HOUSTON — A Houston surgical resident is back home after providing medical aid in Gaza for a week amid the Israel-Hamas war.
Abdullah Ghali is an orthopedic surgical resident. He said he'd always known he wanted to go into medicine and get the best training so that one day, he could help people who need it the most.
Ghali and about 12 other people went to Gaza with a surgical care nonprofit organization. They had suitcases loaded with medical supplies they took to the European Hospital.
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"About 80 suitcases with implants, medicines, food, some of the doctors requested slippers because they didn't have any slippers to walk on, and just anything we could," he said.
Ghali said those supplies were vital.
"It is the last stronghold in Gaza for health care. It's a 200-bed hospital that is about 2 or 3 stories tall and currently is responsible for serving 1.5 million people," he said.
Ghali took several videos, capturing what he was seeing every day
"Everywhere you go, it's destruction, destruction, destruction. So many dead children, so many dead women. It's. It's unlivable now," he said.
He said the stories of those injured that he treated will stick with him, including one of a 6-year-old who had a bullet fragment stuck in his thigh.
"He just couldn't move or walk around. His dad brought him the day that we arrived, and, you know, it had been there for about five months. No one had been available to take it out, and I was able to remove it beside," Ghali said.
While everything was difficult to see, he was glad to help
"I jumped right on the opportunity to be able to go there because I'm from there. My family is from there. I wanted to be able to go to and serve my community," Ghali said.
Ghali said he wants to return to Gaza. His goal is to go back this summer.