S1: Welcome in San Diego. It's Jade Hindman on today's show. A local nurse practitioner shares her heartbreaking experience volunteering in the Nassar hospital in Gaza. This is KPBS Midday Edition. Connecting our communities through conversation. Israel and Hamas entered a fragile ceasefire about a week ago. That agreement faced a major test over the weekend when Israeli forces launched airstrikes in the region. Health officials reported at least 36 Palestinians were killed. The Israeli government also temporarily halted aid deliveries into that region , while a cease fire had initially provided a brief respite to Palestinians in the region , many fear it will not hold dozens of American medical workers have volunteered in Gaza since that war began , including local nurse practitioner Amanda Nassar. Now she spent a month working in Nassar Hospital , one of the few functioning hospitals in the region. Amanda joins me now to talk about what she saw on the ground and how she's reflecting on that experience since returning in September. Amanda , welcome to the show.
S2: Thank you for having me.
S1: So glad to have you here. So you've volunteered internationally many times before. Talk about your journey to Gaza and how you were able to travel into the region. Yeah.
S2: Yeah. When I was given the opportunity to go to Gaza , I took it in a heartbeat. Um , so the process getting in is challenging on its own. I had to apply through the organization that invited me , and then they had to submit , um , my application through the W.H.O. and then security checks through Israel. Once I get the clearance , then I have a specific date where they give me the green light to travel , and then I have to go through another security check the day of my entrance , which is at the border of Jordan , entering , um , and then that itself is about a 12 to 15 hour journey to get from the border of Jordan , um , into Gaza.
S1:
S2: Um , the situation is , uh , very unsettling because Israel can deny a delegate to enter at any time without any reason. For instance , the international delegates that were trying to go before me and after me were denied , and they were returning physicians and nurses. Um , and a lot of it is due to what we witness firsthand on the ground. I mean , we're witnessing a genocide. We have facts that we collect , that we see. And these delegates , you know. Um , inform the public of these numbers. And Israel doesn't like that. So they don't want these physicians returning. They don't want the media seeing what's really happening on the ground. Because , as you know , journalists aren't allowed inside. We are the journalist on top of being medical providers and on top of being aide , you know , providers. Um , and so that is a challenge on its own. I got lucky that I got in. But going in also is this challenge , because I was only allowed one suitcase and a backpack and nothing else. And so I was , you know , it was my duty to bring in as much supplies at hand. I brought baby formula , I brought medications , I brought surgical equipment , I brought an ultrasound , a portable ultrasound. I mean , these are the things that I shouldn't have to smuggle in. These are things that should be coming in. But because of the Israeli blockade , none of this aid was going in. I mean , baby formula. I had to smuggle £30 of baby formula , which only put a Band-Aid on the disaster that's happening still on the ground. Because still , with the cease fire , the aid isn't coming in. I have nurses and doctors who I communicate still with are saying that people are still nutritionally deficient. Mm.
S1: Mm.
S3: That's that's it's an awful situation. And I know it especially weighs heavy on your shoulders. You are a first generation Palestinian-American. You were also born and raised in San Diego. But talk. About.
S1: About.
S3: Your upbringing and how that informs your your humanitarian work. Yeah.
S2: Yeah. You know , growing up , my parents , um , especially my father , he was very patriotic. Um , and I grew up with the notion that , you know , we we are privileged living in the United States , that we have the ability to speak out for injustice and for equality. And that's what my parents always taught me and encouraged. My parents were the first one to bring in a child who was shot in the eye by an Israeli sniper. Back in the 90s. We took in a child for a couple of months through the Palestine Children's Relief Fund , and I was about 7 or 8 years old , and that's kind of when it first opened my eyes to see that there are children my age being injured in the crossfire and systematically targeted. And since then , growing up , I've just had a heart to help others , and that brought me into my career as a nurse and then now as a nurse practitioner , where I just continue to help locally with refugees who came from Iraq to the border of Mexico , and then international with Greek volunteering in Greece , in Lebanon and in the West Bank , Palestine and now in Gaza. Mhm.
S1: Mhm.
S2: No.
S1: No. All right. But still. I mean , I want to talk more about what you witnessed on the ground.
