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US doctors say they ‘witnessed crimes beyond comprehension’ in Gaza
In the letter, they shared their firsthand experiences of the dire humanitarian conditions amid Israel’s ongoing offensive, saying they had “witnessed crimes beyond comprehension.” Anadolu Agency reported.
“We wish to be absolutely clear: Not once did any of us see any type of Palestinian militant activity in any of Gaza’s hospitals or other health care facilities,” they said in the letter, which was published on the website “Gaza Healthcare Letters.”
“We urge you to see that Israel has systematically and deliberately devastated Gaza’s entire health care system and that Israel has targeted our colleagues in Gaza for torture, disappearance, and murder,” they added.
“Every day I saw babies die. They had been born healthy. Their mothers were so malnourished that they could not breastfeed, and we lacked formula or clean water to feed them, so they starved,” said Asma Taha, a pediatric nurse practitioner, as quoted in the letter.
“Gaza was the first time I held a baby’s brains in my hand. The first of many,” Dr. Mark Perlmutter, an orthopedic and hand surgeon, said in the letter.
Doctors said in the letter that Israel’s “continued, repeated” displacement of the malnourished and sick population of Gaza, half of whom are children, to areas without running water or even toilets available is “absolutely shocking.”
The group demanded that the Biden administration support an international arms embargo on both Israel and Palestinian groups until a permanent cease-fire is reached and both Israeli and Palestinian hostages are released. The signatories also asked for a meeting with Biden and Harris to discuss what they saw and why they feel American policy in the Middle East “must change immediately.”
“Every day that we continue supplying weapons and munitions to Israel is another day that women are shredded by our bombs and children are murdered with our bullets,” they said.