Momin Abu Owda is a journalist and photographer who publishes content on his networks about the massacre in northern Gaza. On the second day of the war, he had to get twelve stitches after being hit in the head. He confesses that he has not left the area because he swore to be loyal to his profession: “It is better to die showing reality than to die without showing anything and being afraid. Documenting is part of my journalistic duty.”
During the talk, organized by the Camp for Palestine UPV and Voices for Palestine at the Polytechnic University of Valencia, a bombing was heard in the area where he was taking refuge.
According to Efe, on May 21 the Israeli Army attacked two key hospitals in northern Gaza: Kamal Adwan and Al Awda. The journalist explained that it has been more than ten days since the military forces reactivated the ground attack in the northern area.
“This new offensive is more complicated and powerful than the previous one. Some people have been evacuated at the Kamal Adwan hospital. The Zionist forces understand perfectly that everything that has to do with health is of vital importance and that is why they are interested in destroying everything. The demolition carried out at the Al Shifa and Indonesian hospitals is being attempted with these two,” says Owda.
Likewise, he recounts one of the massacres that he has experienced the worst: “On Tuesday they bombed a four-story building that belonged to a single family. Twelve people died and twenty were injured. I couldn’t record. “There was a man collecting parts of destroyed bodies so he could bury them.”
Since the siege began in Gaza, the journalist claims to have witnessed more than 1,100 massacres in the northern part. To this, he added that the number of missing people almost reaches the number of deaths: “About 20,000 people are under the rubble. “If we lifted them up now, we would find dead bodies or their broken bodies.”
Regarding the video that went viral, the Israeli army warned them that they were going to enter Jabalia and that is why they recorded it while laughing. The journalist explains that pieces of shattered iron fell on them after the bombardment of the tanks. The message they wanted to convey was to show the reality from inside Gaza and demonstrate that “they are not afraid of those who come to occupy their lands and kill them.”
Last March, the Spanish Government sent more than 26 tons of food to the Gaza Strip. However, Odwan insists that they have not felt the humanitarian support from Spain: “The famine is still present.” He admits that the source of resilience and motivation for him to continue providing coverage of what is happening in Gaza and not abandon the region is the image of the martyrs that he sees every day.
Increase in diseases and destruction of healthcare facilities
Through the hands of Al-Hakim Muhammad Saeed, supervisor of the nursing department at Al Shifa and Al-Mamadani hospitals, thirty children have passed through in a single day, of which ten have died, and the other 20 have recovered. wounded. “If any of the wounded survive, their lives will not be the same as before the war. “They will become people with reduced mobility or will have vital deficiencies.”
Saeed affirms that the majority of patients tend to be children, and adds that attacks have intensified both against this population group and against women and the elderly.
“I started as a volunteer in Al Shifa and began to see how the patients’ wounds were becoming more and more serious, many of them due to chemical burns caused by white phosphorus and complicated to clean due to the shortage of materials,” he says.
Furthermore, he reports that the treatment of the Israeli troops was degrading when they entered the hospital complex. “I saw how they beat the medical team and prevented them from assisting the patients. There were also arrests, interrogations or executions of health professionals in front of other people. “They burned it so as not to use it again.”
Along these same lines, the nurse is clear that they mainly attack medical services to kill the rest of the citizens first. “In the north there are no longer any doctors specialized in each area of health because they are afraid of being murdered.”
According to Dr. Hussam Majdy Hammouda, a general surgery resident at the Indonesian Hospital in Beit Lahiya, third and fourth degree burns are common. He reveals that it is difficult to treat them when a bomb affects a multitude of people at the same time: “We receive between 50 and 100 patients at the same time. Between 70% and 80% of them do not survive.
Saaed also emphasized that poor nutrition, lack of drinking water and lack of habitable housing spread diseases more easily.
“The amount of waste and garbage that is piling up allows for more untreatable viruses. The effect of the pumps conditions breathing. “We have detected that hepatitis, which directly affects the liver, is the most common,” he highlighted.
The surgeon explains that amputations are performed first in those “most urgent cases and those that need quick intervention”: “Unfortunately we give priority to those who have the most hope. We lack facilities and anesthesia.”
They try to use any type of anesthesia, whether local or general (when available). “For us, God’s mercy is very important. It is greater than any anesthesia when we are going to operate,” he confesses.
Furthermore, Hammouda admits that the birth rate has tripled since the war began: “Births are divided between natural births and cesarean sections. We try to attend as much as we can. There is only one hospital for it.”
The surgeon states that they try to help as many citizens as possible in 24-hour days in a row: “We rest for 12 hours, and sometimes we are even on our feet for 48 hours. We feel like we lack a lot of water.”
“My message is to eliminate the word ‘war’ from dictionaries. It affects all religions, countries and people equally. I want peace in the world. Spain and Palestine go hand in hand. Thank you for your support,” she said during the conference.
“93% of people in Gaza are malnourished”
Lian Dahshan is a nutritionist and professor at the University of Palestine. Before the war she was studying for a master’s degree and she was able to form her own clinic, but after the siege, her life changed completely. She lost everything and she decided to collaborate with public service.
98% of the people who come to it present symptoms of malnutrition, among which there are severe cases. “It is necessary to have quality food, drinking water and clean air to have a decent life. None of the three exist here,” she says.
Dahshan emphasizes that they have “normalized” that people die from hunger because it is something they observe daily: “93% of people in Gaza are malnourished.” Of this percentage, 78,000 people are at risk of dying.
With this, he assures that every day they receive about 375,000 calls: “In the case of cardiovascular problems, 50,000 calls have been registered; 71,000 of diabetes and 2,000 of cancer.”
He insists that inflation is a clear fact, which has caused 90% of the population to resort to canned food: “Protein is no longer present in anyone’s mind. The price is very high and it is very scarce.” To this, he added that many people die because they do not adapt to this type of food.
Asked about the situation of women in Gaza, the nutritionist clarifies that the occupation forces attack “everything that could lead to the development of the country”: “Everyone is in danger of being attacked. “They don’t like the concept of the human being in Gaza.”
He can’t imagine his life fleeing Gaza. She says that if she had to leave her country, she would surely leave something vital behind that would motivate her to return. None of the four guests loses hope that the war will end.