S3: You you said you'd said in previous interviews , um , how ? Nothing you saw on social media really prepared you for what you saw.
S2: Um , you know , the attacks on the healthcare system alone. Um , the the hospital itself , you know , Nassar hospital is functioning , and that word is , you know , the word functioning is we , the healthcare workers that are there , the the the doctors and nurses , the auxiliary staff , we are making it function with the limited supplies , the limited ability equipment around. Um , and so , you know , because of the , the Israeli blockade , which is intentional. We would lose electricity. We don't have enough gas to let oxygen. For the oxygen to run. Um , so we don't have medications. We don't have enough antibiotics. We don't have pain medication. We didn't have something as simple as lidocaine. When I would suture children's faces because of the amount of shrapnel that would cut through their faces , I would have to sew them with nothing to give them relief. Um , some people , you know , some patients with , uh , gunshot wound to their chest. We putting in a chest tube. Um , in the morning , we would have some vials of ketamine , and then we would run out , and that was it. So when when I use the word functioning , that's what's what. I mean , we're trying to figure out how we can help these patients with the limited supplies. Um , I witnessed significant amount of injuries from sniper shots that were , um , patients coming in from the VHF sites. This is the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation , and there's nothing humanitarian about it. It's , uh , it took over Unrra , where Israel and private U.S. companies took over the aid sites to provide nutritional support for the Palestinians. It was a designated time where Palestinians would go and get aid. And the aid itself is not nutrition , not nutritious. It's I mean , it's flour. Mm. There's nothing nutritious about that anyway. So we would see mass casualties come in and they would be in high numbers and they'd be very systematic. Injuries , like every day was a different theme. We would see gunshot wounds to the head one day. Another day we'd see gunshot wounds to the spine , to the abdomen. Little boys who haven't hit puberty were shot in their penises. Girls were shot in their stomachs. These are systematic sniper shots. These aren't things that , you know , you would just see that they're in crossfire. And it is heartbreaking.
S1: As you've spoken to.
S3: You know , Gaza's health care system has been stretched far.
S1: Beyond its limits due.
S3: To the number of people needing aid. And after.
S1: Several sieges.
S3: And attacks on hospitals by the Israeli military.
S1: Just a third of Gaza's hospitals and clinics are still functioning or functional.
S2: And when I when I say functional , it's exactly what I was kind of describing. It's only functional because we we push ourselves to allow it to function. The medical personnel that's working there on the grounds they're volunteering , they're not getting paid. They're working 24 hour shifts. Um , and then these doctors and nurses would go back to their displaced tents. Every single person in Gaza is starving or in a form of starvation , including the staff members , Uh , the patients , the families , um , people are sheltering in the hospital. Nasser itself is when I arrived , which is already since late October of 2023. Started already with 200% over capacity. There's patients on top of each other. There's patients outside the hospital. Intense. There's no sanitation because the water system is managed also by Israel. So you have to think about that. You also. Have.
S1: Have. So there's no clean water.
S2: There's no clean water. There's no clean water. The water itself is one of the reasons why we're seeing a lot of children coming in with gastrointestinal infections. And because of that , they develop secondary problems. One of the things we've seen so far is something called Guillain-Barré syndrome , which is this ascending paralysis. There's no cure for it. And because of that , we have to treat these children and these young individuals with plasmapheresis , Pharisees and we aren't able to get in the plasmapheresis as well. So the challenges are multifactorial. And that's when that's when you have to understand that , you know , that's why the hospital is barely functioning. We're trying to save patients lives with limited supplies. I mean , patients come in when we get mass casualties. You know , we're getting 2 to 300 patients. The section I was in at Nasser was a trauma ICU section of the emergency department , and it's a ten bed section or a room , and we would have about 50 patients in there , and we would have to choose and make that decision. Who do we intubate ? Who do we put a breathing tube and and connect them to the breathing machine knowing that we don't have enough breathing machines ? Um , we have to make those hard decisions because of the blockade that's still happening after the cease fire and because the hospital is barely functioning in that matter. Hmm.
S1: Hmm. Did you ever have to evacuate while you were working.
