Last month, the Israeli army finally withdrew from Gaza’s Shifa Hospital after a two-week raid, leaving behind nothing but horrific scenes of death and destruction.
The ground was full of corpses. Most of the buildings were burned to empty shells.
What Gaza lost in Al-Shifa Hospital was much more than its largest medical complex because Al-Shifa Hospital was more than just a hospital for the people of Gaza.
For healthcare community members, Al Shifa Hospital was like home – where we trained, conducted research and learned. It was where we found inspiration to become the best therapists we could be.
For our patients, it was a centre of hope. They knew they would get the best care at Al-Shifa Hospital, which was much better equipped than most other hospitals in the Strip.
Furthermore, Shifa was a popular place and a national landmark. Before the genocide, it was surrounded by restaurants, bookstores and two universities, all within walking distance. It was indeed the beating heart of Gaza City. Israel turned it into burnt ruins and a site of massacre.
Al-Shifa Foundation provided several unique services that people could not obtain anywhere else in Gaza. It had the most skilled doctors and advanced medical equipment, such as dialysis machines for kidney patients and x-ray machines. Its specialized medical teams can perform rare surgeries. For many decades, it has stood firm under blockades, material shortages, and numerous Israeli assaults, providing life-saving care to millions of Palestinians.
Al-Shifa Hospital was a knowledge centre for medical professionals from outside Gaza. All medical teams visiting Gaza will be keen to visit Al-Shifa Hospital to witness unique operations, learn about the latest medical developments, and follow up on many studies.
For us, the doctors, paramedics and healthcare workers in Gaza, Al-Shifa Hospital symbolized medical excellence and inspiration because it was where Gaza’s best and brightest medical professionals worked and served the community.
Healing symbolized our hopes for the future, but it was also very much a part of our past. Many of us were treated there long before we began our medical training. It was a jewel that everyone in Gaza was very proud of. Its destruction was an indescribable loss.
Israel has long threatened Camp Shifa, but many of us did not believe, nor did we imagine, that devastation on the scale we eventually witnessed could happen. I cannot describe the shock I felt when I saw Al-Shifa Hospital, the heart of Gaza’s healthcare system, burning.
Israel knew that the attacks on Al-Shifa Hospital violated international law and the Geneva Convention, so it lied and said that there was a military “operations base” underneath it. After spending weeks looting the complex, the Israeli army failed to provide any evidence to support this claim. But that doesn’t matter; the healing has been destroyed, and another aspect of this ongoing genocide has been justified.
The goal of the Israeli attack on Al-Shifa was not to achieve military superiority against its enemy but rather to increase the suffering of the Palestinian people. This attack deprived Gazans of their central refuge at a time when they faced multiple threats.
This once again led to the displacement of thousands of refugees who took shelter there. People have been left maimed by bombs and snipers; children pulled from the rubble, infants hungry and frail older adults denied access to health care.
The attack turned a place of healing and safety into a site of massacres and mass graves. He made a mockery of international law and exposed Israel’s cruelty.
When Israel destroyed our homes, it was a terrible loss. But the destruction of healing was an even greater tragedy for many of us. This was not only a personal loss but also a collective loss.
