00:00Let's go to the Middle East now. On the ground in Gaza, what more and more people are considering to be a genocide against the Palestinians continues.
00:09Israeli troops have killed 50 people at least across the Gaza Strip this Wednesday, a figure that is likely to rise as the military operation in Gaza City intensifies.
00:18The image is very much telling the story here. The death toll of Palestinians since October the 7th, 2023 is over 65,000 at least.
00:26Hamas provoked the war with its attack on southern Israel, killing 1,200 Israelis, kidnapping some 250.
00:33And there are, of course, still Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip.
00:38When you see these images, it is an understatement to say that the health situation in the Gaza Strip is a catastrophe.
00:44The only working hospital left in Gaza City is under threat from Israeli tanks closing in.
00:48I'm joined now by Dr. Nada Al-Hadithi, who is a British doctor who spent a month in Gaza this summer treating civilians at Nasser Hospital.
00:57What she witnessed haunts her, and you'll understand why when you hear her words.
01:01She treated blast injuries, severe burns, bullet wounds. Many of her patients were children.
01:07Take a look at this image. It shows an X-ray of a six-week-old baby with a leg fracture from a bullet wound sustained.
01:13Dr. Al-Hadithi will tell us more. Whilst at the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation AIDS site,
01:20now that, of course, is a site set up to hand out food to hungry Palestinians.
01:26It has, of course, been confirmed by the World Health Organization that there is famine in parts of the Gaza Strip.
01:33Of course, you can imagine what happens when you go there and you get fired at.
01:35It must obviously send a very strong message that your life is very much in danger.
01:41So the doctor will also tell us about an Israeli drone following one of her medical colleagues home,
01:47killing him and his family. It sounds like it's been an absolutely horrific situation.
01:51Dr. Nada Al-Hadithi, thank you for joining us.
01:56Tell us about your time at the hospital. From what we've just heard, what we've just seen,
02:01it sounds absolutely horrific, but of course, you can tell us a full story.
02:05I was in Nasa Hospital in Gaza in July 25. And during that time, we worked from 7 a.m.
02:16until 1 a.m. every day operating. And we still didn't scratch the surface of the number of cases
02:21that needed done. The patients were mutilated, dismembered, burnt alive. Two of my boys,
02:27Khalid and Oseid, were bombed in their tent. They were six years old and eight years old.
02:31Their parents were both killed. Their four siblings killed. Khalid sustained shrapnel to his brain
02:36and had really significant burns, Oseid had really significant burns. And I just found out last week
02:41that both of them are now dead. I saw women that were pregnant that were bombed in their tents
02:46and had significant fractures to both legs, skin loss, loss of their eye, and their emaciated bodies
02:52were so thin you could not tell that they were six months pregnant. It was relentless. The bones of the
02:57patients were protruding out from their limbs and there was blood continuously flowing on the floor.
03:03Dr. Al-Dithi, you also witnessed attacks on healthcare workers, your colleagues.
03:09One followed home by an Israeli drone and then killed. Can you tell us more about that?
03:13Ahmed was the best scrub nurse. He was so joyful and he was so keen to help his community. What I
03:24witnessed testimony told me was that he was followed home by a quadcopter drone. And as he reached his
03:29tent, it fired on him and his three children, killing all of them. He is one of the four colleagues I know
03:35who have been killed. Another was Ahmed Al-Makada. He was a plastic surgeon and he was shot outside Al-Shifa
03:41Hospital with his hands bound behind his back. We know that they are one of 1,700 healthcare workers
03:47killed in Gaza or been abducted, tortured, or arbitrarily detained. And we know from the UN
03:53Commission on Human Rights that when you attack healthcare systems, you're catalyzing ethnic
03:59cleansing. Even right now, this is happening with a ground invasion where Al-Quts, Al-Shifa Hospital
04:04are being encircled and people are dying there.
04:06In Gaza, and you've already mentioned the fact that some of the women you treated who
04:13were pregnant were so thin, you couldn't tell that they were pregnant. You've seen the
04:17level of starvation firsthand, both in your patients and in your colleagues. I'm wondering
04:22how you cope with that. Can you tell us how they were trying to cope with that?
04:25My colleagues were the true heroes of this. They would come into work when they were completely
04:35emaciated and starving. Routinely, I asked them how much weight they lost, and it was between
04:3915 and 35 kilograms. They would collapse whilst at work because they were so hungry, and yet
04:44they would still be offering me food. The starvation in Gaza is manmade. Israel has weaponized the
04:51aid relief sites. We saw patients that had been to the GHF sites, and they told us they
04:57were going there to get food because they were so hungry, and then they were shot on.
05:01One child was six weeks old, a babe in arms, and she was shot in her leg. If plastic surgeons
05:07weren't in Gaza, she would have had an amputation. Another child was 10 years old, and I'm told
05:14by eyewitness that she was shot in her left knee and she needed an amputation. Her name was
05:19Hannah. She loved to dance. She had the most infectious laugh, and she was a beautiful girl
05:24in her childhood, and her future has been snatched away from her. Another patient, one of my nurses,
05:29was shot in his back. The bullet penetrated through the back of his shoulder, and it's
05:34completely destroyed all the nerves that supply his left dominant hand, and he can no longer
05:38work as a nurse. So the weaponization of food in Gaza is a really, really significant problem,
05:45and it's something that must stop. It's in direct contravention of humanitarian law.
05:50The GHF, Gaza Humanitarian Foundation sites, of course, opening in May on the 27th. Since
05:55then, at least 2,000 Palestinians have been killed whilst trying to collect aid from there,
06:00fired on by the Israeli military and other groups working with them, other militia working
06:06with them. It seems particularly cruel when people are starving to act in this way. Clearly,
06:15the distress in your voice, Dr. Nader, is really clear and evident, and what you're telling us
06:23is really hard to process, because I think watching this on TV, as we all do around the world,
06:29you don't get the sense of it, but what you've seen, what you've heard, what you've witnessed,
06:33clearly is living with you on a day-to-day basis, a minute-by-minute basis.
