US Doctors Shock Biden, Harris with Reports of Unthinkable Crimes in Gaza

Almost 100 American healthcare professionals who have volunteered in Gaza over the past year penned a letter to President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday, describing “the tremendous human suffering due to Israel’s attacks” and pressing the administration to “stop this insanity now!”

Since the Hamas-initiated attack last year, which resulted in over 1,100 deaths, Israel has engaged in ongoing military operations in Gaza. During this period, the healthcare workers—including physicians, surgeons, nurse practitioners, nurses, and midwives—who signed the letter have collectively dedicated 254 weeks to volunteering in hospitals and clinics across the heavily affected region.

As of Wednesday, Israeli forces have been responsible for at least 41,689 Palestinian deaths in Gaza and have wounded another 96,625,
according to local authorities. Meanwhile, thousands are still unaccounted for, buried under the debris of destroyed civilian infrastructure. Simultaneously, Israel began a ground invasion in Lebanon this week and is currently facing a genocide case at the International Court of Justice.

“The letter and its appendix provide convincing evidence that the human casualties in Gaza since October far exceed what is perceived in the United States. It is probable that the casualty figures from this conflict have already surpassed 118,908, which is a staggering 5.4% of the Gaza population,” the health workers communicated to Biden and Harris, the Democratic candidates for the November election.

“Our government must take immediate action to avert a disaster even more severe than what has already impacted the people of Gaza and Israel,” they contended. “A ceasefire must be enforced on the conflicting parties by withholding military support to Israel and endorsing an international arms embargo against Israel and all Palestinian armed factions. We believe our government is compelled to do so, both under U.S. law and international humanitarian law. Doing so is also morally correct.”

“Gaza was the first time I held a baby’s brains in my hand. The first of many.”

Prior to the October 7, 2023 assault, the United States had already provided Israel with billions in annual military aid. Throughout Israel’s ongoing strikes on Gaza—and now Lebanon—the Biden administration has persisted in supplying arms and diplomatic backing.

The recent letter from American medical volunteers—posted on a
website that also includes a July letter and similar ones sent by Canadian and U.K. healthcare workers to their respective governments—contains narratives from individual signatories.
Dr. Thalia Pachiyannakis, an OB-GYN, remarked, “I witnessed numerous stillbirths and maternal fatalities that could have been prevented had the hospitals been operational.”

Those fortunate enough to be born faced a battlefield where thousands of children have perished. Last month, Gaza’s Ministry of Health issued a 649-page report listing names and ages of Palestinians killed over the last year—with the first 14 pages dedicated to infants.

“Each day I watched infants die,” shared Asma Taha, a pediatric nurse practitioner. “They were born healthy. Their mothers were so undernourished they couldn’t breastfeed, and we lacked both formula and clean water to feed them, so they starved.”

Israeli bombings over the past year have taken thousands of lives. Dr. Mark Perlmutter, an orthopedic and hand surgeon, noted, “Gaza was the first time I held a baby’s brains in my hand. The first of many.”

The letter to Biden and Harris states:

Children are universally recognized as innocents in war. Yet, every single signatory to this letter witnessed children in Gaza who endured violence that must have been intentionally targeted at them. Specifically, every one of us working in emergency, intensive care, or surgical settings treated pre-teen children shot in the head or chest on a regular or even daily basis. It is inconceivable that such widespread targeting of young children all over Gaza, sustained throughout a whole year, could be accidental or unnoticed by Israeli civil and military leaders.

President Biden and Vice President Harris, we wish you could witness the nightmares that haunt many of us since our return: visions of children mutilated and dismembered by our weapons, and their inconsolable mothers pleading with us to save them. We wish you could hear the cries and screams that our consciences cannot silence. We cannot understand why you continue to arm the nation that is willfully slaughtering these children en masse.

“I’ve never seen such appalling injuries, on such a vast scale, with so limited resources,” stated Dr. Feroze Sidhwa, a trauma and critical care surgeon and the letter’s organizer. “Our bombs are cutting down women and children by the thousands. Their mutilated bodies are a testament to brutality.”

The letter also points out, “Israel has obliterated more than half of Gaza’s healthcare resources and has killed nearly 1,000 Palestinian healthcare workers, more than 1 out of every 20 healthcare workers in Gaza. Concurrently, healthcare demands have surged due to the deadly mix of military aggression, malnutrition, disease, and displacement.”

It further criticizes Israeli forces’ attempts to justify targeting the enclave’s medical infrastructure, underlining that “not once did any of us observe any type of Palestinian militant activity in any of Gaza’s hospitals or other healthcare facilities.”

“We urge you to recognize that Israel has systematically and intentionally devastated Gaza’s entire healthcare system, and that Israel has targeted our colleagues in Gaza for torture, disappearance, and murder,” the American volunteers wrote, describing Palestinian healthcare workers as “among the most traumatized individuals in Gaza, and possibly in the world.”

While acknowledging the administration’s attempts to mediate an end to the hostilities, they emphasized that “the United States can enforce a ceasefire on the warring parties by simply halting arms shipments to Israel, and announcing our participation in an international arms embargo against both Israel and all Palestinian armed groups.”

“President Biden and Vice President Harris, we are 99 American doctors and nurses who have witnessed atrocities beyond comprehension,” they added. “Atrocities that we cannot believe you wish to continue endorsing. Please meet with us to discuss what we observed, and why we believe U.S. policy in the Middle East requires an immediate shift.”