The situation in Gaza from a doctor on the ground

Transcript

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

We are continuing to follow the situation in Israel and Gaza after the attack on Israel by the Palestinian militant group Hamas over the weekend. In an unprecedented cross-border raid over Israel's southern border from Gaza, hundreds of Israelis were killed. Retaliatory Israeli missile strikes on the Gaza Strip have killed hundreds of Palestinians, displaced thousands more. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says his country is at war. Citizens have been warned to leave as Israel prepares for a possible ground invasion, although it's not clear how people could leave. Gaza has been under a blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt for more than a decade.

All throughout our program we are hearing from a variety of voices on the ground, including Dr. Medhat Abbas, Gaza's health ministry director general. He used to work at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza who works at the al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza.

MEDHAT ABBAS: This is applying too much pressure on our health professionals in the hospitals.

KELLY: He said that before this weekend, al-Shifa already had a shortage of medicine and supplies. Now it is worse. Israel has said as part of its siege of Gaza, it would cut off fuel, electricity and food.

ABBAS: With this shortage now, we have only electricity for four hours every day. In hospitals, we rely on standby generators consuming a lot of fuels. At the same time, the Israelis are closing borders, so we cannot have extra fuel to run those generators. Again, our capacity is very limited, especially in the intensive care units, operation rooms and the emergency rooms. The situation will be very hard for our staff. There's no safe route for the people to move inside Gaza Strip. Nobody knows because sometimes the attacks are random.

KELLY: Dr. Abbas told NPR that several ambulances had been attacked, and five have died at hospitals, including one ambulance driver.

ABBAS: Basically, we have not started yet. We have not started yet. If after all of that, they have not started, then what will happen when they really - I don't know. Are they planning for a big massacre in Gaza? I don't know. But there are only civilians, I mean, who will pay.

KELLY: And he worries they will run out of supplies completely.

ABBAS: We're consuming now in one day what we ordinarily consume in a month. Unless these borders are opened at once, for the fuel to run the generators and for medications, medical supplies to come at once to Gaza, there will be a collapse of the health system. I assure you there will be a collapse in the health system.

KELLY: When asked how he is doing personally, Dr. Abbas sighed.

ABBAS: It's pressure. It's too much pressure, too much pressure. Everybody is expecting you to help at a time where you cannot help yourself.

KELLY: And then he told us that even with everything on his shoulders, one of the lives that is weighing heavily on him right now is his family cat.

ABBAS: We have a cat. It's called Junco (ph). It's a very nice cat, a white cat, big size like a tiger. You know, it is scared. Whenever they attack, when he hears the bombs, you know, he starts to crawl in the ground, shivering and hide under the bed. I tried to explain to him, but I couldn't. I don't know his language. I mean, what could I say to him? We try to calm him down. We pat on his head. And we say, please wait. It will be OK. You will be OK. He doesn't want to eat. He doesn't want even to drink. And he's just shivering. It's a cat, I mean. He doesn't understand what's going on around us. But - so we think if they attack our house, they decide that we have to flee our house, how can we take it? It will run away. Shall we go and take it with us? Or shall we leave it inside the home? So we are thinking of that now. This is one of our plans in our home, how to save the life of this cat. And I hope it will stay with us. I hope nothing will happen to it.

KELLY: That's Dr. Medhat Abbas, Gaza's health ministry director general. He spoke to NPR's Majd Al-Waheidi. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.