience in Gaza of young children brought to the hospital with a single gunshot wound to the head.
“The one thing that I’ve talked about a lot since I got back was the shooting of children, the widespread shooting of children,” Dr. Feroze Sidwha told the Anadolu news agency in an interview published on Friday.
“It’s pretty shocking to see in person when almost every day you see a new young — and I don’t mean 17-year-old kids, I mean young children — come into the hospital with single gunshot wounds to the head,” he said.
“I’m an American, so for me, it’s not just the crimes but … my government’s support for those crimes. It’s just shocking and totally indefensible,” he stressed.
Appeal to Biden Administration
Dr. Sidhwa was one of 100 health professionals who sent a letter to US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris last month to demand an immediate halt to Washington’s military, economic and diplomatic support to Israel.
“This is the only thing I can think to do,” he said.
❝One thing that I’ve talked about lot since I got back was shooting of children, widespread shooting of children❞
Despite having treated wounded in conflict zones all over world, Dr Feroze Sidhwa, trauma surgeon, was shocked by what he saw in Gaza Strip https://t.co/wszvfCz7dy pic.twitter.com/Z2qOfhnhm1
— Anadolu English (@anadoluagency) November 1, 2024
For Sidhwa, the main message of the letter to the US government was, “We witnessed atrocities with our own eyes, and we would like to tell you about them, because you’re funding them.”
There is no lack of evidence of what is going on in Gaza, he stressed, saying “That’s not the issue. And the Biden administration didn’t need me to tell them what was going on there. They already knew.”
Severe Injuries
Dr. Sidwha described one particular case of a nine-year-old girl named Jouri who was dying of sepsis.
He explained that she had actually been injured about two weeks before he arrived in the enclave.
“When we found her, she actually just was brought to the pre-operative area … When we examined her, she was dying of sepsis,” said Sidhwa, who served at the European Hospital in southern Gaza in late March and early April.
Deliberate Harm – Israel Uses Weapons Designed to Maximize Child Injuries
Jouri was “very, very severely” injured, he told Anadolu, adding “Her buttocks were both flayed open. Her left femur was missing about two inches of the bone. Most of the muscle was gone in the leg. It was, it was a very, very bad injury.”
The injury “turned out to have been from an explosion in the house. She was saying it,” Sidhwa added.
The little girl, now in Egypt, recovered after five or six surgeries, he said.
Although “she’s not in pain all the time,” Sidwha said, “I’m sure she’s very, very traumatized from what she went through and what she saw. But she’s back to being a little nine-year-old girl.”
Children Dying of Sepsis
Dr. Sidhwa said tens of thousands are dying slowly of sepsis, a life-threatening condition marked by widespread inflammation following an infection and possible organ damage if untreated.
“I’m not Jewish, I’m not Israeli, I’m not Palestinian, I’m not Arab, I’m not Muslim, I’m not Christian.”
@FerozeSidhwa, a doctor who volunteered in Gaza, says he’s received pushback for describing what he saw despite not having a stake in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. pic.twitter.com/K9qLartFle— AYMAN (@AymanMSNBC) October 21, 2024
“But … the criminal part of it is that there were, even just in that hospital, hundreds of kids like Jouri, and we have four operating rooms. How can we take care of hundreds of kids like this?” Sidwha asked.
Having served in Ukraine, Burkina Faso, and Zimbabwe, Sidhwa said he hoped “I’ll be able to go back” to Gaza.
However, he added, “It’s a little bit scary going back to a place where the Israelis can just kill anybody that they want.”
Ongoing Genocide
Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza.
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
Israeli Artillery, Drone Strikes Devastate Gaza – Scores of Civilians Killed, Injured
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 43,259 Palestinians have been killed, and 101,827 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7, 2023.
Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
Famine and Displacement
The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Later in the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began moving from the south to central Gaza in a constant search for safety.
(Anadolu, PC)
