This Past Weekend with Theo Von - #602 - Gaza Doctor (Aziz Rahman, MD)

00:00:00.000 Today's guest is a doctor from Wisconsin who recently returned from a two-week medical mission trip in Gaza

00:00:06.200 where he provided aid at one of the last functioning hospitals there.

00:00:11.220 We're going to talk about all of it, the tragedy, the ups, the downs, the diabolicalness, the hope.

00:00:19.040 I am very grateful for his time.

00:00:21.400 This episode can get a bit intense or a bit graphic at times,

00:00:25.620 so if that's not for you, then this may not be for you.

00:00:29.660 Today's guest is Dr. Aziz Rahman.

00:00:50.280 Dr. Rahman, thanks for joining me today, man.

00:00:52.700 Thanks for having me, especially on short notice.

00:00:55.000 Yeah, I appreciate it, man.

00:00:55.920 And you, we'll just get right into, you did a service in, you're a doctor?

00:01:00.880 Yes.

00:01:01.340 Okay.

00:01:01.700 And you just got a, you just did a service in Gaza?

00:01:05.100 And how did they say it there?

00:01:06.880 Did they say Gaza?

00:01:07.820 Gaza.

00:01:08.440 But you can say Gaza.

00:01:09.220 Okay.

00:01:09.500 I was saying Gaza when I was there.

00:01:10.820 Yeah?

00:01:11.220 Yeah, it worked out.

00:01:12.220 Cool.

00:01:12.560 I came back.

00:01:13.000 Um, what hospital were you stationed at over there?

00:01:15.600 So, Nasser Hospital.

00:01:16.640 Okay.

00:01:16.820 Um, you know, you probably heard on the news that it's the last functioning hospital in

00:01:19.660 Gaza, and it truly is.

00:01:21.520 Um, there's other smaller hospitals, but they're really not functioning at a scale of a hospital.

00:01:26.760 And how do you get chosen to go there?

00:01:29.540 You live in Milwaukee, and you, um, you doctor out of Milwaukee currently?

00:01:33.740 That's right, yeah.

00:01:34.580 So, you go through your own hospital to do it?

00:01:36.700 Uh, no, this has nothing to do with my hospital.

00:01:38.500 In fact, I didn't even tell my hospital I was going.

00:01:40.240 You didn't.

00:01:40.520 Um, I just told one of my colleagues, he helped me with my schedule, and I reached out to one

00:01:45.480 of these organizations, and then they reached out back to me when there was a spot available.

00:01:49.900 And, uh, they told me, hey, we got this, uh, spot available in two months.

00:01:53.560 Are you willing to go?

00:01:55.000 And when I got that invitation from them, I, I was on a plane back to my family.

00:02:00.240 And, uh, I was like, man, how am I going to tell my wife, my kids, my mom, my dad?

00:02:04.680 So, that's all I was thinking, you know?

00:02:07.220 And, uh, yeah, landed, uh, the kids were put to sleep, went to my wife, and I was like,

00:02:11.680 hey, let's go have some cup of coffee.

00:02:13.540 And, um, I was like, hey, I have this opportunity.

00:02:16.640 And she's like, it's Gaza.

00:02:17.880 And I was like, God, how'd you know?

00:02:20.680 She knew, huh?

00:02:21.600 She knew because, you know, this has been going on for so long, you know?

00:02:24.660 And I've been talking about it at work.

00:02:26.580 I've been talking about it with my friends.

00:02:27.940 What I would call, and many would call a genocide, even though it hasn't legally been defined.

00:02:32.660 I mean, it hurts, man.

00:02:34.000 I found myself coming home from work, you know, after a good day's work, but just unhappy.

00:02:39.560 You know, I was just like, man, like, there's kids dying out there, you know?

00:02:43.040 I'm taking care of these adults, you know, with alcoholic cirrhosis, you know?

00:02:46.640 They made these decisions to their liver, for example.

00:02:49.820 But these kids, they are innocent, right?

00:02:53.140 And so, and then I come home and see my children running up to me, asking me to play video games

00:02:57.140 with them, watch TV, have some snacks.

00:02:59.080 I'm saying this dichotomy is so hard to, like, reconcile.

00:03:02.520 And so when I got this invitation, it was almost like this opportunity to, like, decompress,

00:03:07.100 if that makes any sense, in the war zone.

00:03:09.720 And it's weird, right?

00:03:10.540 It's like a paradox.

00:03:11.080 Like, why the hell would you decompress in a war zone?

00:03:13.300 But I almost needed to do something with my hands.

00:03:16.360 And, you know, I'm a proceduralist as a background in medicine, so I like to do things with my

00:03:21.920 hand, right?

00:03:22.440 What does proceduralist mean?

00:03:23.660 Yeah, so I'm an interventional radiologist.

00:03:25.480 I actually was the first interventional radiologist to go to Gaza in the world.

00:03:29.040 And it's one of the newest specialties in medicine where we use image guidance to do

00:03:33.280 basically, like, minimally invasive procedures.

00:03:35.400 So, like, for example, historically, if you have a big, you know, infection in your stomach,

00:03:39.300 they would incise your, you know, your abdomen open and take, you know, drain the infection.

00:03:45.120 So now we could just take a CAT scan and put a drain right through your skin into it.

00:03:49.140 So instead of a one-hour procedure, it's five minutes.

00:03:52.000 Okay.

00:03:52.200 You know, and you don't have to stay in the hospital.

00:03:53.620 You don't have to get sutures.

00:03:55.180 And there's, you know, you can basically take clots out of the arteries of the legs for

00:03:59.720 diabetics.

00:04:00.440 And it's a whole different specialty.

00:04:03.520 It's actually the newest specialty in medicine.

00:04:05.420 I think it was officially credentialed, I think, in 2013 when I was graduating medical school.

00:04:09.660 Okay.

00:04:09.900 Yeah.

00:04:10.220 So you have to tell your wife.

00:04:11.700 She signs off.

00:04:12.840 How long after that are you on a plane to go to Gaza?

00:04:16.620 Two months later, I'm on a plane to Amman, Jordan.

00:04:20.920 So you're still not, even though I got permission from my family, I have not gotten permission

00:04:26.060 from the authorities that be.

00:04:28.620 And you might ask who that is.

00:04:29.900 So that's Israel.

00:04:30.800 So Israel makes all final decisions about who comes in and who comes out.

00:04:35.280 As you know, international journalists are not allowed in.

00:04:37.520 In fact, doctors are pretty much, healthcare workers are essentially the only people allowed

00:04:40.680 in.

00:04:40.900 And even that is extremely scrutinized.

00:04:42.860 So we had 22 applicants for this two-week medical mission that we were on, and only six

00:04:47.420 of us got in.

00:04:48.720 So you had 22 applicants.

00:04:49.900 What do you mean?

00:04:50.500 That just had applied for it?

00:04:52.320 Yeah, 22 physicians across the world for this two weeks were intending to come.

00:04:59.440 And the organization I went with was Rehma Worldwide.

00:05:02.580 They're based in Michigan.

00:05:03.680 And they basically over-accept people knowing that there's about a 75% rejection rate.

00:05:08.980 So after all that rejection, like some people flew in from the UK, some people flew in from

00:05:15.100 Egypt, and they just flew right back after they got the denial letter.

00:05:19.320 In Jordan, you mean?

00:05:20.120 In Jordan.

00:05:20.480 So you have to be there because you find out if you're in or out 12 hours before we go in.

