Latest news with #Abu-Sittah
Al-Ahram Weekly
07-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Al-Ahram Weekly
The moral high ground
A few months into the war on Gaza, following the 7 October attacks, I found myself like everyone else, glued to the news around the clock, watching non-stop the horror coming out of Gaza. One night, as the Israeli forces started to bomb Al-Shefa Hospital – a spot I was familiar with, having developed a bond with the reporter who broadcast from there – I realised that reporter was no longer there. He was not even mentioned. That night was particularly heartbreaking for me. I felt pressure in my head, as if it might literally explode. Waves of anxiety surged through me, along with terrible thoughts, and I had to turn off the television and wander around my house at 2:00am, desperately trying to shift my focus. I remembered that night as I watched the Palestinian documentary A State of Passion – directed by Carol Mansour, a Lebanese-Canadian filmmaker with Palestinian ancestry, and Muna Khalidi, who has a very close friendship with Abu-Sittah – which follows the renowned Palestinian-British plastic and reconstructive surgeon Ghassan Abu-Sittah when he volunteered to enter Gaza for the sixth time at a time of conflict only to realise that this time it was full-scale genocide. He had never performed this number of amputations on children ever in his life, as he said at one of the most moving moments. At this point, when the film was recently screened at Zawya in the lineup of the Between Women Filmmakers Caravan – an independent initiative organised by a group of female filmmakers and film curators – the Gaza war was already one year and eight months old. Still, I'd missed the first screening of the film, which made its world premiere at the Cairo International Film Festival, receiving three awards: the top award of the Horizons of Arab Cinema section, the Saadeddin Wahba Award for Best Arabic Film, and the second prize for Best Palestinian Film as well as a Special Mention for Abu-Sittah. After 43 days in Gaza, Abu-Sittah jumped on a plane to Amman to spend 24 hours with Mansour and Khalidi, who had called to request the meeting. As they stated in an online interview with the audience after the screening, the phone call that appears in the film is the real phone call. In Amman, the camera captures the emotions involved in the meeting, which also involves an old friend of Abu-Sittah's and his proud mother, whose favourite son he was, according to the two filmmakers. Mansour and Khalidi accompany Abu-Sittah on a quick visit to Kuwait, where he was raised and where he reminisces about his father, also a doctor, in front of said father's former clinic. Abu-Sittah was born in Kuwait to a Palestinian father and a Lebanese mother. His father's family originated in Maain Abu-Sittah in the southeast of Gaza, which they were forced to flee when the Zionists attacked during the Nakba. They moved to Kuwait and later to the United Kingdom in the 1980s and Abu-Sittah eventually realised his father's dream by studying medicine at Glasgow University. The documentary includes some harsh photos of children undergoing surgical procedures, especially when Abu-Sittah is trying to prove that Israel used white phosphorus in their military operations, but such graphic imagery was limited, reflecting the filmmakers' decision to give only a small taste of the horror after they were faced with the predicament of whether and how much to show. Abu-Sittah recalls performing amputations on six children in a single day, and when he elaborates on how complicated the situation is there, he explains that health procedures are based on people directing you to save the life of the only living member of the family or whether a doctor can just clean up a wound that will keep someone alive for a day so as to save a few other lives that require urgent attention. Abu-Sittah made his way to Gaza to treat patients all the way through Rafah many times; his first medical visit to Gaza was during the first Intifada in 1987. He was back during the second Intifada in 2000 and then in the wars of 2009, 2012, 2014, 2021 and finally 2023. Mansour alone accompanies Abu-Sittah to London where he lives with his family: his wife Dima and three sons. Khalidi couldn't go due to complications with her visa. And this is where the documentary becomes a more personal exploration of Abu-Sittah's extraordinary character. When he's not working, he is with his family, a dedicated husband and father whose presence is a delight to them. He is seen ironing his sons' school uniforms and putting together their lunch boxes in the morning. There is a sequence in the 90-minute documentary when we hear the exchange of voice messages between him and his three sons. It is touching how he says good morning to each of them in spite of the horrors he is enduring so many miles away. Dima and Abu-Sittah have a sweet relationship with the Palestinian cause at its core. Dima explains how she took the children to Gaza, showing them every corner of it with a strange presentiment that it might not survive. They went to the beach and visited all the landmarks. Her presentiment was right: they returned on 7 September, exactly a month before the horrific incidents began. When Dima and Abu Sittah were in Gaza, they took along Dima's mother, who needed medical attention in London while her father remained alone, an old man tired of being repeatedly displaced, refusing to leave his house. The mother could not return to Gaza but she has been living in Egypt: she was even present at the screening of the film. When Dima spoke of Palestinian resilience, it rang true in a way it usually doesn't. 