Chicago – July 10, 2024
Dr. Ahmad Yousaf is a pediatrician and internal medicine doctor working primarily in Pulaski and Saline Counties. He has been in Gaza since the last week in June volunteering in its hospitals and says of all the countries he’s done this in, Gaza is by far in the most need.
“Nothing compares to this, and it is truly because Gaza has become a killing box,” Yousaf said.
The air strikes and the hum of armed drones have become commonplace for the people living in Gaza. Dr. Yousaf said he could hear them as he interviewed over a video call inside one of Gaza’s few operable hospitals.
“They (kids) have all become so attuned to the sound, the pitch of the drone, they can tell you what kind of drone it is,” Yousaf said.
He says he is horrified by what he has seen the weaponry do since arriving in the country. The crumbling buildings are homes, hospitals, and on Saturday a United Nations run school. As a volunteer doctor, Yousaf has the worst of the destruction find him.
“Atrocities that you could only imagine in your nightmares,” Yousaf described. “People come to the hospital in pieces, and it’s hard not to be traumatized. They’re kids, they’re babies, they’re my children’s age.”
The organization Little Rock Peace for Palestine is also calling for a ceasefire. They have worked with Pulaski County justices of the peace to get a resolution to support a permanent ceasefire on the quorum court meeting Tuesday night.