00:05:25.540 God.

00:05:25.900 So 7 a.m., for example, on a Thursday morning where the bus is waiting for us in front of

00:05:30.160 the hotel.

00:05:30.620 Well, you have to be there by 10 p.m.

00:05:33.240 And that's when we get the Excel document that shows us for in or out, you know?

00:05:36.020 And so some of you staff don't know until right there in Jordan if you're getting approved

00:05:41.500 or not, like if you made the team.

00:05:42.680 Yeah, that's every physician.

00:05:43.780 Got it.

00:05:44.160 Yeah.

00:05:44.460 So you have to go all the way there, all that, and then you still might not make it?

00:05:47.680 Yeah.

00:05:47.900 Even after you get accepted, you still might not make it because now you have to go through

00:05:50.640 Jordanian checkpoint.

00:05:51.920 Then you have to go through the Israeli checkpoint.

00:05:54.460 And then after you get through the Israeli checkpoint, then there's a Gaza checkpoint.

00:05:59.300 And so what would be a three-hour journey if there was no checkpoints takes about 14 to

00:06:04.220 16 hours.

00:06:05.000 Okay.

00:06:05.440 Yeah.

00:06:05.640 Wow.

00:06:06.220 And does Palestine have a say in who it lets in?

00:06:09.600 Like, is there a Palestinian authority also that you go through?

00:06:12.800 There's no border crossing that you have to go through through Palestinian governance that

00:06:18.340 determines if you can go in and out.

00:06:19.520 It's all Israeli and Jordanian.

00:06:20.940 Okay.

00:06:21.180 Got it.

00:06:21.560 Yeah.

00:06:22.560 Jordanian just gets you through into the Israeli side.

00:06:24.940 And then Israeli authorities basically, you know, check your bags and, you know, do all

00:06:29.800 your background checks, check your passport.

00:06:31.100 And then they give you a little document saying you can go.

00:06:33.780 So take me through like your first day arriving at the hospital.

00:06:37.040 So we left at 7 a.m.

00:06:39.660 I'm on and we got to a safe house like 11 p.m.

00:06:44.540 or something along those lines.

00:06:45.460 And they fed us some pita bread and hummus and they apologize for not having any real food

00:06:50.440 like meat and whatnot.

00:06:51.460 So we didn't actually get to the hospital until the following morning.

00:06:54.780 So Friday morning.

00:06:55.740 Okay.

00:06:56.100 So about 24 hours after we left on Jordan.

00:06:59.120 And is there like hopes high?

00:07:02.040 Is there like excitement?

00:07:02.920 Like what are some of the energy going on at that point?

00:07:04.680 Are you guys just exhausted?

00:07:05.880 Yeah.

00:07:06.080 So the six of us, this was our first time going to Gaza.

00:07:09.280 Some people have been multiple times.

00:07:11.520 Oh, we were excited, man.

00:07:12.540 We were like, we're going to save Gaza.

00:07:14.440 We are going to do it.

00:07:15.860 And it was a fun group.

00:07:17.820 We were all there for the same mission, for the same intentions.

00:07:20.800 I had a five-month-old baby that I left behind.

00:07:22.980 One of the guys had a six-month-old baby.

00:07:24.680 And the other guy one-upped us and had like a two-week-old baby.

00:07:27.500 I'm like, dude, what's wrong with you, man?

00:07:29.760 Dude, you got to see.

00:07:31.480 It's a little soon to be leaving.

00:07:32.700 It is, right?

00:07:33.260 Yeah.

00:07:33.640 But somehow our wives all let us go, right?

00:07:35.900 So we kind of bonded over that too.

00:07:37.260 Got it.

00:07:38.000 But the energy was high.

00:07:39.100 The energy was high.

00:07:39.760 And how many doctors are at the hospital that you're working at?

00:07:42.400 Oh, man, that's tough to answer.

00:07:44.800 Hundreds.

00:07:45.840 Okay.

00:07:46.180 The reason for that is because there's another hospital, major hospital in Khan Yunus called European General Hospital.

00:07:51.400 Okay.

00:07:51.780 And that just got blown to smithereens kind of in before June, before we went.

00:07:56.980 And, you know, they were saying there's a Hamas operative in the tunnel.

00:08:00.260 So they basically dropped a bunker buster in front of the European General Hospital and basically shut that down.

00:08:05.840 So all those doctors, all those nurses are essentially got shunted to Nasser Hospital.

00:08:10.100 So now there's an overabundance of some doctors at Nasser Hospital.

00:08:14.900 But, you know, as we can get into, there is a systemic targeting of specialized physicians in Gaza.

00:08:21.460 So, for example, there's only two neurosurgeons, you know.

00:08:24.040 And so there are some specialties that are lacking.

00:08:27.960 And what do you mean a systemic targeting?

00:08:29.880 So if you look at UN data, about 500 physicians and nurses have been killed.

00:08:40.300 A thousand have been injured.

00:08:41.620 I think 300 are still in custody.

00:08:43.960 Wow.

00:08:44.560 There's one of the hospital directors.

00:08:46.860 He's a pediatrician, Abu Safiya, Hussam Abu Safiya.

00:08:49.420 He's been in jail since December.

00:08:50.920 No charges against him.

00:08:53.040 In America?

00:08:54.080 No, no, in Gaza.

00:08:54.880 In Gaza.

00:08:55.240 Yeah, yeah.

00:08:55.580 He's an amazing individual.

00:08:58.020 And I think one of the most iconic pictures of him being arrested is he's the last person to leave his hospital because he just wouldn't leave the incubated babies behind.

00:09:06.580 And once they left, then Israel basically said, come walk to the tanks.

00:09:11.280 So he's in his white coat in this, like, debris-filled Gaza picture.

00:09:15.540 And there's two tanks there.

00:09:17.100 And he gets arrested.

00:09:17.960 And he's never seen since then.

00:09:20.120 It's pretty wild, man.

00:09:21.460 The United Nations Human Rights Office issued a statement on July 16, 2025, providing data and details regarding the killing of medical professionals in Gaza.

00:09:30.220 Like, look at since 2023.

00:09:32.440 Gaza's Ministry of Health reports that at least 15.

00:09:35.020 Oh, wow.

00:09:35.360 1,581 health workers have been killed in Gaza since October 7, 2023.

00:09:40.140 Oh, my God.

00:09:41.300 I mean, you know, health care workers in America are probably, like, the most sacred specialty in society, right?

00:09:46.760 Like, I'm not trying to put myself on a pedestal, but I respect my physician.

00:09:51.960 Right.

00:09:52.620 Like, my primary care doctor is taking care of me.

00:09:54.880 I'm going to respect that guy, you know?

00:09:56.900 So this was a risky choice for you to make to go.

00:09:59.940 It was.

00:10:00.620 And, you know, I actually wrote some letters to my kids before I left.

00:10:05.060 I mean, I was like, I don't know if I'm coming back.

00:10:07.200 I had the hope I would come back.

00:10:09.220 Yeah.

00:10:09.820 You know, anything could have happened.

00:10:11.360 Yeah.

00:10:11.560 I mean, look at those numbers.

00:10:12.600 Yeah.

00:10:12.740 I mean, realistically, they're targeting Gazan doctors, Palestinian doctors.

00:10:16.400 I don't think they would want to target an international, especially American physician that's just such a PR nightmare.

00:10:23.040 But has it happened before?

