Last month, the Israeli army finally withdrew from Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital after a two-week raid, leaving behind only apocalyptic scenes of death and destruction.
The ground was littered with corpses. Most of the buildings were burned down and reduced to empty shells.
What Gaza lost in Al-Shifa is much more than its largest medical complex. Because Al-Shifa was much more than a hospital for the people of Gaza.
For members of the medical community, al-Shifa was their home: it was the place where we trained, conducted research, and learned. This is where we found inspiration to become the best healers we could be.
For our patients, it was a center of hope. They knew they would receive the best care at al-Shifa, which was much better equipped than most other hospitals in the strip.
Additionally, al-Shifa was a popular gathering place and a national monument. Before the genocide, it was surrounded by restaurants, libraries and two universities, all within walking distance. It was truly the beating heart of Gaza City.
Israel reduced it to burned ruins and the site of a massacre.
Al-Shifa offered a number of unique services that people could not get anywhere else in Gaza. It had the most brilliant doctors and advanced medical instruments such as dialysis machines for kidney patients and x-ray equipment. Its expert medical teams could perform rare surgical procedures. For many decades, it withstood sieges, equipment shortages and numerous Israeli aggressions and provided lifesaving care to millions of Palestinians.
Al-Shifa was a knowledge center for medical professionals from outside Gaza. All medical teams visiting Gaza would make sure to visit al-Shifa to witness unique operations, learn about the latest developments in medicine and follow numerous studies being conducted there.
And for us, doctors and health workers in Gaza, al-Shifa was a symbol of medical excellence and a source of inspiration because it was where Gaza’s brightest medical professionals worked and served the community.
Al-Shifa was a symbol of our hopes for the future, but also a big part of our past. Many of us had been treated there long before our medical training began. It was a gem that everyone in Gaza was immensely proud of. Its destruction was an indescribable loss.
“I couldn’t hold back my tears when I saw the damage here,” said Dr. Marwan Abu Sada, a well-known surgical consultant, after a visit to the medical complex after the Israeli attack.
“I did not shed tears for the damage caused to my own house, but for the destruction of the hospital, as well as for all the medical staff and the injured in Gaza,” he added.
I share his feelings of loss and devastation and know that many other healthcare professionals share this feeling.
Israel had been threatening al-Shifa for a long time, but many of us did not believe it, did not imagine that destruction on the scale we finally witnessed could occur. I cannot begin to describe the shock of seeing al-Shifa, the heart of Gaza’s health system, in flames.
Israel knew that attacks on al-Shifa would violate international law and the Geneva Convention, so it lied and said there was a military “base of operations” under its territory. After spending weeks ransacking the compound, the Israeli military has provided no evidence to support this claim. But that didn’t matter: al-Shifa had been destroyed, and another aspect of this ongoing genocide was justified.
The aim of the Israeli attack on al-Shifa was not to gain a military advantage over its enemy, but to increase the suffering of the Palestinian people. The attack deprived the people of Gaza of their main refuge at a time when they face multiple threats. It once again displaced thousands of refugees who had found refuge there. It left people maimed by bombs and snipers, children pulled from rubble, starving infants and frail elderly people without access to health care. The attack transformed a place of healing and security into a place of massacres and mass graves. This flouted international law and exposed Israel’s cruelty.
When Israel destroyed our homes, it was a horrible loss. But the destruction of al-Shifa was an even greater tragedy for many of us. It was not only a personal loss, but also a collective loss.
With the disappearance of Al-Shifa, we are left with an incurable wound. What will we do now, what can we do, and how can we rebuild after the very heart of our society has been ripped out?
Israel destroyed all of Gaza’s universities and ensured that the majority of its hospitals did not function. This turned al-Shifa into a pile of rubble. It has killed countless doctors, nurses, physicians and academic clinicians. Many others had to evacuate to stay alive. Most recently, we received the tragic news of the murder of Dr. Adnan al-Bursh, director of the orthopedics department at al-Shifa, following his kidnapping and interrogation by Israeli soldiers. Those of us still in Gaza can do nothing but sit and wait to see who will be killed next or which vital building will be targeted. This is not a life.
While we hope that Israel’s war on Gaza will end and a ceasefire agreement will be reached, we also fear what will happen next: what life will be like in Gaza after this genocide, what will it look like without Al-Shifa? , and can we rebuild our health sector after all the losses we have suffered? We know that we cannot replace al-Shifa, at least in the short term. But we can keep alive what it represents: our hopes for a better future, and the strength and resilience of our community.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Tel Aviv Tribune.