Chicago doctor, Palestinian nurse reveal horrors of treating patients in Gaza, call for cease-fire
Two healthcare workers who've been on the front lines treating Palestinians in Gaza are pleading for a cease-fire.
A Chicago area doctor and a nurse told CBS News Chicago about the horrors they witnessed more than 6,000 miles away.
Some of the details included in this story are graphic.
"I was trapped for more than one month inside Al-Shifa Hospital, and maybe it was the most difficult period in my life," said Rajaa Musleh, a nurse who's also the Gaza Country Director for MedGlobal.
Musleh, a Gaza native, said her home was bombed by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in October of 2023. Her brother and brother-in-law were killed.
She sheltered at Al-Shifa Hospital, which was at that time the largest medical complex in Gaza. She was then stranded there while it was besieged by the IDF. Musleh went from sheltering to helping whoever she could while inside the hospital, which was ultimately destroyed due to Israeli airstrikes and raids. No one was permitted to enter or leave the hospital, she said.
"You smell the death every moment inside," Musleh said.
Dr. Thaer Ahmad, a Chicago-based emergency physician and MedGlobal volunteer, was inside Nasser Hospital, one of the largest hospitals in Gaza. He said the hospital was besieged, raided and damaged from explosives. Much of the equipment was also destroyed by IDF soldiers as they raided the hospital.
"What we noticed was a 360-degree assault on life in Gaza," said Ahmad, who's also Palestinian.
But the horrific flashbacks of the time they worked there will forever live in their memories. For Musleh, it was the sight of bodies piling up outside while the hospital was under siege.
"One day, we are looking at the dead persons," Musleh said. "We saw the dogs eat them, and we cannot do anything, because they [IDF] trapped us and they prevent us to move."
She also remembered the moments she spent with a 10-year-old girl who had burns to 87 percent of her body -- a memory that fuels her nightmares.
"She was crying from pain, but at the same time, I cannot do anything for her, because there is no sedation to give her and calm her down," Musleh said. "So she started crying and called doctors. 'Doctor, please, help me. Help me.' Then I came stay beside her, and I'm holding her hand...and I'm smelling the burned skin until this moment."
More than 42,000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli military since the war began, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
In his 16 days at Nasser Hospital in January, Ahmad said he witnessed the will of Palestinians to survive and help one another.
"I saw that love for life come under attack, specifically trying to break the will of the people in Gaza. I saw it in Nasser Hospital," he said.
Ahmad added doctors worked non-stop, despite the inability to communicate with anyone from the outside. Because of the sheer volume of injured people and lack of resources, doctors were forced to choose who to treat and operate on.
"We saw people who were on the floor of the emergency department who would be there for hours," he said. "The healthcare workers in Palestine had to make really horrifying decisions, and they had to do so knowing that these decisions would only get harder as time went on."
Ahmad felt he had even more to do after he left Gaza. Now he's volunteering in Lebanon, based in the south between two hospitals training staff.
It came as Israeli airstrikes continued to flatten Beirut suburbs this week.
"And I think some of it is survivor's guilt," Ahmad said. "Some of it is, we know we have some privileges and opportunities that people in Gaza don't. How could you not use that to try to support them?"
Both Musleh and Ahmad said they felt a deep sense of outrage at the level of devastation more than a year after the war began. Musleh said she continues to grapple with the trauma of what she witnessed and experienced, including not having any food or water, and drinking saline to survive while trapped in the hospital.
While Musleh eventually evacuated to Egypt, some of her family members are still in Gaza struggling to survive.
"I cannot sleep...when I'm asleep, just, I have bad dreams, and maybe I'm thinking about my family inside Gaza," she said. "They are struggling, no food, no shelters.
"They are human beings and have the right to receive medical services, education, and to raise their children in peace," she continued. "We need a cease-fire, and this is simply our message for the world."
Ahmad is still volunteering and plans to speak with CBS News Chicago on Wednesday morning from Lebanon.
"I think it's time for all of us to hold up a mirror to ourselves and figure out where we failed the people of Gaza," Ahmad said.