00:10:24.340 Absolutely.

00:10:24.900 You know, look in the West Bank.

00:10:25.960 They just killed an American kid from Florida on vacation there.

00:10:29.500 Another was the Al Jazeera reporter.

00:10:32.540 They, you know, they sniped and she died on the spot.

00:10:36.040 Well, Israel's whole country is a PR nightmare right now, it seems like.

00:10:38.860 So I wouldn't put anything past them right now, I don't think.

00:10:41.960 But I just feel like it's very brave-y to go.

00:10:43.720 So are you guys sleeping at the hospital or what's like?

00:10:47.880 Yeah.

00:10:48.140 So there's an international doctor's lounge basically on the top floor.

00:10:51.380 And all the doctors from the different NGOs kind of sleep in this one area, whether you're from, you know, America or UK or Australia, whatever.

00:10:59.840 So, you know, the men have their own call room and then the females have their own call room.

00:11:04.460 But then there's this joint space where the local Gazans make us food, kind of just hang out.

00:11:08.200 The news is going.

00:11:08.920 There's a little balcony.

00:11:09.660 We can look out the window.

00:11:10.380 You know, so it's a nice place to kind of just breathe without any patients or locals there.

00:11:14.900 So we kind of had our own space, which was nice.

00:11:16.600 But we were eating the local food.

00:11:18.620 And what was your shift like?

00:11:19.600 Like, what's your shift there like?

00:11:22.220 Yeah.

00:11:22.540 So it depends on your specialty.

00:11:23.680 I was, again, I was the only interventional radiologist in the area.

00:11:27.540 I mean, there was two interventional radiology doctors in all of Gaza.

00:11:31.780 Just for comparison, there's probably like 600 in Chicago, you know.

00:11:35.000 Wow.

00:11:35.940 So when I got there, basically those other two told everyone at Nasser, hey, there's this guy.

00:11:40.920 He's an interventional radiologist.

00:11:42.220 Give him all your cases.

00:11:43.000 Because they come down like once a week.

00:11:45.560 So if there's a patient who needs a procedure, they need to wait seven days for essentially.

00:11:49.080 As for like, for example, the ER doctors, especially the ones we came with, they typically do eight or 12-hour shifts in America.

00:11:55.800 So when they got there, the energy was high.

00:11:57.720 They're like, oh, we're going to do, you know, a 12-hour shift.

00:11:59.860 And then the locals just laughed.

00:12:01.520 They're like, no, you're not.

00:12:02.400 You're going to do a four-hour shift because you're not going to make it more than that.

00:12:05.620 And it turns out they were right.

00:12:07.160 Really?

00:12:07.720 It's just so intense.

00:12:09.500 It's the most intense traumatic experience I don't think any physician can understand.

00:12:15.400 I would say take the most experienced trauma surgeon, you know, in Baltimore, which is like one of the biggest trauma centers in America, and put them in Gaza.

00:12:22.820 And it's like child's play compared to what's going on in Gaza.

00:12:25.580 You're talking about like an influx of like 400 patients in like four hours with 30 casualties on arrival, 30 headshots on arrival, 30 critical mass shots on arrival.

00:12:34.980 And then like everything in between women, children, elderly men, young boys.

00:12:39.460 And it's just like, what, how the heck do you triage all this?

00:12:43.800 And that was every day, man.

00:12:45.900 So it took a mental toll.

00:12:48.300 What's that first moment that you noticed?

00:12:49.620 Like, oh, my God, this is a lot.

00:12:52.840 Yeah.

00:12:53.000 So the first day we got there was actually pretty chill the Friday.

00:12:58.240 But then the Saturday, they had the MCI.

00:13:00.860 It's called a mass casualty incident.

00:13:02.440 And they basically pull a fire alarm.

00:13:04.040 I was like, what the hell is that?

00:13:04.860 Oh, every doctor come down to the ER to try to help.

00:13:07.960 And so I was like, OK.

00:13:08.880 So went downstairs, got in there.

00:13:10.880 It's just like brain matter coming out of people.

00:13:12.980 There's guts coming out of people's abdomens.

00:13:15.540 There's people's legs blown off and someone's carrying it in next to the, you know, one of the family members bringing it in for the doctors.

00:13:20.940 And, you know, they think you can just reattach it.

00:13:22.800 And it's just like absolute chaos.

00:13:25.400 There's family members, security in the hospital is trying to push out the family members so the doctors and nurses can take care of the patients.

00:13:31.480 It's absolute chaos.

00:13:32.720 And then us American physicians are just like looking at each other like, what is going on here?

00:13:37.560 And, you know, that was that was that's when reality hit.

00:13:42.160 And I was like, OK, this must be like a one off.

00:13:44.380 And it just kept happening every day and sometimes multiple times a day.

00:13:48.240 Essentially, basically, we can we found the pattern related to when the GHF sites were opening up.

00:13:54.980 GHF.

00:13:55.460 Sorry, Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is this American and Israeli initiative to bring in aid to Gaza, which basically takes over, has taken over all of the U.N.

00:14:08.080 aid agencies, which the U.N. has been doing this for 75, whatever, since World War Two.

00:14:12.600 Right.

00:14:12.720 And and I think in March, officially, Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is the only one allowed to bring aid into to Gaza.

00:14:20.360 You know, we've been hearing a lot about this recently in the news that there's like these long lines for aid for food.

00:14:25.880 Right.

00:14:26.440 You've been hearing a lot about like mass starvation and famine being created, being used as a genocide tool.

00:14:34.140 What do you see or notice with that?

00:14:36.860 Right.

00:14:37.060 Like you're hearing that people are like the food is set up and it's a trap.

00:14:40.820 You're hearing that Hamas controls the food.

00:14:43.240 You're hearing all of these things.

00:14:44.660 But we know, like you said earlier, international journalists aren't allowed to cover this.

00:14:50.380 Right.

00:14:50.740 Unfortunately.

00:14:51.380 Yeah, that's right.

00:14:52.300 And so what did you see?

00:14:54.420 What do you notice?

00:14:55.820 We were hearing testimony from everyone coming in that the GHF sites are is a death trap.

00:15:03.260 And, you know, I'll just get into some psychology of some of the people there.

00:15:07.140 So, you know, in Islam, suicide is is is forbidden.

00:15:10.580 Right.

00:15:10.820 But the situation there where almost everyone is depressed is that some people who have lost everything, their their their families or kids almost want to die.

00:15:21.500 So they will they'll go to GHF kind of hoping they'll die.

00:15:25.560 Go going to these food lines and these these.

00:15:27.400 They're just hoping they get shot because the statistics are there.

00:15:29.560 Like, you know, you're seeing 100 dead every day and 300 injured every day.

00:15:34.620 Like it's almost consistent for the last month or two, you know, and and that's what we were seeing when we were there.

00:15:41.400 We were seeing 100 a day and 300 injured a day for pretty much the two weeks that we were there.

00:15:45.980 Yeah, this says right here in Gaza, more Palestinians are killed while waiting for food aid.

00:15:51.880 At least three hundred twenty five people in Gaza were killed by Israeli forces while trying to reach food last week.

00:15:56.320 According to Gaza's health ministry, that figure included 24 people killed on Saturday, 14 on Sunday.

00:16:03.780 The deadly search for food is happening despite Israeli assurances of humanitarian pause and attacks to let more aid in as deaths from malnutrition, soaring Gaza and starvation grips the territory.

