What this Australian doctor saw in Gaza was 'apocalyptic'. But that will not stop him going back

Australia Broadcast Center

14-06-2025

The memories of "starving children" with horrific injuries still haunt emergency doctor Mohammed Mustafa.
Warning: This story contains graphic details of dead bodies and animals.
Dr Mustafa, known as Dr Mo, recently returned from his second volunteer medical mission to Gaza and the 35-year-old is considering a third.
He said the only way to describe the situation inside Gaza was "apocalyptic".
"You see dogs eating people in the streets, dead bodies in the streets, [dogs] pulling blown up arms out of rubble, or a leg and running away with it," he told the ABC.
"There's a saying here, 'The only things that are not hungry in Gaza are the dogs', because they have a lot of people to feed on."
Born to a Palestinian refugee family, Dr Mo has had time to reflect on his experience.
Arriving just as a fragile ceasefire between Hamas and Israel collapsed in March this year, Dr Mo spent three weeks volunteering in north Gaza's al-Ahli Hospital.
He said Al-Ahil Hospital was one of the last fully functional hospitals standing in Gaza but was severely lacking in medical supplies, including proper sanitisation and adequate anaesthesia.
Israel has bombed it including in April, in what their military said was targeting a Hamas "command and control centre" — a claim denied by the group.
Dr Mo said there were days when hospital staff only had one portion of rice or lentils to eat for the entire day.
He'd stop eating altogether on some days to save and ration food for those in greater need.
"I just wanted to work. I just wanted to be there to help. It wasn't a big issue to me whether I was full or not," he said.
He said he was one of the lucky ones, when many of the people, including children, he saw were severely malnourished or "starving".
In May in the lead-up to Israel deciding to allow a "basic amount of food" into Gaza , the United Nations World Food Programme warned populations across the Strip were at risk of famine.
The World Health Organization also reported in May that the "entire 2.1 million population of Gaza is facing prolonged food shortages, with nearly half a million people in a catastrophic situation of hunger, acute malnutrition, starvation, illness and death. This is one of the world's worst hunger crises, unfolding in real time".
"We do not need to wait for a declaration of famine in Gaza to know that people are already starving, sick and dying, while food and medicines are minutes away across the border," WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
Dr Mo pursued his medical training across Britain and Australia, saying he was driven by his commitment to human rights.
In 2024 and 2025, he served in Gaza's Nasser and European hospitals, with Rahma Worldwide providing critical emergency care amid escalating violence.
But it was his commitment to frontline care that drew him back to Gaza again, this time with the Palestinian Australian New Zealand Medical Association.
His raw, live social media videos from inside emergency departments brought the devastation of the conflict to his tens of thousands of followers worldwide.
"I documented my journey when I was in Gaza, and I was told that I wasn't allowed to do that, but I did it anyway because I just felt like it was a moral obligation," he said.
Since he left Gaza, he's been busy.
He was recently on the Freedom Flotilla with 12 activists, including Swedish activist, Greta Thunberg, just before the yacht set sail for Gaza to deliver aid, including baby formula, food, and medical supplies.
"They were in tears, they were crying, they were scared. They were hugging their families goodbye. It was real," he told ABC's News Breakfast.
Since then, Israeli forces intercepted the yacht and detained the activists. Ms Thunberg was then deported to her home country, Sweden, and six other crew members were also deported shortly after.
Two French nationals remain in Israeli custody awaiting deportation on Friday, according to Adalah, a nonprofit legal association in Israel.
Dr Mo said he had lost sleep, worried for their safety.
He's also been making his case to Australian officials to back a children's hospital that would be led by governments, and non-government organisations.
Dr Mo said the mobile children's hospital could look like an already set-up prototype in Jordan, which would include medical vans, with ICU units, pathology labs, run by solar power.
He said it would be "historic" for the region and would help the Australian government step in and do something about the situation in Gaza.
"But I need people to help me to save those lives."
The hospital would only employ staff vetted by NGOs
He said this would prevent suspicion of corruption or accusations that the hospital would be hiding weapons for Hamas — a claim often made by the Israeli military.
Dr Mo said he's already met with Foreign Minister Penny Wong and other MPs to discuss the plans, who he said were "supportive" of the initiative.
During a recent press conference, Ms Wong said she met with Dr Mo and said they, "talked at length" about the situation in Gaza.
On Friday, Ms Wong announced Australia will send a further $10 million in urgent medical and nutrition supplies to Gaza to address the humanitarian crisis.
"We need a new approach in Gaza. Governments need to get involved and need to work with NGOs to provide equipment [to hospitals], safety, and protection," he said.
"We can no longer rely on the IDF or Israel's word to protect aid workers and we can't rely on them to allow aid in."
Israel's Ministry of Defense was contacted for comment.
Dr Mo described seeing "beyond catastrophic" wounds and injuries from bombing.
"I'm seeing these mass casualty events as they arrive, we're bringing people up to the surgery, those that have stayed alive," he said.
Sometimes he had to decide whether to treat an injured person on their last breath or a severely wounded person who may survive.
Other times, the decision was already made for him.
"If we managed to stabilise a patient in the ED, the amount of work that they would need in the operating room and intensive care, we just don't have the capacity," he said.
"Sometimes, [I think] it's better if they died than to live with those horrific injuries."
He will never forget the children that he had to let succumb to their severe injuries.
"There's a lot that stays with you. It's hard because when you talk about it, you rethink the experience," he said.
"It hit me the other day when I heard a loud bang. I don't know whether it was someone knocking over the bins or someone throwing a rock at a window, but it really, really startled me and it gave me a bit of a panic."
The United Kingdom, France, Canada and other Western allies have threatened sanctions against Israel over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to allow "minimal" humanitarian aid into Gaza.
While Australia has not signed up to the joint threat, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has described Israel's actions as "completely unacceptable".
"It is outrageous that there is a blockade of food and supplies to people who are in need in Gaza," Mr Albanese said.
"People are starving. The idea that a democratic state withholds supply is an outrage."
Dr Mo welcomed the shift in the narrative, saying it "doesn't become self-defence anymore" when children were starving and the United Nations estimates about 70 per cent of structures have been damaged or destroyed in Gaza.
Israel launched its offensive on Gaza after Hamas crossed its border on October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages back to the Strip, according to Israeli authorities.
The Gaza Health Ministry estimates 55,104 Palestinians have been killed and 127,394 have been injured since the Israel-Gaza war erupted on October 7, 2023.
"If we can give Israeli hostages the humanity and grace that they deserve, then surely we should be giving [Gaza's] children the exact same.