by Jonathan Kuttab
As we get ready to celebrate Christmas, we think of all the people in Gaza and Palestine who are in no position to celebrate. War is hell. But, for some it can bring out courage and sacrifice, and people are accustomed to acknowledging and saluting their heroes. I would also like to celebrate heroes, and for me the true heroes are not the fighters, however brave they may be, but the civilians and noncombatants who nonetheless carry out their sacred duties under extremely difficult conditions.
Even before October 7, medical personnel in Gaza were working under severe conditions. Once the Israeli attacks began, these hospitals were overwhelmed with tens of thousands of wounded and injured Palestinians. They served their patients with dwindling medical supplies, limited fuel and electricity, and almost no space. Eventually, surgeons were forced to operate on the floor without anesthetics and with only the light of their cellphones, all while under attack. They also had to deal with the thousands of civilians who sought refuge in the vicinity or inside the grounds of the hospitals, thinking it would provide some protection from the relentless bombardment.
In addition to the urgent needs of a tremendous amount of patients and the lack of supplies, hospitals and ambulance crews have been specifically targeted, attacked and bombed. This includes what Gazans call “rings of fire” around the hospital perimeters, whereby Israel destroys the roads and access points to the hospitals, as well as shelling and direct hits on hospital facilities. Israelis claimed, without evidence, that these hospitals acted as fronts for Hamas Command Centers, and that hospital staff knowingly allowed Hamas to use them as “human shields.”
A huge campaign had been waged regarding Al Shifa Hospital, with Israelis claiming that a Hamas command and control center lay within tunnels beneath it. Even President Biden repeated this claim, as if it had been confirmed by our own intelligence departments. Eventually, Israel overran the hospital, but could not provide evidence for the existence of tunnels and command centers that would convince any neutral observer. Ehud Barak openly admitted that under his leadership, Israel had built an underground operating room, with joining tunnels but beyond that, no Hamas tunnels or command centers were revealed. This has been confirmed by a detailed report and analysis by the Washington Post.
The Arab Ahli Anglican Hospital was also hit by an air raid, and while Israel tried to pass it off as the result of a misfired rocket from Islamic Jihad, the evidence continued to be inconclusive. In all cases, the controversy did not address attacks by Israel on 51 other hospitals and hospital facilities in Gaza or the direct orders to evacuate these hospitals. This week, on December 19, we learnt that a tank destroyed the front wall of the Al Ahli hospital, arrested all the staff and took them away, except for two doctors, two janitors, and two other persons, responsible for the 100 remaining patients. A tank stands at the gate preventing anyone from coming or going. Now, Al Ahli Anglican Hospital is no longer operating.
I cannot imagine the physical and emotional strain under which these health workers have been operating. They are true heroes doing God’s work, caring for God’s children. Ordinarily, they and their facilities would and should be protected, respected, and allowed to carry out their humanitarian work unimpeded. Instead, they are now targets, victims themselves. I salute the healthcare workers and pray that God protects them and grants them strength. Many of them, like the head of Al Shifa hospital, have now been jailed, interrogated, and are doubtless being pressured to “confess” that they acted as cover for Hamas operatives. Then they can be trotted out as “proof” and justification for the attacks on the hospitals. This is exactly what was done to the Director of World Vision in Gaza, Mohammad Halabi, who was told he could go home if he only “confessed” that World Vision money had been diverted to help Hamas. He refused and instead was sentenced to 11 years after a lengthy and messy trial, mostly held in secret.
As more and more hospitals are attacked, closed, and forced to evacuate, or turned to military bases, we remember all medical staff, paramedics and ambulance drivers, along with the civil defense workers and volunteers daily digging through the rubble looking for survivors, as true heroes to be saluted and celebrated.