00:16:14.940 What was the date on that?

00:16:16.780 Yeah, that's recent.

00:16:17.760 I think they've been exposed quite a little bit more since, you know, Anthony Aguilar came up.

00:16:22.440 But as of June, I mean, I don't know if you can go back, but we were seeing 100 in Gaza a day, basically.

00:16:28.480 But that's also between bombings within Gaza, not necessarily.

00:16:32.660 During the time you were there, how many how many were you guys seeing a day, honestly?

00:16:36.100 Patients.

00:16:36.600 Yeah.

00:16:37.260 From humanitarian aid sites.

00:16:38.640 Oh, probably like 200.

00:16:40.540 OK, so Muslim people can't take their own life because of their religion.

00:16:44.260 Yeah.

00:16:44.420 So you were seeing some of them who had gone to humanitarian aid sites and were purposely putting themselves in situations to take their own life, but without them having to do it.

00:16:58.640 So I didn't actually see that.

00:17:00.260 I am in contact with a lot of the medical students and nurses and physicians right now.

00:17:04.400 And one of them literally just told me this past week, you know, if my wife and kid die, I'm going to GHF site and I hope I'm taken.

00:17:12.560 And that's essentially, you know, almost like I hope I die when I'm there.

00:17:16.700 So it's real.

00:17:17.460 You know, the psychology there is strange.

00:17:19.380 We were we were at a table with our medical student, you know, a couple of us doing rounds, which means talking about cases, talking about patients.

00:17:26.460 And one of our medical students is like, what happens to the body after death?

00:17:30.100 So we're like, oh, you know, we kind of just like talked a little bit spiritually.

00:17:33.120 And then she's like, my uncle and 20 family members just got drone striked like an hour ago and not a single tear, not a single facial expression.

00:17:42.760 And I was like, oh, my God, like, how do I respond to that?

00:17:45.180 You know, if that happened in America, you would tell your medical school and go take a week off, take a month off, do whatever you need to do.

00:17:50.060 And then she took three hours off to go to the funeral the next day and came back.

00:17:53.760 And that's that's it.

00:17:55.060 One of your co-workers?

00:17:56.040 One of the medical students.

00:17:57.180 Yeah, she's 22.

00:17:58.240 In Gaza?

00:17:58.980 In Gaza.

00:17:59.720 And she was working there?

00:18:00.560 Yeah, the medical students are full fledged medical students.

00:18:03.680 They come every day.

00:18:04.380 They're some of the hardest working people there.

00:18:06.080 It's crazy.

00:18:06.980 They have board exams.

00:18:08.340 There's residency.

00:18:09.560 Where are they?

00:18:10.080 What school are they at?

00:18:11.840 Yeah, there's two medical schools in Gaza.

00:18:14.940 I mean, they've been destroyed and they all have to take a year off.

00:18:18.820 But their homework still do, apparently.

00:18:20.440 Yeah.

00:18:21.860 I mean, that's fucking crazy.

00:18:24.080 Yeah, you can't use the dog ate my homework excuse there.

00:18:26.340 I know.

00:18:26.960 I don't know.

00:18:27.680 You could eat the drone ate my homework though, maybe.

00:18:30.560 That's right.

00:18:31.020 But is that true?

00:18:31.620 The Islamic University of Gaza and the Al-Azhar University of Gaza?

00:18:36.940 Yeah, that's right.

00:18:37.740 Those are the schools?

00:18:38.460 Yeah.

00:18:38.860 A lot of their students were there in support, working in support?

00:18:41.760 Yeah, they're at mostly Nasser Hospital.

00:18:43.560 Some of them are in the north in Al-Shifa Hospital, which is another hospital up in the

00:18:48.500 north area of Gaza.

00:18:50.160 Okay.

00:18:50.900 You know, you hear a lot of stories about the aid, right?

00:18:52.980 The aid.

00:18:54.040 That's been a big kickball that goes around like in the media of like, it's their fault.

00:18:57.940 It's the UN's fault.

00:18:59.060 It's Hamas is stealing the food.

00:19:01.000 Like, what is the real truth over there?

00:19:02.820 Is Hamas stealing it?

00:19:04.340 Is there 600 pallets just sitting there?

00:19:07.780 Like, what do you think is really going on?

00:19:09.380 So, the GHF is basically taking over aid delivery to Gaza and no one wants to work with them.

00:19:17.860 Countries don't want to work with them.

00:19:19.660 The UN does not want to work with them.

00:19:21.760 So, even though the UN does have food ready to go in warehouses, on trucks, waiting in

00:19:27.300 Egypt and Jordan, it's not allowed in because Israel has only given authority to GHF.

00:19:33.300 Okay.

00:19:33.640 Now, GHF is run by private military contractors.

00:19:36.920 So, it's militarized aid, which is against, you know, international rules.

00:19:41.000 You know, I'm not a expert.

00:19:42.740 I'm not a lawyer to talk about international rules, but you can look up the Geneva Convention,

00:19:46.280 the Rome Statutes, and it's clear as day, right?

00:19:49.180 Let's pull that up then, just so we know it.

00:19:51.120 Yeah.

00:19:51.360 So, the UN doesn't want to work with them.

00:19:53.100 They don't want to be implicated in their own rules, against their own rules, right?

00:19:55.640 The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is run by a combination of American security contractors,

00:20:00.360 ex-military officers, and humanitarian aid officials.

00:20:03.240 The organization operates with the support of the U.S. and Israeli governments, but it

00:20:05.660 is primarily managed and overseen by American individuals.

00:20:08.240 The GHF lacks transparency, independence, and adherence to established humanitarian norms.

00:20:13.500 The organization's leadership and operational structure have faced significant criticism from

00:20:19.580 international aid groups and the United Nations, who argue that the GHF lacks transparency,

00:20:24.200 independence, and adherence to established humanitarian norms.

00:20:28.720 I mean, Jake Wood, he's a military veteran co-founder, right?

00:20:31.060 He actually resigned right as they got established because he's like, screw this, I'm out.

00:20:36.040 This is not going to be good.

00:20:37.500 Wow.

00:20:37.640 He saw the writing on the wall.

00:20:39.720 Hmm.

00:20:40.560 And he started it.

00:20:41.620 And props to him.

00:20:42.400 Yeah.

00:20:42.660 You know?

00:20:43.360 Wow.

00:20:43.720 He'd be interesting to talk to probably, huh?

00:20:45.740 Yeah.

00:20:46.960 Wow.

00:20:47.380 I'd like to hear what he has to say.

00:20:48.440 Yeah, me too.

00:20:49.380 But you asked me, but you asked me, I feel like I didn't really answer you yet.

00:20:51.800 Um, I lost 15 pounds when I was there.

00:20:54.520 Every one of us, six physicians lost a lot of weight.

00:20:57.100 I, I, you know, I have one of those smart scales at home before Gaza, after Gaza, it's

00:21:00.960 like this graph that just goes straight down, which is awesome for me because I came back

00:21:04.620 in two weeks and now I'm slimmer.

00:21:06.040 But for them, it's, it's indefinite.

00:21:08.900 They've been doing this for months.

00:21:10.240 They have, you know, hypovitaminosis.

00:21:12.060 They don't have enough energy.

00:21:13.480 They don't have, you know, anemia from no iron, no protein.

00:21:16.680 You know, woman can't breastfeed.

00:21:18.260 They have deliver a baby and there's no milk.

