"Dead on Arrival": Doctors Back from Gaza Describe Horrific Hospital Scenes, Decimated Health System

[Uncle Joe]

Nearly seven months of constant bombardment, siege and obstruction of aid deliveries have annihilated the healthcare system in Gaza. Last week, the Palestinian Health Ministry said that around 600,000 Palestinians in the northern Gaza Strip no longer have access to any kind of healthcare. The World Health Organization has said that Israel is “systematically dismantling” the health system in Gaza. Only 11 hospitals out of 36 hospitals in Gaza are partially functioning. At both of Gaza’s largest hospitals, Al-Shifa and Nasser, Palestinians found hundreds of bodies buried in mass graves after Israel raided and destroyed the facilities. Democracy Now! speaks with Dr. Ismail Mehr and Dr. Azeem Elahi just after they volunteered at the largest hospital still operating in Gaza, the European Hospital in Khan Younis. “The healthcare system has been always in a noose, and that noose tightens at times when there’s conflict,” says Mehr. “Right now that noose has completely just hung the healthcare system.”

Democracy Now! is an independent global news hour that airs on over 1,500 TV and radio stations Monday through Friday. Watch our livestream at democracynow.org Mondays to Fridays 8-9 a.m. ET.

[walkingman]

1. Of all people, I would think Israel could understand that starvation of children and

innocent civilians is wrong? Just doesn't compute.

[Uncle Joe]

2. I believe that people only understand what they know and

and many people don't want to know things that may cause them some emotional discomfort.

We all want to belong to something bigger, part of the group, sort of like of planets forming in the early universe larger objects pulling in smaller ones. It feels safer.

Safety and security are almost if not exclusively the myopic focus of media coverage, (whether Israel or here in the U.S.) while freedom, independence, justice and morality are all subjected to the former's increasingly paranoid inner demons.

People in general are demeaned as a result, no one can be trusted and everyone is "either with us or against us."

Protests against mass punishment and potential genocide are subsequently morphed by the established status quo into representing the abyss itself.

I believe it all boils down to lack of faith in humanity itself and if we as a species can't at least culturally evolve past this point, eventual World War III is virtually assured.

[xocetaceans]

3. It is a terrible thing that is going on in Gaza. . One wonders if the Gazans will still be willing to tolerate the...

presence of Hamas in Gaza if there still is a Hamas in Gaza when this is finally over. Clearly, Hamas does not care how many bodies accumulate as a result of their invasion of Israel on October 7. They are not a group whose existence Israel should be expected to tolerate any more than the world expected the US to tolerate the existence of Al Qaeda or of Daesh after 9/11 or after Daesh's attempt at conquest in Iraq/Syria and the associated beheadings and killings, respectively.

It is interesting to see how there is no criticism of Hamas starting this war in this sort of a video. And, yes, the conflict as a whole does go back years. It was also interesting to note that the one doctor neglected to mention (at about 16:22 in the video) the suicide bombings to which Israel was subjected: however, it seems likely that criticism of Hamas would probably get one or one's family killed if one were ever to be in Gaza. Still, it would be interesting to know whether these doctors privately condemn or support Hamas.

To end all of this, Hamas needs to return the hostages and surrender to the Israeli military. Of course, that is not going to happen. So, a lot more people are likely going to die due to the inability of two groups to make peace with each other instead of waging war.

However, it should not be forgotten that Hamas principally bears responsibility for this current situation in Gaza.

[Uncle Joe]

4. You didn't mention the Nakba; in your post that helped form the base

of what is Gaza today or that it has been an open air prison for well over a decade, with drones flying overhead night and day, long before October 7th.

At this point, the power in Gaza is Israel, not Hamas, and the bombed, besieged and starved Palestinians don't have the power to challenge anyone.

I don't believe Netanyahu even wants the hostages released.

He all but stated as much with his declaration that Rafah would be invaded whether there is a hostage deal or not.

That just takes any and all motivation from Hamas to even consider making a deal to release the hostages.

Netanyahu knows this as well, he doesn't want it to end anymore than *rump wanted his term to end.

[xocetaceans]

5. It is possible that Netanyahu does not want the crisis to end so as to avoid the consequences of what he seems to have..

...previously done while leader of Israel.

Nevertheless, Hamas is committed by its very doctrine to mass violence and has reiterated that position. Only the most naive leaders would seriously think that after October 7, Israel will not eliminate Hamas. That means that, repatriated hostages or not, the invasion of Rafah will happen. It is just a question of when. Hamas could not possibly be naive enough to believe otherwise.

The only other remaining question is how many Palestinians are going to die unnecessarily since Hamas will not cease using them as human shields.

Hamas seriously miscalculated when they carried out October 7. Those of the Palestinians who actually are innocent don't deserve the situation that they are in, but neither did the innocent people who died when the Allied powers attacked Germany and destroyed its Nazi government and military. That tragedy did not stop the Allied powers from ending WWII on their terms.

No one should want the impending destruction and death in Gaza, but that it is coming is the current reality of the situation.

What do you think the solution to the Israel-Palestine problem should be and how, given the current state of things, would you implement such a solution? Who do you view as a reliable source of information regarding the history of the Nakba? What role do you think that WWI played in causing the Nakba? It would be interesting to know what you think can and should be done.

[Uncle Joe]

6. If both parties are committed to destroying each other, the only logical solution

is a peace treaty wherein they don't.

This isn't close to World War II nor even World War War I in its' destruction nor security threat, but it can become a World War.

You ask what I believe to be the best solution?

Israel doesn't trust the Palestinians and the Palestinians don't trust Israel, so the best solution that I have heard to date is from a Professor Bartov and that would be a one state confederation with both peoples having rights in both sections.

"From the River to the Sea": Omer Bartov on Contested Slogan & Why Two-State Solution Is Not Viable

Nov 10, 2023