Felix Abt interviews Dr. Suheal – Gaza

Felix Abt interviews the British physician, Dr. Suheal A. Khan, Chief Orthopaedic Surgeon, just returned from Gaza.

Warning: This interview contains horrific images of Dr. Khan trying to save the lives of civilians in Gaza who have been severely injured and disfigured by Israeli bombs.

Felix Abt

Brief comment from Peter Hanseler

When I saw the pictures taken by Dr. Khan in Gaza, I felt sick and asked myself whether we should publish them.

I decided to do so. Those people who are relativizing the genocide in Gaza should read this interview and look at the pictures – not press pictures, but pictures taken by the doctor himself. Then they should ask themselves whether there could be any circumstances that could justify such horror against civilians – a rhetorical question.

Here is another exciting and this time unsettling article by our tireless author Felix Abt, who publishes on his blog easternangle.com and Substack.

Introduction

About my interview partner

My interviewee, Dr. Khan, is a British orthopaedic surgeon. He was the founder of the “Mobile International Surgical Team” foundation and is its director. This group of international orthopaedic surgeons is most comparable to “Doctors Without Borders”, except that it specializes in orthopaedic and plastic surgery. The organization is politically and denominationally neutral and works in developing countries, where it helps to establish self-sustaining, high-quality healthcare for the local population. I met Dr. Khan when he was working in Vietnam.

Systematic Censorship

The Israeli tactic to hide the ongoing genocide is to suppress the media. This includes pressuring mainstream media outlets like CNN to filter and distort reports to suit Israel’s interests, preventing journalists from reporting from Gaza, or simply killing them — a fate that has befallen dozens of journalists to date, “more than in any other conflict in over 30 years.”

The greatest irony is that CNN, which supports Israeli censorship, is now criticizing the Chinese government for not suppressing the anger of Chinese netizens over the horrors in Gaza, and vilifying the Chinese as “anti-Semitic” for doing so.

An Unembellished Summary of the Horror

We would like to remind our readers that every inhabitant in Gaza is hungry, that some 50,000 pregnant women receive neither medical care nor adequate nutrition, that infants are dying in droves, and that 100,000 people have died or been injured by military violence in the Gaza ghetto so far — that is one in twenty — and that many of the injured have no access to medical care.

Despite this frightening new high in violence, the majority of Israelis still believe that not enough force is being used, according to a recent poll. Given that “Israel’s use of disproportionate force is a long-established tactic — with a clear aim,” this might not come as a surprise. The indiscriminate killing by Israel does not stop at its own citizens. On October 7, 2023, Israeli attack helicopters and tanks killed numerous citizens in their homes.

After the news in which it was falsely claimed that Hamas had beheaded Israeli babies, this followed: “In a desperate bid for international sympathy, the Israeli government has sought to stir outrage over the killing of a 12-year-old girl (pictured) during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7,” according to this report. Naftali Bennett, the former Israeli Prime Minister, chimed in to proclaim that “Liel Hetzroni of Kibbutz Beeri was murdered in her home by Hamas monsters… We’re fighting the most just war: to ensure this can never happen again.” That was a shameless lie. She was killed when an Israeli tank fired on her house.

And an Israeli soldier held hostage in Gaza was killed with poison gas, not by Hamas, but by Israel — a fact that led his mother to allude to the gas chambers in Hitler’s Germany.

We also watch in disbelief as the last vestiges of moral decency are turned upside down: Those of us who oppose genocide are accused of condoning it. Those who commit genocide are exercising their right to self-defense!

In September, before the paramilitary wing of Hamas overrun the Israeli border on October 7 (a sober analysis can be found here), Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu showed a map of the so-called New Middle East at a session of the UN General Assembly. The Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem had all been incorporated into a Greater Israel. Lately, he insisted that Israel should extend “from the river to the sea.” Palestine had ceased to exist. Palestinians are forced to choose between death by bombing, disease, exposure, starvation, or expulsion from their homeland.

Nazism is in full swing again

Both prominent Israeli politicians and ordinary Israelis use the terminology of the German Reich to refer to the Palestinians as sub-human animals (and therefore easy prey to kill). They are forcing the Palestinians who have survived this far to leave, “benevolently” referring to this as “voluntary emigration from Gaza”, which is supported by 83% of Israelis — a term and tactic of ethnic cleansing also used by Nazi Germany.

The necessary counter-statements

We provide a voice to those who witnessed the carnage but are usually left out of your papers and screens. Examples include the Palestinian intellectual who barely escaped with his life after Israeli bombs destroyed his entire neighborhood and the British doctor who worked through the chaos and carnage and agreed to an interview with us.

