By Mustafa Deveci
Fadia Malhis, a gynecologist at the Al-Shifa Medical Complex in the northern Gaza Strip, recounted to Anadolu the death of a pregnant woman who was killed alongside her unborn baby, husband and brother-in-law on their way to the hospital.
“A pregnant woman went into labor in the middle of the night two days ago,” said Malhis.
“As soon as she left her house to go to the hospital with her husband and her brother-in-law, a missile hit them,” she said. “The woman's husband and his brother were killed in the attack and their bodies were brought to the hospital.”
The Palestinian gynecologist said, “The pregnant woman died eight minutes after she was brought to the hospital.”
“I performed a cesarean section on her and took the baby out,” said Malhis. “The baby wasn’t breathing either, we then performed CPR and the baby’s heart was beating again, but unfortunately, the mother was injured in the attack by missile fragments in her belly and the baby had internal bleeding, so we lost the baby as well.
- Difficult times
The doctor and her family also lived through difficult times during Israeli raids in the northern Gaza Strip.
“We were besieged in our house for three weeks, we couldn’t leave or even look outside the window,” said Malhis.
While she was under siege in her house in the Rimal District, Israeli soldiers raided the Al-Shifa hospital.
Malhis said: “Israeli forces destroyed the hospital, they bombed the MRI machine and damaged many sections in the hospital.”
"Israeli forces removed the people from the hospital, including the doctors, then they detained most of the doctors who were on their way to the south, some of them are still in detention,” added Malhis.
- Beaten up, detained
The doctor said, "Israeli soldiers attacked our apartment building and bombed it. They crushed our cars with tanks and detained all the men in the area.”
She told Anadolu that soldiers “beat and tortured my son, who is a dentist, for two days and then released him in a bad condition.”
“They also detained my son-in-law, we haven't heard from him in over a month,” added Malhis.
“We are in a really bad situation. We have nowhere left due to the destruction everywhere,” said the doctor. “Israeli forces even bombed my clinic.”
“We took shelter in the Al-Shifa Hospital where I worked in the emergency department,” added Malhis.
- ‘No meds, food, or aid’
Malhis stated that the emergency department at Al-Shifa Hospital was reopened and thanks to the efforts of Palestinian doctors, services are now available to patients, including minor surgeries.
“No major hospital is providing service in the northern Gaza Strip due to Israeli attacks and the blockade,” said Malhis.
“No medicine, no food and no aid is coming to the northern Gaza Strip,” she said.
“We are in a very bad and difficult situation in the north,” she said. “The whole world is watching but no one is helping."
“More than 100 days have passed and all hope is gone, this brutal attack and genocide never ends and we are helpless and hopeless, she added.
Malhis said Palestinians living in the northern Gaza Strip have difficulty finding water and food, and the few products they do have are very expensive.
- ‘50,000 pregnant women in danger’
Malhis emphasized that there are 50,000 pregnant women in Gaza, which is under constant Israeli attacks.
"Pregnant women here are in life-threatening conditions, our situation is really bad and we are helpless, without care or medication,” said the gynecologist.
“I want to go to Türkiye with my children, we have applied everywhere and we are waiting for approval,” said Malhis, whose husband is in İstanbul as he pleaded for a way out of Gaza.
“This is hell,” she said. “I hope to be reunited with my husband.”
* Writing by Ikram Kouachi