00:21:19.900 There's no formula coming in.

00:21:21.600 That's like, that's banned.

00:21:23.060 You know, I got confiscated by some of the doctors who were trying to bring it in.

00:21:25.880 And, um, I mean, every aspect of their health is being affected, right?

00:21:29.640 So even though you're not seeing like skin and bones on every single person, if you,

00:21:34.360 if you took their labs, they are sick, you know, and there's stages to, to, to starvation.

00:21:38.700 You don't just, you know, one day you're fat and then the next day you're skinny.

00:21:41.920 It doesn't work like that.

00:21:42.980 And some people don't get, become skin and bones, right?

00:21:45.600 Some people actually their, their, their belly bloats up and because of loss of protein

00:21:50.380 and the fluid, instead of being on the blood vessels, goes into the belly and, and they

00:21:53.800 can die in different ways.

00:21:54.760 And then we went to the, the, the neonatal ICU in a pediatric hospital and we saw, you

00:21:59.840 know, the, the babies that are skin and bones, you know?

00:22:03.140 And it's disgusting to see that knowing what they need, which is formula.

00:22:07.920 Um, but what were you, did you hear that Hamas was taking the food or did you like, what,

00:22:13.360 like, what's the true, like, what is the, were you hearing there, right?

00:22:17.040 Were you hearing anything different?

00:22:18.320 Cause here it's just, it's so hard to know, right?

00:22:20.700 It's so hard to know what's going on.

00:22:23.040 Yeah.

00:22:23.420 So, you know, I, I went as a doctor, but I think that's a great question.

00:22:26.420 I didn't, we did not see a combatant.

00:22:28.500 We did not talk about combatants.

00:22:30.440 No, none of the patients talk about that.

00:22:32.160 Honestly, everyone's just concerned about how they're going to eat, you know, like no

00:22:35.240 one, no one's talking about Hamas.

00:22:37.560 And, um, that said, I am very curious.

00:22:40.580 So I didn't ask many people, you know, privately, not patients, but like coworkers and stuff,

00:22:44.460 like what's going on out there?

00:22:45.300 Like, you know, are they actually, and everyone's like, no, there's no way it's to go to the GHF

00:22:50.540 site.

00:22:50.760 You have to go in an active war zone.

00:22:53.040 There's tanks, there's, um, you know, a private military contract from the U S which all special

00:22:57.800 forces, there's, uh, IDF, the Israeli military.

00:23:00.580 I mean, you know, it doesn't even make sense that they would go out there.

00:23:04.060 And even if they did, the question is like, why is there, why can't we flood Gaza with

00:23:10.300 aid?

00:23:10.780 Because then Hamas would have zero, you know, leverage over the food.

00:23:14.880 So if you're saying, you know, Hamas is, is taking the food, stealing it and selling it,

00:23:18.720 and that's why the food's so difficult to obtain.

00:23:20.780 Well then flood the markets with food.

00:23:22.680 And then Hamas has no leverage over the food, right?

00:23:25.520 It's just like common sense, supply and demand.

00:23:27.580 So their argument doesn't even add up.

00:23:29.200 But that said, I have asked many, um, locals in the hospital.

00:23:33.440 Um, you know, obviously they don't really know, but I don't, I, I didn't see any evidence

00:23:38.200 of that.

00:23:39.060 Um, the only evidence that we saw is actually, by the way, Anthony Aguilar said that they,

00:23:42.840 they weren't even screening the patients.

00:23:45.000 I mean, sorry, the, um, the aid seekers for being Hamas or not.

00:23:49.640 So there, I mean, there's no screening process.

00:23:51.460 How would they know?

00:23:52.720 There's not going to be some guy with an AK 47, right.

00:23:55.280 You know, going into an active war zone.

00:23:57.620 Um, yeah, he's like, knock, knock.

00:23:59.000 And they're like, who's there?

00:23:59.780 And he's like, yeah, exactly.

00:24:01.120 You know?

00:24:01.800 Yeah.

00:24:02.680 I mean, that's, yeah, I agree.

00:24:04.580 If only war worked like that, right now.

00:24:07.280 But that's one thing I haven't understood about a lot of this military effect, uh, from

00:24:11.440 the IDF.

00:24:11.920 Cause they're always, you know, they speak highly of their, there's a lot of high reflection

00:24:16.540 of their military and their abilities, but then you're like, well, why not

00:24:19.620 just send in Marines or your Navy SEAL group to seek out Hamas instead of blanketly bombing

00:24:26.860 thousands of people?

00:24:28.320 Like, why would, you know what I'm saying?

00:24:29.200 If your group is that great, why wouldn't you send them to pick off the bad guys one

00:24:34.280 at a time?

00:24:34.760 That's the part that sometimes I don't understand.

00:24:37.080 Um, you know, they, they, they, they're, they motto themselves as the most moral army

00:24:40.420 in the world, which I find kind of odd.

00:24:42.560 Well, I think it now, I think anybody would find those days are over.

00:24:46.220 I think a hundred percent, a hundred percent.

00:24:48.080 But we, we, when we were there, we were staying on the balcony looking on, you know, during

00:24:50.840 our break time as, as physicians and boom, you just see this giant explosion, your, your

00:24:55.720 drums are rumbling.

00:24:56.680 And it's just like, who just died there?

00:24:58.500 Was it a Hamas guy?

00:24:59.400 It was like a family.

00:25:00.100 Right.

00:25:00.340 So then you go down to the ER and there's like 30 patients that show up and you ask them

00:25:05.480 like, you know, what happened?

00:25:07.280 Oh, the shrapnel injuries from an explosion.

00:25:08.840 You know, some lady has like a, a high speed velocity, you know, piece of shrapnel that

00:25:13.500 went toward a belly or a leg has some of them have to emerge in surgery.

00:25:16.920 Some people goes right through their skull.

00:25:19.200 And so, um, and then you realize every single explosion and it was happening about every 30

00:25:24.040 minutes in Khan Yunus at that time, I would say, um, from my experience, you realize every

00:25:30.120 30 minutes there's an explosion and people are dying.

00:25:32.400 Right.

00:25:33.040 So even if every single one of those explosions was Hamas, why is there 30, 50 patients coming

00:25:40.320 in, you know, routinely?

00:25:42.420 So that's what's interesting.

00:25:43.160 When I say mass casualty incident, we're talking about an influx of like 400 patients, but it

00:25:47.820 doesn't stop between the hour.

00:25:50.400 Right.

00:25:50.540 So even at nighttime, there's patients chronically consistently coming in and all night.

00:25:55.880 Right.

00:25:56.020 So some of us had night shifts.

00:25:57.500 Basically we would help out the night team.

00:25:59.400 Our job was just to help out.

00:26:00.760 Right.

00:26:00.900 Like I was in the ER.

00:26:01.740 I was in the OR, the operating room to, to on the floors.

00:26:04.700 I was sometimes being a nurse, just helping out getting IV access and little kids.

00:26:08.200 So we were just everywhere trying to help out anywhere.

00:26:10.800 What type of injuries were you guys seeing come in?

00:26:12.420 Like what, like, what was it like kind of?

00:26:14.220 Yeah.

00:26:14.480 There were a couple of pattern of injuries.

00:26:16.120 So first one is bullets, you know, a gunshot wounds, and they were very accurate, almost

00:26:21.560 exclusively in the head and neck or critical mass shots.

00:26:24.340 Right.

