Will Cook County News

By Nuha Abdessalam

Over 200 guests attended The Mosque Foundation for an event on Reporting Back From Gaza. Community members, faith leaders, and residents gathered at The Mosque, on 7360 W 93rd Street, Bridgeview, on Saturday, February 2. to listen to a panel of doctors who traveled to Gaza on medical missions.

The Israel and Hamas conflict since October 7 has resulted in nearly 27,000 total civilian Palestinians killed in Gaza, while at least 58,000 are injured, leaving almost 2 million Palestinians displaced, according to the Ministry of Health.

Bridgeview locals and neighbors of all faiths listened to first-hand reports by medical mission members and affiliates of MedGlobal, who have sometimes traveled multiple times to help alleviate medical missions.
MedGlobal, a nonprofit organization, aims to provide emergency response and health programs to build resilience among vulnerable communities worldwide.

OBGYN (obstetrician and gynecologist) Dr. Deena Kishawi hosted the panel of doctors from the Chicago area: Chandra Hassan, John Kahler, Mohammed Zahr Sahloul, and Dr. Thaer R. Ahmad, who recently finished a medical mission through MedGlobal in Gaza.

Stories pouring out of Gaza’s exhausting and never-ending need for medical resources and aid were among the many pressing and emergent issues in Gaza.

Dr. Chandra Hasan, an associate professor of surgery in the division of general surgery, minimally invasive surgery, and bariatric surgery, was among a team of doctors from Chicago to go on his first medical mission to Gaza. “Every child, man, woman, 24/7 are met with drone noises circling, and the only time they go away is when an airstrike occurs,” said Hasan.

In describing the occupation, numerous cases were coming in for aid; Dr. Hasan and his colleagues share the unfair and “purposeful” tactics in harming Palestinians by the Israeli Government. “They purposefully shoot and not to kill, in assuring to make your living more painful than dead.” Dr. Hasan said, “As a surgeon, I found firing pellets (metal pellets) most difficult.” Adding, “A young boy, maybe 16 years old, came with his eyes poured out and continually bled; he came back from a cat scan and died; many metal fragments were found in his brain and into his eyes.”

“No matter your religion or political beliefs, no one deserves these cruelties, no one,” said Hasan.

Dr. John Kahler, co-founder of MedGlobal, conveyed the cruelties of Israel’s warfare as an attack on “integrity” and an attack on “agency.” “I’m a pediatrician; the horror my colleagues and I’ve witnessed is beyond belief, being in pediatrics that of those, at least the majority were under six months of age,” said Dr. Kahler.

Despite the atrocities and cruelties that the Gazans’ of Palestine face, Dr. Khalar played homage to the people of Gaza. “Amid the horror, I remember seeing thousands lining up at a bakery for hours; the dignity in civil order that remained was inspiring,” said Khalar.

As of Feb. 6th, 11 bakeries have been hit and destroyed in Gaza since October 7, with only a few remaining; food infrastructure in Gaza is at a food crisis at catastrophic or starvation level.

Dr. Thaer R. Ahmad honored the humanity and motivation from his medical mission to Gaza as inspirational. “I found the people of Gaza comforting, and their faith in Allah very inspiring,” Ahmad added. “The dignity that is being purposefully taken from them doesn’t deter their faith in Allah that they possessed despite their circumstances.”