On Friday, an Israeli airstrike hit near the entrance of Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza, killing 15 people and wounding dozens, according to the Gaza health ministry. Jess Ghannam, a clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco, learned about it on social media, before he was supposed to speak at a pro-Palestine rally planned at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital later in the day.
“When you have that level of attack on healthcare workers, there’s a special obligation that we have, as healthcare workers, to say we stand in solidarity with them,” Ghannam told Mission Local.
Standing near the hospital’s statue of a mother cradling her child, Ghannam imagined surgeons in Gaza operating without anesthesia or supplies, by candlelight, “under the threat of death … who were being told, ‘you have to leave, or we’ll bomb you.’ But they stayed.”
Ghannam personally knew some healthcare workers at Al Shifa hospital, as he knew four other Palestinian healthcare workers who had been killed trying to flee Gaza via a “safe route” Israel later bombed in mid-October.
Ghannam could not immediately determine if his Al Shifa colleagues were harmed, and spoke to the effects of an information blackout. “You know, it’s hard, because there’s no electricity and no fuel,” Ghannam said. “Cell and internet is cut.”
Friday’s rally was similar to other Pro-Palestine demonstrations in recent weeks, in which more than 100 Bay Area healthcare workers and allies rallied to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. But this protest featured medical workers prominently: Attendees wore their usual scrubs and white coats, and speakers ensured that the rally left a clear path to the hospital for patients.
Some toted handmade posters in Palestinian flag colors with messages that linked the violence in Gaza to medicine: “DX: [Diagnosis:] Humanitarian Crisis. RX: [Prescription:] Ceasefire,” one read.
At the feet of the hospital’s mother statue, attendees placed signs calling for ceasefire, marigolds, and the familiar photo of a fearful congregation of healthcare workers in Gaza, still in scrubs, holding a press conference amid dead bodies cloaked in white cloth.
To the healthcare workers gathered about, the jobs of Gaza’s doctors and nurses were much like theirs, albeit more desperate and risky.
While several speakers Friday likened the atrocities in Gaza to a public health issue, noting that cut electricity threatens lives, and scant supplies mean substandard medical care and nutrition. “The blockade of food, fuel, medical supplies and water are all contributing to a public health disaster that poses just as much of a threat to life as bullets and bombs,” said organizer Matt McGowan, a graduate nursing student at UCSF.
Top of mind were the 3,700 children who have been killed, or died, since Oct. 7. Someone had taped a posterboard of the Palestinian Health Ministry’s list of deceased on the property, which listed many deaths “<1 years old.” A poster read “Fuel shortage = death sentence for NICU babies.” Each grave statistic a speaker shared, the crowd punctuated with a wailing “Shame!”
Nida Bajwa, a third-year resident at UCSF and a speaker at the demonstration, called attention to the infectious diseases spurred by insufficient hydration and the tens of thousands of pregnant Palestinian women who may “give birth without medications or monitoring, and to the violent tune of bombs.” The State Department, in an internal report, warned that 52,000 pregnant women and 30,000 babies in Gaza were drinking brackish or contaminated water that could pose significant health risks.
The children who survive are likely to have post-traumatic stress disorder, said Ghannam, who has spent some 20-plus years in Gaza studying intergenerational trauma.
Local healthcare workers are also condemning the violence in Gaza. Brenda Barros, a hospital employee and president of a chapter of SEIU 1021, spoke and said members were considering passing a resolution and sending it to the federal government, asking “to stop the killing.” Many of those interested included Israeli members, she said.
Dr. Leigh Kimberg, a primary care doctor and professor at UCSF, and a person of Jewish descent, said the destruction happening in Gaza “is wrong.” Kimberg said her ancestors died in the Treblinka concentration camp during the Holocaust, and both her grandfathers had fled anti-semitic persecution. “If we truly want to live in peace, we must find ways to stand together against the ethnic cleansing and genocide of any peoples.”
“I want to make it very clear that we will not be silenced,” added Hiba Elkhatib, founder of Palestinian Public Health. “What is happening in Gaza is not just an attack on Palestinians, but an attack on public health and the health field as a whole.”
So when Israel punches back against a regime whose declared purpose is their annihilation, some doctors and nurses with an ideologic bias against them cloak themselves with cries of ‘babies are dying.’ Kind of like Hamas using babies as shields for their military assets. Firing rockets from hospital parking lots into southern Israel never brought such outrage. Spare me the sanctimony. They’re happy to see death, just not their guys’.