00:26:25.280 Um, every now and then we'd see an abdominal wound, but, um, and then explosions were, were the

00:26:30.580 other one.

00:26:31.040 So burn injuries and then projectiles, you know, um, from shrapnel, uh, that was another

00:26:35.820 big one.

00:26:36.460 And then, um, every now and then you would see like, Oh, you know, something local happened,

00:26:40.320 like a trampling or, you know, some, some internal fight.

00:26:43.460 But those were extremely rare.

00:26:45.200 Like you're talking about, you know, when, when people, when groups of people are coming

00:26:49.120 in, they're coming on, on donkey.

00:26:50.620 It's their ambulance basically.

00:26:51.800 And they do have some ambulances, but most people come in via donkey or by family and

00:26:56.040 they're just like throw them in the ER and like take care of them.

00:26:58.460 And the guy's arm is exploded from, you know, explosion or a baby basically has 85% burns

00:27:04.100 and there's no way they're going to survive that to a guy with a gunshot wound to his head.

00:27:07.240 And I mean, I'm telling, I'm like not even exaggerating this and I have pictures to prove

00:27:11.000 that, you know, some of them are too gory for perhaps a non-physician, but what is, what's

00:27:16.460 the process like when, when they come in, like, is there security at the front of the hospital?

00:27:20.520 Cause I imagine that the hospital would just be almost being overrun by people looking for

00:27:25.120 shelter aid constantly or even water.

00:27:27.320 Like, what was that like?

00:27:29.320 Yeah, it is overrun and there's no security.

00:27:31.400 I mean, it's like one guy at the door saying like, you know, let the doctors go to the trauma

00:27:34.920 Bay and he's trying to hold like a whole sea of people back.

00:27:38.800 But, um, no, there's a parking lot.

00:27:40.340 Is there like a fence where that's keeping people in and out?

00:27:42.460 Like, no, no, no.

00:27:43.600 The hospital is run by people.

00:27:45.840 Like there's kids looking for water while you're like talking to a neurosurgeon about

00:27:49.340 the next step for a patient's care.

00:27:51.020 It's weird.

00:27:51.320 Like we're shooing, not me, but like the locals are just shooing kids away because they're

00:27:55.380 looking for clean drinking water and it's in the hospital.

00:27:57.860 And like in this room, for example, where we're podcasting, there would be like four or five

00:28:02.660 kids looking for water going in and out.

00:28:04.260 I mean, the people, patients, family sleeping outside the ICU, the hallways were full.

00:28:09.840 I mean, like there was no single area on the wall that you could sit.

00:28:14.140 I mean, people feel safe in the hospital because, you know, it's not being bombed.

00:28:17.960 Yeah.

00:28:19.160 Oh, here's some photos right here.

00:28:23.140 Wow, that's wild.

00:28:24.900 How do you guys decide right when somebody gets there, what level of care that they need

00:28:29.220 and if you're going to be able to care for them?

00:28:30.860 What's that like?

00:28:31.500 Um, when a patient enters the ER, there is a green zone, a yellow zone and a red zone.

00:28:38.820 So depending on the severity of the injury.

00:28:40.420 So they get triaged.

00:28:41.920 Um, this is when there's a non-MCI, so non-mass casualty incident.

00:28:46.900 When it's a mass casualty incident, the whole ER is a red zone.

00:28:50.060 So, um, the green zones, light injuries, you know, yellow zones, intermediate injuries and

00:28:54.920 red zone is basically critical injuries.

00:28:56.720 And then there was a black zone.

00:28:58.200 Black zone is basically anyone who's going to die.

00:29:00.400 You just kind of move them from the red zone to the black zone.

00:29:03.220 You tell the family, like, there's no chance.

00:29:05.460 And we were, we were doing that often.

00:29:07.720 And is that your responsibility too?

00:29:09.640 Yeah.

00:29:09.920 As a physician, of course.

00:29:10.880 You know, it's our job to make that decision, but also tell the family, like, there's, there's

00:29:15.640 nothing we can do.

00:29:16.340 And those are hard conversations.

00:29:18.020 You know, for example, resource management is something we haven't gotten into.

00:29:20.720 For example, in America, we have ventilators, right?

00:29:22.940 The breathing machine.

00:29:24.040 If in the ER, there was very limited amount of breathing machines to the point, if there

00:29:29.540 was like a 70 year old and a 20 year old who got injured, we would have to determine

00:29:34.040 who gets that breathing machine.

00:29:35.560 And there was an instance where we actually had to say, well, the 20 year old has a longer

00:29:40.580 life expectancy.

00:29:41.540 So, you know, the 70 year old is going to have to go to that black unit and kind of die

00:29:46.100 off.

00:29:46.520 So you tell the family, they don't like that answer, but it is what it is.

00:29:49.860 What else can you do?

00:29:52.120 So it was, it was, you know, sometimes we even got into arguments with the locals because

00:29:55.860 we didn't understand how bad the resource management issue was, right?

00:29:59.600 Like we're coming from America.

00:30:00.880 We're like, dude, we could, we can do it.

00:30:02.100 We can save this patient.

00:30:03.080 But no, there's nothing you can do.

00:30:04.480 There's literally nothing you can do without the resources, the medicines that are not

00:30:08.040 coming in, you know?

00:30:09.000 And that's the reality.

00:30:09.900 Like food is a huge problem, obviously not coming in, but medic, medications, supplies,

00:30:14.860 surgical equipment, it's just not coming in.

00:30:17.920 And, you know, we would try to bring it in our, you know, 50 pound carry on bags and whatnot.

00:30:22.880 But what is that going to do, right?

00:30:23.860 You're talking about 2.2 million people.

00:30:25.540 You're talking about six doctors trying to save the world.

00:30:27.360 I mean, it doesn't make sense.

00:30:29.120 Dude, when people come in, are they, are they coming in on stretchers?

00:30:31.540 Is there like a nurse desk or anything like that?

00:30:34.220 Like what's kind of like the setup there?

00:30:35.600 Does it feel like a regular hospital?

00:30:37.080 It does.

00:30:37.780 But the difference is there's an ambulance here and there.

00:30:40.860 But majority of patients are coming in on donkey carts and a private vehicle, which

00:30:48.020 is like, they stuff like four or five bodies in that, the back of the car.

00:30:51.780 And then families are just holding, you know, their loved ones and just running inside through

00:30:56.640 the double doors and plopping the patient down wherever they can find them.

00:31:00.220 You know, sometimes in the wrong area, then they have to pick them up and move them to

00:31:03.480 the critical area versus the green area I was talking about before.

00:31:07.060 And it's chaos like that, right?

00:31:09.500 But yeah, when the traumas come in, it's just, it's people running all over the place.

00:31:16.140 It's not as much organization as you would imagine an American hospital.

00:31:20.080 Is there enough blood, like for blood donors and blood drought, like that sort of thing?

00:31:23.820 Yeah.

00:31:24.100 So sometimes it runs out.

00:31:25.780 Sometimes Israel allows a mass donation from the West Bank, for example, to come in.

00:31:32.820 We physicians are encouraged to give our blood upon leaving so we don't get too, you know,

00:31:39.440 fatigued when we first get there.

00:31:41.980 It's at the end that they encourage us to give.

00:31:44.040 If someone is dying, can they still take blood from them to save it and give it to someone else?

00:31:49.120 Yeah.

00:31:49.480 I don't know if that's a standard protocol there.

