The Real Toll of the War in Gaza: A Conversation With Two Doctors

The official death toll in Gaza continues to rise every day with Israel engaging in sporadic attacks on Palestinians in Gaza, killing dozens since the “ceasefire” agreement came into effect on January 19. The death toll also climbs every day for two other reasons: bodies retrieved from the rubble, and people who die of their wounds. The health ministry puts the number of confirmed dead at over 47,500 — though it acknowledges this figure as a vast undercount as it only tallies the number of bodies brought to hospitals and morgues in Gaza that are recorded the ministry. The official number of wounded is over 111,000 and people in Gaza continue to die from those wounds every day.

The health care system in Gaza came under a severe and systematic attack by the Israeli military, with nearly all of Gaza’s hospitals completely destroyed or barely functioning. The World Health Organization says that an estimated 14,000 Palestinians need to be medically evacuated to receive treatment outside of Gaza, including 2,500 children who are at imminent risk of death.

To discuss the real death toll in Gaza, the complications around medical evacuations, the war’s effect on children, and the importance of bearing witness, Drop Site News journalists Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Murtaza Hussein speak with two doctors who traveled to Gaza multiple times on medical missions to provide emergency health care during the war: Dr. Mimi Sayed is an emergency medicine physician based in Olympia, Washington, who has completed two medical missions to Gaza, the last one ending on December 31. Dr. Feroze Sidhwa is a general, trauma, and critical care surgeon based in California. He has provided medical care in conflict zones worldwide, including Palestine, Ukraine, Haiti, and Zimbabwe. He was last in Gaza in April and is returning in March.

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