'If he hadn't gone to Gaza, I wouldn't have known how to maintain my respect for him,' she also said of Abu-Sittah, who, for his part, said they were both so clear about his need to be there, the decision didn't even have to be discussed. * A version of this article appears in print in the 5 June, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly Follow us on: Facebook Instagram Whatsapp Short link:
The National
07-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The National
A State of Passion review: The story of Gaza doctor Ghassan Abu-Sittah is harrowing, uplifting and a must-see
For many of us around the world, when the Israel-Gaza war began, we asked ourselves and our loved ones one question: What can we do to ease the suffering? Overcome with compassion, we did what we could – though it never felt like enough. We donated clothes, food and money. We raised our voices. We took to the streets. We grew more discerning about which brands we supported. And we found new heroes to admire – those in Gaza who, in the face of unfathomable conditions, continued to risk their lives to save the men, women and children caught up in a siege of grotesque brutality. Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah was one of those heroes. Many of us first saw him on our screens during a press conference outside Al Ahli Hospital on October 17, 2023, as he defiantly told the world about the explosion that had killed hundreds at the institution just two hours earlier. Flanked by his colleagues, Abu-Sittah spoke unwaveringly amid the wreckage: 'This is a massacre. And more hospitals will be targeted.' A State of Passion, directed by Carol Mansour (Aida Returns) and Muna Khalidi, tells his story. But more than just reportage of the 43 days Abu-Sittah spent struggling to save lives in Gaza during the early days of the war, it's an exploration of character. Through interviews with the doctor himself and his loved ones, Mansour and Khalidi explore the mystery behind his actions. After all, what kind of a man leaves behind his comfortable life in the United Kingdom to travel 3,500km into a war zone, doing everything in his power to save the lives of as many men, women and children as possible – and turning himself into a target in the process? As it turns out, he's a more complicated man than you may imagine. For one, he does not solely live his life for humanitarian causes. The British-Palestinian doctor has been an activist on behalf of the cause for nearly his entire life, travelling to Gaza nearly every time lives were at great risk. But he's also a plastic surgeon, whose most marketable skill is his ability to lift upper lips without a noticeable scar. He's as conflicted about it as you can imagine. But unlike his past emergency trips to Palestine, Abu-Sittah's life was never the same after he returned from Gaza in 2023. Because he spoke out so publicly, he was now one of the most recognisable figures of the war, which won him new enemies – people who tried to discredit him and ruin his career. Watching Mansour and Khalidi's film is as painful as you can imagine – particularly as the traumas of the war have not yet begun to heal. Footage of dead children being moved around in blue plastic bags, of open wounds and the emotional agony of those processing the loss of their family members is no less painful to watch now than it has been every day on social media. For that reason, I can understand those, particularly Palestinian friends of mine, who are not ready to watch such a film as this. But rest assured, this is not just a story of suffering – it's also a story of hope. It's a testament to the resilience of the Palestinian people. It's not just about one great man. It's about the people around him that give him the strength to be great – strength the film also gives to its audience. And it's also laugh-out-loud funny at times. Abu-Sittah and his wife are charming, eccentric and have a disarming, unmistakably Palestinian sense of humour. These are people you'll enjoy spending time with, who will remind you of the good in the world and motivate you to keep fighting for what's right. You may walk out from the theatre feeling heavier on your feet, but the film reminds you that this is a weight that we share together, and thus a weight that's easier to carry.