00:31:51.040 I don't think that's established protocol.

00:31:55.660 Is that even possible?

00:31:56.960 Like, or is that a...

00:31:57.720 Yeah, it's possible.

00:31:58.980 But it's kind of an interesting concept.

00:32:01.320 Like, hey, you're dying.

00:32:01.940 Let me just take some of your blood.

00:32:02.920 But I guess in an emergency, that could be done.

00:32:06.920 I think it's more like respecting the dead.

00:32:09.040 Just, you know, you're going to die.

00:32:10.460 Let them die in peace.

00:32:11.380 Yeah.

00:32:12.160 Yeah, for sure.

00:32:12.780 I just didn't know if somebody had died, if you could, like, while their body, could

00:32:15.880 you still take blood for them?

00:32:16.860 Yeah, definitely.

00:32:17.480 How long is blood still able to be taken out of a body?

00:32:20.660 Let me see.

00:32:20.980 Taking blood from a dying person specifically for donation is highly restricted and governed

00:32:24.200 by strict ethical, legal, and medical standards worldwide.

00:32:28.680 The dead donor rule.

00:32:29.940 A fundamental principle called the dead donor rule requires that a person must be declared

00:32:33.680 legally and medically dead by recognized criteria, such as brain death or cardiac death,

00:32:39.340 before any organ or tissue can be removed for donation.

00:32:42.180 Blood banks and medical organizations do not take blood from dying patients for donations,

00:32:46.460 and this would violate ethical and legal norms.

00:32:48.180 Okay.

00:32:49.100 I mean, that also applies to any country that is not going through a genocide.

00:32:53.600 Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

00:32:54.840 So that's what I'm saying.

00:32:55.700 Like, the rules might be a little bit different there.

00:32:57.800 Like, I'll shift a hospital in the north, like I said.

00:33:00.140 Yeah, they are sometimes using flashlights to do procedures, and they are having power

00:33:05.060 outages all the time.

00:33:06.040 And, yeah, they are having to do amputations without sedatives.

00:33:11.200 That is an issue.

00:33:12.600 And that's because Nasser Hospital is like the last tertiary care, as we call it, the main

00:33:18.140 hospital.

00:33:19.080 And it's just getting all the resources because there's not enough, you know?

00:33:22.100 You need to have this hospital.

00:33:23.860 Yeah, that's Sal Shifa Hospital.

00:33:24.860 Remember when this first started, this was attacked, and there was a huge argument.

00:33:31.980 Oh, was it the IDF, the Israeli military?

00:33:33.740 Or was it Hamas?

00:33:34.780 And, oh, my God, it was such a big deal.

00:33:36.700 Do you remember that?

00:33:37.420 And then since then, pretty much every hospital in Gaza has been bombed.

00:33:41.320 Yeah.

00:33:42.240 Do you think that that's Hamas doing that?

00:33:44.660 No.

00:33:45.760 No, absolutely not.

00:33:47.240 What did you guys do with the deceased?

00:33:50.140 So when we declared someone dead, it would be the family's responsibility to do all the

00:33:57.520 transportation and all the, you know, administrative stuff.

00:34:00.180 So we would just pronounce them dead, and then it would be the family's responsibility

00:34:03.000 to take that body to the morgue, which is like maybe 100 meters away, a football field

00:34:07.740 away, and then the Ministry of Health would process the body, document what happens, and

00:34:14.460 then they would pray on it and then bury it the same day.

00:34:16.400 So maybe an hour or two while that happens.

00:34:18.460 But it was an assembly line, like, you know, patient coming in the ER, dead, morgue, prayer,

00:34:24.500 funeral, and just constant.

00:34:25.660 Like throughout the day, you're just looking out the window, and it's all you see.

00:34:29.120 Did you, were you guys able to go to the morgue at all?

00:34:31.280 I did, yeah.

00:34:32.280 One day, I have some pictures of that.

00:34:34.220 There was like just, it was a mass casualty.

00:34:36.460 There was like 15 bodies just lined up.

00:34:38.480 Some of them were kids, pretty much all headshots.

00:34:42.100 This was from the GHF site, actually.

00:34:44.520 And I was so disgusted.

00:34:45.900 I actually took like a video when I was there.

00:34:48.060 Yeah, that right one right there.

00:34:49.760 It was disgusting.

00:34:50.460 I mean, I have never experienced anything like that.

00:34:54.040 And I purposely went there during that time because I was like, I want to feel what the

00:34:59.220 locals are feeling.

00:35:00.040 Like I'm in the ER or I'm in the hospital.

00:35:02.360 You know, I want to actually feel what these people, and so you hear the wailing of the

00:35:05.780 woman when they find out their loved one has died.

00:35:09.260 They actually have this gazebo right there in National Hospital.

00:35:12.380 And that's where they put the dead bodies that have not, families have not identified the

00:35:16.340 bodies yet.

00:35:17.200 So every now and then you see the family members going into gazebo, looking at like these 10

00:35:22.140 bodies, opening up the zipper, looking at the face, if they can even like, you know,

00:35:26.020 put the face together.

00:35:28.220 And then you just hear a shriek.

00:35:31.040 That's like, man, that's freaky.

00:35:33.380 God.

00:35:34.080 Yeah.

00:35:34.420 That's crazy, man.

00:35:35.700 That's crazy.

00:35:36.840 I mean, the word, I don't even know what to say.

00:35:38.120 It was one thing to declare a patient dead, but it's another thing to feel the family's

00:35:43.420 pain and see them preying on it and kind of going through that grieving process.

00:35:50.200 And I think we're humans, right?

00:35:51.440 Like at the end of the day, yeah, I'm a doctor.

00:35:53.620 I'm able to compartmentalize my emotions probably more so than the average non-doctor.

00:35:59.120 And so I almost had to go there and like give myself an excuse to cry, you know?

00:36:05.240 Um, cause there's no space to cry in the hospital.

00:36:08.600 None of the other doctors are cause they just, they're so focused on taking care of the next

00:36:13.100 patient.

00:36:13.460 They don't get to, you know, they don't even have the time to cry.

00:36:16.800 So, so that's kind of why I wanted to go there.

00:36:19.560 I was like, I want to feel this man.

00:36:21.840 Yeah.

00:36:22.420 Oh, I think it's, it's part of like, um, I mean, there's times where I'm saying my prayers

00:36:27.820 and stuff and I feel bad that I'm able to, you know, say prayers in like a safe space

00:36:33.940 and know that they're, you know, that somebody's saying prayers and there's something that feels

00:36:38.540 like nothing is going to hear those, you know?

00:36:40.660 And still it's like all that they have, or maybe all that they have to do.

00:36:44.920 Yeah, that is all they have.

00:36:45.320 And I think it's like, yeah, you feel bad that you can't be there to feel some of that

00:36:49.360 pain and not like, like maybe sometimes I think like, well, there's only so much pain.

00:36:53.820 And so if everybody was there and took a little bit of it, then it would, it be, you know what

00:36:58.020 I'm saying?

00:36:58.320 Like it would be, and I don't know if that's true that I don't know if that's even quantifiable,

00:37:01.320 but yeah, I mean, there's times you feel bad about, you know, it's times you feel bad about

00:37:05.840 not being somewhere when something's horrible because you're like, because you know that

00:37:11.180 somebody else has to be there.

00:37:12.480 I don't know.

00:37:13.300 I think it helps to grieve in a, in a group.

00:37:16.120 Yes.