Firstly, it’s not the Gaza health ministry – it’s the Hamas-run Health Ministry. Please specify that you’re citing Hamas’s information when you are repeating their talking points, i.e. “information.”
Hope SEIU 1021 knows that SF DHR has an EEO policy prohibiting harassment based on national origin, ancestry & religion. Anti-Semitism is not what dues-paying union members signed up for supporting. If SEIU is going to issue a “stop the killing” letter – surely they’ll send a copy to Hamas. Right? And if SEIU can’t find their mailing address – perhaps they can just use the Health Ministry’s.
(I’d love to know if SEIU leadership can actually define ethnic cleansing, colonialism & apartheid without looking it up – given they’re such fans of parroting these words.)
You should save your sleeve card for murders which Israel denies, and to which there aren’t independent journalists as witnesses.
It is called Gaza’s Health Ministry. That’s just objective fact.
It’s run by Hamas; people who read all know that. You may want to check out a history book instead of parroting slogans.
These medical professionals are naive and biased. Why do they blame Israel 100% and hamas 0%?? Why isn’t hamas responsible for purposely putting their military operations under hospitals (as well as schools, mosques, residences, etc.)? This fuel crisis is total BS. Israel has shown that there is plenty of fuel stored under Shifa hospital, BUT hamas is controlling it and using it to run their tunnels. Hamas should give it back to the hospital. Also, it’s interesting that these biased advocates totally ignore atrocities committed against Israelis, and focus only on Palestinians. It’s one sided events like these that help promote the antisemitic sentiment going around this country. When it comes to politics (and business) doctors are generally know to be naive dorks. They should stay the fuck out of international politics, which they know nothing about, and focus on providing their domestic healthcare.
Funny, I don’t remember anyone in San Francisco rallying in support of the Israelis who were killed by Hamas’ terrorist attack that started the war!
What could be the difference? Let’s see … hmm … well, the Israelis are Jewish …
There were plenty of Israeli supporters rallying in SF. Calling for a ceasefire on a population that has so far seen 10,000 killed including 4,000 children is neither antisemitic nor anti-Israeli. Healthcare workers condemn war and violence full stop. They condemn the bombing of hospitals and the cutoff of supplies and electricity full stop. They’re on the very front lines of humanity while you pound away on your keyboard and wage culture war. Where the hell is YOUR humanity?
Thank you for your coverage. 50,000 people marched in San Francisco yesterday in solidarity with the Palestinian people.
It’s imperative our news reflects that and all these important demonstrations. These wonderful doctors are thankfully able to see the humanity in their peers and their peers’ patients. They’re humans, too.
I guess when you have no factual argument, you allege Mission Local posts bots. The editors can tell you they moderate and don’t allow the same IP address to post endlessly. Just accept that not everyone is a Hamas sympathizer. The “I heard” rumor posted from fkj is emblematic of the pro hamas set….the library has a wonderful collection of books you can check out on mid east history. That way you don’t have to rely on “I heard” as a new source.
These comments by Frank, sayhamas, sfrentier and jonah seem to be written by the same person/bot.
Btw I heard there was a rally and march yesterday, saturday, with tens of thousands— may 50 thousand by some estimates- from civic center down market and mission. It concerns me that Mission Local is silent about it
Bots or maybe a lot of people endorse a different narrative than the progressive ideology. That’s a mind blower for many, I know, but someone disagreeing does not mean there is something wrong. No one is denying the history of the region even in the past century is complex, but one side makes specific targets of innocent non-combatants and one side doesn’t. That’s where it starts and ends for most.
And whomever estimated 50K is having a woke fever dream…
Hi Gloria. I’m not a bot. I’m a human being. I’m also a Jew who is concerned about the catastrophic surge of antisemitism. I don’t recall seeing these doctors stand for Jewish lives. Huh.
Good to know, you say you are a human. But if so, it’s weird you don’t seem to know that a well-organized and significant percentage of the opponents of the Zionist genocide are Jews. Jews are organizing and hugely represented in the streets, in direct action, in this historic and unprecedented global outcry against Israel. Jews are among the health care workers this ML article is about. I’m no AI expert, but maybe it hasn’t kept up with this new reality: anti-zionism is not anti-semitism.
Has the UN and the international community suddenly gone all antisemitic, or do they call a war crime a war crime? Why not join the tens of thousands of Jews who condemn the killing on both sides and demand a ceasefire?