The documentary film “Under the Rubble,” broadcast by the 360 platform, tells the story of the hospital under impossible working conditions, and presents painful testimonies from its staff, in an attempt to show the courage of medical teams who decided not to surrender despite all the threats and continuous bombing.
Before the outbreak of the Israeli war, Kamal Adwan Hospital was one of the best hospitals in the Gaza Strip, as its director, Hussam Abu Safiya, says that it was distinguished in providing pediatric services in all its specialties, pointing out that the hospital succeeded in developing a pediatric protocol that was approved and circulated to the rest of the hospitals in the region. Gaza Strip.
On October 7, 2023, everything changed when the sound of shells and explosions was heard, medical teams rushed to the hospital, and a state of emergency was declared, as if everyone knew that what was coming would be worse, according to Eid Sabah, the director of nursing.
With the unprecedented influx of injured people, medical teams began providing first aid, but the hospital was suffering from a severe shortage of medical supplies, fuel, and even medical personnel.
Ahmed Marouf, a nurse in the surgery department, said, “The system began to collapse,” describing the situation as being beyond the hospital’s capacity to handle, while the images shown in the film showed the extent of the destruction and blood scattered inside the hospital, which embodied real pain.
In this context, Abu Safiya says that the medical team was working on a preference system, explaining, “Whoever we think has a chance of survival, we try to save, while we are forced to leave the others behind.”
The most cruel moments were when medical teams were passing over the injured people lying on the ground in large numbers, some of whom died before care could reach them.
Daily suffering
The stories told by the medical teams reflected the daily suffering, as Ahmed Salem, a nurse in the intensive care department, spoke about having to leave some patients who had no hope of survival to save others, which was met with anger and rejection by the people.
Salem added, his voice filled with pain, “Hundreds of patients died in our hands without us being able to provide anything.”
The aggression did not stop at the hospital’s external borders, as the occupation targeted the hospital’s corridors and its surroundings, while hundreds of civilians sought refuge in the hospital believing that it would be safer than the streets, but they were wrong.
Deaths among pregnant women, the death of fetuses inside their mothers’ wombs, as well as the martyrdom of mothers while their fetuses were alive were horrific scenes that reflect the extent of the disaster faced by the health sector.
The targeting of medical personnel was clear, as many of them were martyred while trying to treat the injured, and the moment of the martyrdom of one of the paramedics was a painful scene captured in the film’s lenses.
The crisis was not limited to bombing and direct targeting. With the shortage of fuel, oxygen, and medicines, vital departments such as nurseries were facing real danger, and Abu Safiya commented, “The situation was tragic.”
The film conveyed horrific images of the siege imposed on the hospital, where it was stormed and doctors and patients were stripped of their clothes in an attempt to show them as fighters.
After the Israeli army withdrew, the hospital was featureless, and Abu Safiya said, “We began rehabilitation and restoration, and the creation of some departments.”
Until the moment of production of this film, Kamal Adwan Hospital presented 25 martyrs from its medical staff, and 10 others whose fate is still unknown after their arrest, but despite everything, the medical staff continues their humanitarian mission, defying death and destruction.