S2: That's a that's an interesting question. Yeah. So while I was there , Nasser Hospital was struck on October 25th. We the delegates were actually I was not physically in the hospital. We were , um , uh , attending a training offsite. But the hospital was struck where it killed a journalist , five journalists , first responders and many medical personnel. Up to 50 people died that day. And it was a strategic target by Israel , where they did what's called a double tap strike. They struck the hospital first , and then the first responders came and the journalist came and they struck it again , which is a strategic hit that Israel is known to do to increase their deaths. Um , and we when I found out I was at the W.H.O. house getting this training with my other international delegates , and , uh. I wanted to return to Nasser. I felt actually safer at Nasser , with the people , with the staff than I did outside , uh , outside the city. Um , and I was offered , you know , to , to leave for my safety. Um , but I actually didn't feel safe leaving. I felt that it was my duty to stay and finish my term and help as many Palestinians as I could. Because the other thing is , the Palestinians have told me , you know , the families , these women who are sheltering with their children , they feel safe with us. They're the international delegates , even though they know the hospital is somewhat safe , despite the strike , that it's the only their only means of safety.
S1: I mean , you know , in spite of.
S3: The devastation you talk about.
S1: What did you.
S3: Notice about the spirit of Palestinians while there.
S2: The Palestinians are suffering so tremendously and you could see it in their faces. You could see it in how they speak to you. I mean , like I said , everybody's starving. They are skin and bones. You could see , you know , the arches of their cheekbones , their bony shoulders. Um , everyone it has almost , almost everyone has scurvy , you know , they're vitamin deficient. They all are , you know , disheveled. They don't have the ability to take showers. Um , but they're so thankful and they're so steadfast and they're so positive and appreciative of me being there , helping as much as I can , knowing that I'm only putting a band aid and just being there as an outsider , not just as a Palestinian or an American , just as a human body outside of Gaza. Um , and they were were just so peaceful. Uh , even the children , I mean , so many children are sheltering in the hospital and around the hospital and every single day children would come out and. You know , put their hand out or want to give me a hug. Just to know that , you know , I'm there and it's a safe , safe place for them. Um , even , you know , I had women come up to me holding their baby newborns , and you could see the newborn so malnourished , and they didn't ask me for anything. They just wanted to hold my , you know , shake my hand or just be a warm body next to them. And and it's it's the grace and the , um. I don't know , it's hard to describe sometimes. The Palestinians , especially in Gaza , are just people that want to just live a normal life. You know , they don't they don't want really anything. They don't want money from me. They didn't even want food for me. They just wanted me to ask the president , can you ask him to stop killing us ? And I wish I can send this message to doctor to to Trump and everyone else to , to continue to provide safety for the Palestinians. They just want to live in a sovereignty. Yeah.
S3: Yeah. And at the beginning of the interview , you mentioned almost having to work as a journalist.
S1: To while over there. Um , what. As.
S3: As. You're.
S1: You're.
S3: Back and I'm curious to.
S1: Know what you really want people to know about what you saw in Gaza.
S2: What I want people to know is , you know , this is a clear genocide. This is an objective , you know , collective data that me and my colleagues have gathered. And this is something that we as US citizens , our tax dollars have contributed to this , um , despite , you know , this new cease fire , we have the obligation as a humanitarian , as just equal rights , um , individuals to stand up and say , this needs to stop , this needs to continue. The Palestinians need to live in a sovereign state and live freely , despite the political propaganda that's influenced by Israel. I mean , by now , I think most Americans can agree that Israel's pathological for being liars. They're they've lied about many things since October 7th , and they have been and it's been fact checked. And so you have to understand that everything Israel says , you have to take it with a grain of salt. But you can also understand that the Palestinians have nothing to gain. They only want to live independently. And we have the obligation to stand up and say no. We are contributing in many ways that many Americans don't realize. For instance , there's many institutions , there's many companies in the US that are financially funding the genocide and financially funding Israel. So we need to boycott divestment , sanctions. It's called BDS boycott companies that are funding the genocide. You can look it up online BDS all right.
S1: And you can also refer to the United Nations and the International Court of Justice on their takings on this on genocide. I've been speaking with nurse practitioner Amanda Nassar. Amanda , thank you so much. And thank you for joining Midday Edition. I'm Jade Hindman. We'll talk again. Tomorrow.
S4: Tomorrow.