The Guardian
22-02-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
Long-term effects of Gaza war could quadruple Palestinian death toll, warn UK doctors
British doctors who worked in Gaza during the war have issued dire predictions over the long-term health of Palestinian civillians, warning that large numbers will continue to die. The prevalence of infectious disease and multiple health problems linked to malnutrition, alongside the destruction of hospitals and killing of medical experts, meant mortality rates among Palestinians in Gaza would remain high after the cessation of Israeli shelling. British-Palestinian reconstructive surgeon, Prof Ghassan Abu-Sittah, who worked in al-Shifa and al-Ahli Arab hospitals in Gaza City shortly after the war began, said levels of malnutrition there were so acute that many children would 'never recover'. Scientists have estimated that the total deaths from Israel's war on Gaza could ultimately be as high as 186,000. The figure is almost four times higher than the 46,700 deaths that Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry have reported. Prof Nizam Mamode, a retired British transplant surgeon from Hampshire who last year worked at Nasser hospital in southern Gaza said the number of 'non-trauma deaths' could ultimately be considerably higher than 186,000. One factor, he said, was the targeting of healthcare workers during the war. He said that of six vascular surgeons who once covered the north of the strip, just one had remained. There were no cancer pathologists left alive. Abu-Sittah said entire teams of medical specialists had been eradicated from Gaza, and the training required to replace them would take up to 10 years. 'Certain specialities have been eviscerated,' he said. 'There are no more nephrologists [a doctor specialising in kidney care] left. They've all been killed. There are no more board-certified emergency medicine physicians.' The 55-year-old plastic surgeon from London said the long-term health of people in Gaza depended on how quickly the territory and its infrastructure were rebuilt. Last week, thousands of Palestinians began returning to northern Gaza to scenes of utter destruction after the withdrawal of Israeli troops from a strategic corridor that divides the north and south of Gaza. 'But to get doctors to move back to the north, you need to house them. Where are they going to live? Where are their families going to live?' said Abu-Sittah. He said irreversible damage had already been done to large numbers of children. 'Studies on people who survived the second world war showed they are more likely to get NCDs [non-communicable diseases] if they had malnutrition as children. They're also more likely to become diabetics, more likely to have hypertension, more likely to have diabetes in old age. You don't recover.' Last month, the UN estimated that more than 60,000 children in Gaza would need treatment for acute malnutrition in 2025. Some had already died, said the organisation. Another concern is the spread of disease, helped by the destruction of infrastructure such as sewage facilities. Abu-Sittahhas provided evidence to Scotland Yard and the international criminal court over what he witnessed working in Gaza. He described the prevalence of disease there as a catastrophe. 'Hepatitis, diarrhoeal disease, respiratory disease, polio that re-emerged in the war, will all continue because there's still no sewerage and clean drinking water, still no housing, no primary-care clinics. You're not going to be able to stop, or even stem, infectious diseases.' Sign up to Global Dispatch Get a different world view with a roundup of the best news, features and pictures, curated by our global development team after newsletter promotion He warned of the proliferation of drug-resistant bacteria, recounting an instance when six out of seven consecutive patients he saw had 'multiple drug-resistant bacteria'. In addition to the long-term impacts, he said 13,000 Gazans required immediate surgical interventions from war wounds. 'The sheer number of complex injuries that need treatment means that it's going to consume the health system for a generation,' he said. Both doctors said the brutality and number of injuries they witnessed while working in Gaza was hard to overstate. Mamode, who gave evidence to MPs on the British parliament's international development select committee inquiry into Gaza's healthcare, said up to 70% of those he operated on were children. 'You'd have a three-year-old in intensive care for a week and we'd be told, 'The parents are killed, the siblings are killed. Wait and see whether anyone is going to turn up for them.' That was quite common.' Abu-Sittah said that half of his patients were children and that despite working in numerous conflict zones including Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen, he had never performed as many amputations each day as he had in Gaza. Mamode, a former clinical lead of transplant surgery at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust in London, warned that another vital long-term health issue was the psychological scarring on a population after 15 months of fighting. 'In the coming months, those issues will start to come to the fore, because people have just been focusing on day-to-day survival. When that pressure comes off [the psychological impacts] are going to manifest themselves in all sorts of ways.' A spokesperson for the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) said it had been 'well documented that Hamas uses hospitals and medical centres for its terror activities'. They added: 'If not stopped, under certain conditions, this illegal military use can make the hospital lose its protection from attack.'
