Saving Gazans under fire: MEMO in Conversation with Dr Amgad Elsherif

Middle East Monitor Conversations

Israel's war on Gaza shows no sign of letting up with over 30,000 Palestinians dead and 70,000 wounded since 7 October 2023. With Israel seemingly preparing a full scale military operation in Rafah and reports the north of Gaza are heading for a famine, the humanitarian catastrophe in the besieged Strip is set to get worse. Hospitals and medics are key to Gaza's survival, but they are also targets for the Israeli military, with over 600 healthcare facilities, attacked according to the United Nations. Dr Amagad Elsherif went to Gaza with a team of doctors from Canada and the US, where he encountered a tired and overstretched medical system full of unpaid healthcare workers, children suffering from a variety of traumatic injuries and uncertainty over where Israel will attack next. He also saw a surprising sense of resilience, strength and ambition among Gaza's children to go on living. Dr Elsherif joins MEMO conversations to share his experiences.

Elsherif is a thoracic surgeon in Canada who has returned to Gaza since this interview was carried out.