06:38Many of the injuries that you've been speaking about, of course, were sustained at those GHF sites.
06:42Can you tell us a bit more about that?
06:50So, prior to UNRWA being dismantled by Israeli government, there were 400 food delivery sites,
06:58I believe, across Gaza. And since the GHF has taken over, there are four. Oftentimes, patients tell
07:04us that they were asked to be there at 3 a.m. in the morning, in pitch blackness. They had to travel
07:10vast distances through evacuation zones, which were being actively bombed in order to reach
07:17these sites. And when they were there, eyewitness testimonies that they were fired upon.
07:22So, the weaponization of food is a really significant problem. And I also work with organizations
07:27which have been forced to help on a private basis to bring food in. And they're being charged
07:31between $50,000 and $300,000 per lorry to bring in baby formula, which is a banned item.
07:38My patient, Khalid, he died because he was starving to death. Another patient, Mace, who I told
07:44President Macron about, she was shot by a quadcopter drone. But what is killing her now is that there's
07:49no food and no feed in Gaza. And so she is slowly starving to death whilst being an impatient
07:55in a hospital. And when we hear certain people in the Israeli administration saying that aid
08:03is getting through, that trucks are being allowed through, that this is a myth, that there's
08:08no such thing as famine and shortages in Gaza, that must make you incandescent with rage, I
08:13imagine.
08:13I think the world is recognizing what's happening. And you can see it across the globe by people
08:24mobilizing to say that they will not be complicit in what the Commission of Inquiry is now calling
08:28a genocide. Even when we were presenting to President Macron, a father, Yehuda Cohen, a
08:33father of an Israeli hostage, said that Israelis' government must be stopped. And the only way
08:38he sees them by doing anything is through wholesale sanctions. So I think there's a lot of dissent
08:44and a lot of people now are getting frustrated by the lack of action.
08:48Dr. Nader, let me just remind people that you are at the UN in New York. You've met with
08:53President Macron. Can you tell us a bit more about how that went? What did you say to the
08:57French President?
08:59I thank the first president for his leadership and not allowing perpetrators of war crimes
09:08to control the narrative. I think that he's really shown us moral leadership and now it's
09:12time to take action. I told him about Mace, my nine-year-old beautiful girl who loved to
09:18dance and play football, getting shot by a quadcopter. And in a land of really advanced AI technology
09:25and perpetual surveillance, I said that these assaults on children are not accidents. I also
09:29told him that my patient list, one day on the 18th of July, I had 12 patients, eight of
09:35them with children. And that was pretty consistent throughout the time. He seemed to care. He seemed
09:41moved. He said he was going to take action. And now it's time to see that action. I also
09:46spoke to Yvette Cooper, the British foreign minister and other leaders from around the world.
09:51And they were visibly moved when I told them tales of my patients who I had to operate on
09:56without anesthetic because Israel will not allow medical supplies in. They said that they wanted
10:00to take action. And I really trust and hope that world leaders will take action now. We need a ceasefire
10:06now. We need to have a wholesale unfettered aid in and food in. And we have to do whatever we can. And these
10:14leaders can make a change. And whether that action is through sanctions or whether it's through suspension
10:19of free arms, Dale's, it must happen now, because every day that passes, another child
10:24like Mace or another child like Ahmed is going to be unlawfully tortured and harmed and killed.
10:30So I beg them to take action. And I really believe that they will.
10:35Dr. Nader, it is clear that what you're telling us is really hurting. And it's also very clear that you
10:41are now very much an advocate for these people's rights and giving them a voice because they don't
10:47have a voice. And you are here doing this now. And, you know, credit to you, power to you for doing
10:52this. What would you like to see world leaders do to help the people of the Gaza Strip, the men,
10:59women, children, the Palestinians there, who are tonight, as we're speaking, under bombardment?
11:04What would you want the world leaders to do?
11:10Well, I think your point about the Palestinians not having a voice is absolutely crucial.
11:15The meetings I was at had very few, if not any, Palestinian voices there. And that's something
11:20that has to change. The Palestinians must control their own narrative and be allowed to sit at the
11:24table for these conversations. World leaders must take action now to stop Israel
11:29in its genocidal approach to erasing a Palestinian people. And they must take action either through
11:35sanctions or through sales embargoes or through whatever means they can. And even us as global
11:41citizens, we are consumers. We have powers with our voices, with our votes. And I think more and
11:46more we're seeing that people are recognizing that they have power. It's happening with institutions.
11:50It's happening with football teams. It's even happening in Hollywood. So I think everyone
11:54should have faith and hope that their actions will count. And we must all keep on advocating
11:59together. Anyone that's been to Gaza, it's not just me, it's other health workers. Every single
12:04health worker who's been to Gaza has come out saying that they must do more to help because
12:08you will never be able to comprehend the horrors that I've seen.
12:11Dr. Nader Al-Hadifi, thank you for joining us. Thank you for sharing what is a very difficult
12:18sequence of memories that you're living on a day-to-day basis. Very clear. And it is very
12:23clear that it still hurts very deeply what you've seen. And the fact that you care so much about the
12:29people that you helped and you still try to help is very evident. So power to you. Thank you for
12:34joining us. Thank you for talking to us. I know it was difficult, but we really do appreciate you
12:39sharing what you've lived through and what you've worked through. And thank you very much for being
12:43with us here in France 24. We do appreciate it. Thank you, Dr. Nader Al-Hadifi there in New York.
12:49And thanks also to Jessica the Missouri, our correspondent there.
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