American healthcare workers recently returned from the Gaza Strip are urging President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to end the United States’ support for Israel’s military operations in the region. In a powerful open letter, these healthcare professionals shared harrowing accounts of the violence they witnessed and called for an immediate halt to the U.S. military, economic, and diplomatic aid to Israel.
During a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, Biden and Harris were presented with an urgent plea from 45 physicians, surgeons, and nurses. These volunteers, who provided medical assistance in Gaza, recounted the traumatic experiences that now haunt their dreams: “We wish you could see the nightmares that plague so many of us since we have returned: dreams of children maimed and mutilated by our weapons, and their inconsolable mothers begging us to save them,” the letter read.
The healthcare workers, in their letter, described the horrors they encountered daily. They treated countless children who suffered from severe violence, including those who were deliberately targeted by snipers. “Every single signatory to this letter treated children in Gaza who suffered violence that must have been deliberately directed at them. Specifically, every one of us on a daily basis treated pre-teen children who were shot in the head,” they wrote.
The volunteers called on the Biden administration to “withhold military, economic, and diplomatic support from the state of Israel and to participate in an international arms embargo of both Israel and all Palestinian armed groups until a permanent cease-fire is established, and until good-faith negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians lead to a permanent resolution of the conflict.”
Harris, in her remarks following her meeting with Netanyahu, acknowledged the devastation in Gaza, highlighting the plight of dead children and desperate, displaced civilians. “We cannot look away in the face of these tragedies,” Harris stated. “We cannot allow ourselves to become numb to the suffering. And I will not be silent.” Despite her strong words, Harris did not break from the administration’s stance on continuing arms supplies to the Israeli military.
Trita Parsi of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft noted a shift in rhetoric and tone from Harris compared to Biden, suggesting a potential shift in substance. “Biden has disingenuously claimed that Hamas blocked a cease-fire deal,” Parsi wrote on social media. “By saying that she urged Netanyahu ‘to clinch the deal,’ Kamala pointed to the real obstacle.”
The letter from the healthcare workers painted a grim picture of the conditions in Gaza. According to the United Nations Human Rights Office, Israeli forces have killed one in every 40 healthcare workers in the Palestinian territory since October. Diseases are spreading rapidly, and the number of Gazans killed or wounded continues to grow by the hour. The volunteers believe the death toll from this conflict is many times higher than the official figures reported by the Gaza Ministry of Health, which currently stands at over 39,100.
The letter further detailed the devastating impact on Gaza’s healthcare system, which has been deliberately targeted and devastated by Israeli forces. “Israel has directly targeted and deliberately devastated Gaza’s entire healthcare system,” the letter stated. “These unconscionable acts are entirely at odds with American law, American values, and international humanitarian law.”
The healthcare workers emphasized that almost no one in Gaza has escaped the consequences of the Israeli assault. “With only marginal exceptions, everyone in Gaza is sick, injured, or both. This includes every national aid worker, every international volunteer, and probably every Israeli hostage: every man, woman, and child,” they wrote. They warned that epidemics are raging in Gaza and described Israel’s repeated displacement of a malnourished and sick civilian population to areas without running water and toilets as “absolutely shocking.”
Individual experiences from the healthcare workers highlighted the severe humanitarian crisis. Mark Perlmutter, an orthopedic surgeon, recounted, “Gaza was the first time I held a baby’s brains in my hand. The first of many.” Feroze Sidhwa, a trauma and critical care surgeon, said he had “never seen such horrific injuries, on such a massive scale, with so few resources.” Asma Taha, a pediatric nurse practitioner, described the challenges of maternity care, witnessing babies die due to malnutrition and lack of medical supplies.
The letter also addressed potential accusations of sympathy for the Oct. 7 Hamas assault on Israel, which resulted in over 1,139 deaths. “None of us support the horrors committed on Oct. 7 by Palestinian armed groups and individuals in Israel,” the letter clarified. However, the signatories argued that the subsequent “catastrophe” in Gaza requires the U.S. to withdraw material support for Israel.
The healthcare workers concluded their letter with a direct appeal to Biden and Harris: “We wish you could hear the cries and screams our consciences will not let us forget. We cannot believe that anyone would continue arming the country that is deliberately killing these children after seeing what we have seen.”
Their plea is clear and urgent: “President Biden and Vice President Harris, we urge you: End this madness now!”
COMMENTS