Masha Gessen, a Jewish descendant of Holocaust survivors and a Hannah Arendt prize winner, explains that “the politics of memory in Europe obscures what we see in Israel and Gaza today”. And as your media refuse to report on the unprecedented horror of our time, we have decided to show you graphic pictures of helpless citizens severely injured by Israeli bombs, kindly provided by our interviewee, Dr. Khan. However, we will not show you pictures from another source of dead women and children who have been torn to pieces.

The Interview From The Most Cruel War Zone in the World

The interview was conducted by Felix Abt (F.A).

Felix Abt:

Dr. Khan, you have just returned from Gaza. It is the second time you have worked there. In 2010, you spent a year in the Gaza Strip as Head of Orthopaedics at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis where you taught and trained the local surgeons in the art of Ilizarov surgery and performed many cases of limb deformity, infection, and mal-unions of fractures. You wrote the book “Nowhere to Run: A Surgeon’s Tale from the Gaza Strip” about your experiences there. Since then, the situation has changed dramatically, and for the worse, as you discovered during your recent visit. What has become of this hospital and your former colleagues there?

Dr. S.A. Khan

I arrived at European Gaza Hospital (EGH) with the Red Cross (ICRC) team and was very surprised and pleased to see surgeons and nurses I had worked with over a decade ago! The Head of Department of EGH was one of my Residents over a decade ago! So it was a sort of homecoming with many of the other EGH staff. I also met displaced colleagues from Al Shifa working now at EGH.

The problem was getting to and from work was now getting dangerous…so we started operating theatres at 10.30 am and many of the staff would sleep in theatres till the next shift came in.

Some of my former colleagues were trapped with their family’s at the Al Muwasi camp…which is a strip of beach in the ‘safe zone’. Many fear if they now return to Nasser Hospital, the IDF will arrest them as many of the Al Shifa medics are still missing, raising questions.

Felix Abt:

Israel forced patients and medical staff to leave hospitals, condemning these patients and the new patients to death. Could at least some of these patients be saved, and if so, how?

Dr. S.A. Khan

Any patient can be saved if there are enough resources and specialists available. Forcibly removing patients from Hospitals… am sure that goes against Geneva Conventions… You may want to check?

Felix Abt:

As a doctor working in developing countries and conflict zones, you’ve probably seen a lot of terrible things. What went through your mind when you saw missing limbs, deep infected wounds, women’s and children’s intestines spilled on the ground, and other horrific scenes, this time on an unprecedented scale in Gaza?

Dr. S.A. Khan:

No words can describe it……the Foundation’s media team did not put up any horrific fotos or videos on its Instagram… maybe we should?

FELIX ABT:

On January 5, the United Nations reported that there have been “600 attacks on healthcare in Gaza and the West Bank” since the beginning of the war in the Gaza Strip. Dozens of hospitals and other medical facilities have been rendered inoperable since October 7 by apparently direct and systematic attacks on medical personnel and facilities. The disruption of electricity and communication links by Israel was another barbaric act to prevent adequate medical care. In addition, the destruction of infrastructure led to severe hygiene problems due to a lack of water and sanitation facilities. How do you assess the extent of this obviously deliberate vandalism by the occupying forces and what impact will this have on the health and survival of the population?

Dr. S.A. Khan:

Ihre Frage hat viele Facetten….

There are many facets to your question….

1. Attacks on Healthcare workers…I was just emailed the UN figures for deaths till 22nd Jan 2024 from Oct 7th:

a. 63 doctors

b. 111 nurses

c. 23 paramedics

d. 29 Pharmacists

e. 13 Lab staff

f. 337 other healthcare workers

Hospitals are supposed to be sanctuaries of healing and safety… this is the first time in 30 years of Humanitarian work have I seen such blatant killing of Healthcare professionals… some with a white flag… others have been kidnapped and we do not know their whereabouts… what about these Israeli Human Shields and POW’s who happen to be medics!

Medical Aid for Palestine (MAP) and International Rescue Committee (IRC) had sent a team to Nasser hospital on 16th January… I was in Gaza at EGH from 8th to 24th January…. I know these guys, they are 6 British Citizens who are extremely skilled limb reconstruction surgeons.

Israel attacks six British surgeons in their home with a thousand-pound GPS-guided bomb!

On the 18th January IDF bombed their Residence on the beach! The facts I have just received and on the MAP website…the UN did an investigation and the type of explosive used was a 1000 pound GPS guided lump of metal and destruction…evidence gathered from the fragment analysis…only IDF or UK or USA have that type of bomb. MAP is asking the UK government why they are not doing something to protect their Humanitarian workers in Gaza….the IDF have our coordinates! Every time we (ICRC) move, we have to coordinate with the IDF and Hamas.

