In Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the city of Deir Al-Balah in the middle of the Gaza Strip, Palestinian pediatrician Khaled Al-Saidani stands witness to the suffering of the Strip, burdened by his physical and psychological wounds, but he continues to perform his humanitarian mission with exceptional determination, defying the loss of his right leg as a result of the Israeli genocide in the Strip.
In the children’s ward, where the moans of patients mix with the groans of the siege, the fifty-year-old doctor stands out – with the calmness of his features – a symbol of steadfastness, as he has spent decades of his life caring for patients, enduring the effects of the siege and the harshness of daily reality.
Lack of medical care
The pediatrician, like other members of his people, faces the scourges of displacement, bombing, lack of water and food, and the injury he suffered in the Bureij camp months ago, which exacerbated his suffering, especially with the absence of the necessary medical care. He needs complex surgeries, but the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip prevents them from being performed.
Since the beginning of the genocide in Gaza on October 7, 2023, Israeli forces have targeted medical facilities and hospitals in various areas of the Strip with systematic and continuous attacks, causing the destruction of the health system, a humanitarian catastrophe, and the deterioration of the infrastructure.
Israel closes the Gaza Strip crossings, including the Palestinian side of the Rafah land crossing with Egypt, which it seized on May 7, 2024 and destroyed, preventing thousands of wounded and sick people from leaving the Gaza Strip to receive treatment abroad.
“Sick children need me”
Al-Saidani says with a smile that does not hide the extent of the suffering to Anatolia: “When my leg was amputated, I felt for a moment that my life had stopped, but I soon realized that these children needed me; the children’s department had become my second home, and my duty towards them could not be abandoned.”
Despite fitting him with a temporary prosthetic limb, the doctor faces multiple daily difficulties, most notably the heaviness of the limb and its lack of fit with his body, which makes his movement cumbersome. He also suffers from a severe shortage of food, water, and the necessary treatment for his condition.
He adds: “The prosthetic limb is heavy and uncomfortable, but it is better than a wheelchair. Now I can move with relative freedom, and this gives me the ability to continue my work.”
In addition to his injury, Al-Saidani suffers from complications from diabetes, which increases his health challenges, but he finds solace in the laughter of the children he treats. He says with a hopeful smile: “When I see the children smiling after treatment, I forget my pain. This is what motivates me to continue.”
But behind that strength hides an urgent need for help. The doctor needs complex surgeries and a permanent prosthetic limb that is not available in the besieged Gaza Strip. He also suffers from a lack of his own treatment and displacement.
The doctor hopes that the war will stop and he can travel abroad to obtain treatment that will enable him to regain part of his normal life.