<\/p>\n
KHAN YUNIS: Mahmud Al Astal is one of many medics providing life-saving care as casualties flood hospitals in Gaza, only to one day discover his sister and her entire family among the dead.<\/p>\n
\u201cI went to the morgue and found her charred and in pieces,\u201d the 34-year-old doctor said by phone from the main hospital in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza Strip.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn the third day of the fighting, while I was working at the emergency unit in Nasser Hospital, I discovered my sister had been killed with her husband and children,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Those strikes razed entire buildings, including one where Astal\u2019s 40-year-old sister Sadafah died along with her husband, Hussein, also 40, and their children Fadwa, Azar, Ahmad and Suleiman, aged between six and 13.<\/p>\n
\u201cEver since my sister was killed… the nightmares don\u2019t leave me. I imagine that my children will arrive at the hospital in pieces,\u201d Astal said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy children dream of travelling one day. Now I don\u2019t know if they will come out of this war alive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite the tragedy, he is determined to continue his vital work. \u201cWe have no other choice but to work and serve the injured to save them.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Stench of death\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n Wearing a red medics vest, he examines a young girl bleeding from a head injury who is crying in the emergency room. \u201cDon\u2019t be scared,\u201d he consoles her.<\/p>\n Walaa Abu Mustafa, 33, also works as a doctor in the hospital\u2019s emergency unit.<\/p>\n She too was stunned to find her aunt Samira and her husband Tawfik and their 15-year-old son Sharif among the victims of an Israeli strike who arrived at the hospital on Friday.<\/p>\n Samira and Sharif were already dead on arrival while Tawfik succumbed to his wounds shortly afterwards, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe torn body of my cousin arrived wrapped up in a sheet,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cMy aunt was like a mother to me,\u201d she continued, struggling to catch her breath. \u201cI can\u2019t speak, I\u2019m in shock over what happened.\u201d<\/p>\n But she too has vowed to \u201ccontinue my work, because it\u2019s my duty and there aren\u2019t enough doctors\u201d.<\/p>\n Her co-worker, respiratory physician Raed Al Astal, was at the hospital on Monday when he received a panicked call from his wife saying a strike had hit the building opposite theirs.<\/p>\n He hurried to the emergency unit where the victims had been taken, and found his relatives were among the dead.<\/p>\n \u201cMy aunt, her husband and their children as well as my cousin\u2019s wife were killed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe stench of death is everywhere, in every neig\u00adh\u00adbourhood, every street and every house.\u201d<\/p>\n Published in Dawn, October 29th, 2023<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" KHAN YUNIS: Mahmud Al Astal is one of many medics providing life-saving care as casualties flood hospitals in Gaza, only to one day discover his sister and her entire family among the dead. \u201cI went to the morgue and found her charred and in pieces,\u201d the 34-year-old doctor said by phone from the main hospital 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