2. The health conditions are deteriorating and many people already had upper respiratory tract infections and we, meaning myself and teams from Norway, still have chest problems…the air was sometimes thick with dust…bombs did fall about 500m away…I mean big bombs!

3. In terms of vandalism by IDF; I am attending an International meeting in Amman, Jordan on 7th Feb, hosted by the King. ‘Rebuilding Gaza Healthcare’ is the Conference and MiST Foundation will input on Orthopaedics and training. You can register for FREE on line access. The Strip has been stripped…many of the infrastructure destroyed, but perhaps a blank canvas to erect beautiful Hospitals for the Gazans…that’s what I hope to achieve as one of my aims of the Conference.

FELIX ABT:

Some doctors in Gaza explained that they can’t even use a cold compress because of the lack of water, others explained that they clean wounds with vinegar and detergent and operate on people without anesthesia and even without painkillers. Let’s take a concrete example: How do you treat a child whose body is covered in shrapnel — with severely damaged limbs and perhaps dozens of open wounds from “head to toe” — given the extremely limited resources you have at your disposal and the extreme conditions (such as non-sterile areas, no anesthesiologist to assist you, etc.) in which you are working?

Dr. S.A. Khan:

The Gazans and Humanitarian Teams are doing the best they can, but sometimes, and this is what we did, was to make decisions whether we waste resources on hopeless cases?

Sometimes, we didn’t have water till 2 pm for the sterilizers, so we had to adjust the operation lists… we had run out of Internal Fixation devices… and the list goes on.

The Gazans need the Aid to enter so we all can work and help save and salvage limbs; as Ortho-Plastic surgeons.

FELIX ABT:

When there is a shortage of almost everything, supplies, staff, hospital beds and facilities, the health workers in Gaza not only have to make inhumane sacrifices, but also have to make serious decisions and practically decide which patient can continue to live and which has to die, “playing God” so to speak. In addition, you can be in constant fear for your life, as you could be hit by an Israeli bomb at any time. In fact, journalists and medical personnel seem to be among the main targets of the Israeli “defense” forces. How do you cope with this incredible psychological strain on top of the extreme working conditions?

Dr. S.A. Khan:

The last question is easy….with humour. The Gazans have a very dry wit and are extremely generous people…that’s probably why I get on with Gazans…I have described them as the ‘Pathans of the Middle East’….an Afghan tribe!

‘Swimming with the fish’ as my Norwegian colleague, Eric from Norway would say….when you sit, and eat, and you work together and stop for a smoke…you become part of the Team but you then direct the team, as there has been no Senior doctor for weeks, at the Hospital.

FELIX ABT:

On January 5, Unicef reported that “Cases of diarrhea in children are up 50 percent in just one week, with 90 percent of children under two now subject to ‘severe food poverty’.” Now, with thousands of children already dead as a result of the violence, it looks like a tsunami of child deaths is on the horizon. And the trickle of aid (the amount and type of which is controlled by the occupying forces) is not making the situation any better. How do you assess this situation?

Dr. S.A. Khan:

I had a WhatsApp message that one of the patients I treated had got Hepatitis A…the living conditions will only get worse from an already bad situation.

FELIX ABT:

Hamas has been trying for years to persuade Israel to release the countless Palestinians, including children, many of whom have been imprisoned for years without trial. After failing to do so, it tried to take Israelis hostage on October 7 to force the release of the Palestinian prisoners. As a result of the hostage exchange, the returned Palestinians stated that many of them had been horribly mistreated (including torture and rape) in Israeli prisons. Did you or your colleagues have the opportunity to talk to the returnees and possibly have them medically examined?

Dr. S.A. Khan:

NO COMMENT; as a Humanitarian I treat all injured irrespective of whom they are…but we also do not disclose those we have treated, unless we have permission from the patient.

FELIX ABT:

Is there anything else readers should know?

Dr. S.A. Khan:

Stop attacking Hospital…a BIG FULL STOP…let the Humanitarian agencies do their work.

FELIX ABT:

Is there anything readers can do, such as donate money to the Mobile International Surgical Teams (MiST)?

Dr. S.A. Khan:

The monies donated goes to buying kits and consumables….all MiST members are volunteers and do not profit from any of their endeavors. Visit our website to donate: www.mistngo.co.uk

MiST builds capacity and supports surgical centers in developing countries to become self-sustaining and provide excellent healthcare to local populations, regardless of the race, religion, or nationality of patients, and without adverse discrimination of any kind.

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