00:37:16.400 That's kind of what you're saying.

00:37:17.260 You know, there were times like it was, it was insane.

00:37:19.520 We declared a patient dead.

00:37:20.460 And the family members turn around and they say, are you guys from America?

00:37:25.120 And we're like, yeah.

00:37:26.540 And he's like, thank you so much for coming here.

00:37:28.620 And dude, it's like your relative just died and he's thanking us.

00:37:31.640 And he's like, you know, you guys are taking out your safety, your time, your families to

00:37:36.220 come here and take care of us.

00:37:37.200 Like, you know, we're really honored.

00:37:38.760 And it was just like the most heartwarming thing.

00:37:41.120 And we didn't go there, you know, to have feel good stories like that.

00:37:44.400 But I mean, just the gratitude we experienced when we were there was incredible.

00:37:48.180 Wow.

00:37:48.320 Yeah.

00:37:49.140 Yeah.

00:37:49.540 Do you think the people there feel like no one cares?

00:37:51.520 Yeah, absolutely.

00:37:52.540 And to the point I asked many people before I left, I was like, what do you want me to

00:37:58.100 do?

00:37:58.760 You know?

00:37:59.200 And everyone basically says like, don't stop talking.

00:38:02.360 Like just speak about us as much as you can.

00:38:05.660 And then the other thing, which I found really humbling was tell people that we are humans.

00:38:11.740 Like that's the little demand that they expect of the world.

00:38:17.720 Yeah.

00:38:19.340 Like, did you forget that we're humans or something?

00:38:21.120 Like it almost, it must seem like that.

00:38:22.440 Well, something, some bad piece of information must got out there that we're not even human.

00:38:26.520 That's fucking gross.

00:38:27.620 That's so I have been to Israel, by the way, back in 2020.

00:38:32.140 And you see, I've never been there.

00:38:33.860 I've been late on my rent, though.

00:38:36.740 And I've fielded a few emails, you know?

00:38:39.840 So yeah.

00:38:42.380 Yeah, well, you're paying their tax.

00:38:43.260 We're paying our taxes to them.

00:38:44.560 So your money's going there.

00:38:45.700 But you haven't been there.

00:38:46.840 That's the hard, that's the, I think that's the tough part for a lot of people is, I don't

00:38:49.800 know, is understanding why, why we're finding this.

00:38:54.140 I don't understand why Israel would do this.

00:38:57.700 I don't understand why that they would do it.

00:39:00.000 I don't, I feel bad even for my Jewish friends who are having, they're having to navigate

00:39:08.760 this pain.

00:39:09.520 One of my, one of my friends the other day was saying, man, it's, it's wild because,

00:39:14.040 you know, he's like most of my life I've known and you learn that, you know, just through

00:39:20.520 like Jewish teachings and stuff and that, you know, this horrible thing happened to us,

00:39:26.320 this Holocaust, this thing happened to us in the past and like how we'll fight back in

00:39:30.260 this kind of thing.

00:39:30.860 And then now you're, you have ancestors and stuff or your history is associated with the

00:39:37.480 thing doing that.

00:39:38.340 And it's like, he's like, it's just a, it's an odd time to navigate that like inside of

00:39:43.680 myself.

00:39:44.040 And I can understand with, I can understand him when he was sharing some of that, like,

00:39:48.280 I don't know, life's scary and it's scary for humans to be regular people at the whim

00:39:53.500 of what their governments choose and what like these, I just don't understand.

00:39:59.060 I don't even understand the ambition that someone would have that would end in mass

00:40:04.000 murder.

00:40:04.720 You know, I don't even, I don't even think it makes sense.

00:40:07.780 Well, they say the awkward part out loud.

00:40:09.360 If you look, listen to the government speeches, they were saying, we want to acquire this land.

00:40:13.680 And, you know, look, listen to, um, uh, Marsha, Merchheimer on Tucker Carlson.

00:40:19.400 He talks about this.

00:40:20.520 He says, they want that land and the way to do it is kick out all the Palestinians.

00:40:24.860 And if they can't, which they are not able to, because, you know, the, the Rafa borders

00:40:29.080 closed is kill them all.

00:40:31.000 Right.

00:40:31.300 And so they're just trying to figure out how to do this.

00:40:34.500 And I think it's, it's probably not economically feasible to just kill everyone, you know?

00:40:39.660 Um, so now they're trying to create these humanitarian cities and Rafa, have you heard

00:40:43.640 about this?

00:40:44.280 Oh my God, look this up.

00:40:46.040 Humanitarian city and Rafa is basically a concentration camp where they're allowed in,

00:40:50.640 but they're not allowed out unless they want to voluntarily migrate out of Gaza.

00:40:54.080 So this came out like two weeks ago.

00:40:56.300 Um, and, uh, this was a Israeli, uh, the so-called humanitarian city in Rafa refers to a controversial

00:41:03.040 Israeli proposal to relocate large numbers of displaced Palestinians from across Gaza into

00:41:07.880 a designated area in Southern Gaza near the border with Egypt.

00:41:11.460 The plan promoted by IDF Israel cats envisioned relocating initially around 600,000 people,

00:41:18.600 um, into heavily controlled camps or encampments in Rafa.

00:41:22.620 Israel officially described as a humanitarian measure for civilian protection and possible

00:41:26.980 future immigration.

00:41:28.560 God, it sounds eerily familiar.

00:41:31.520 Come on.

00:41:31.980 Here's the thing, man.

00:41:33.500 And people like, I've, I've had people say, man, well, why do you talk about this stuff

00:41:37.100 sometimes about Gaza and that sort of thing?

00:41:39.660 I, all, all you ever heard growing up from all these movies, all this stuff was like the,

00:41:45.880 I mean, you couldn't even go to the bookstore at the airport with their half the fucking

00:41:48.780 books are about the Holocaust.

00:41:50.140 You know, it's like, we get it, dude, you know, but it was chiseled into your brain and

00:41:55.580 people are always like, well, I can't believe the people right outside of concentration camps

00:41:59.860 never said anything, never sounded an alarm, never even whistled loudly.

00:42:04.500 So I'm like, what are you, what are you, if you know what I'm saying?

00:42:08.960 Like, if you see a fucking genocide, you know what I'm saying?

00:42:13.900 You gotta say it.

00:42:15.440 Gotta say it.

00:42:15.960 And if you're not saying it, that's fucking crazy.

00:42:18.900 That's crazy to not be saying it, especially when you've been taught all your life, you're

00:42:22.960 supposed to say it.

00:42:24.720 So fuck that, man.

00:42:26.180 Anybody that has to, I'm sorry if there's a, if, and there's other genocides happening.

00:42:31.000 And yeah, I don't know about a lot of them, but I want to learn about them.

00:42:34.620 You know, I've just talked to a genocide professor the other day that lives in England and I'd

00:42:40.100 like to go and interview him to learn more about it, you know, but I'm sorry if I'm late

00:42:45.840 to the genocide game, but also I don't want to be any later to it.

00:42:49.880 You know, like, I don't know.

00:42:52.240 Let's get, let's just get back into what we're talking about.

00:42:54.940 Are there any particular moments that really stood out to you during your tenure there as

00:42:59.260 like providing care?

00:43:00.440 Like things where you're like, man, this is like an intense side of conflict or of war

00:43:06.000 or of violence?

00:43:07.920 Yeah.

00:43:08.040 One story that really sticks out is this 30 year old pregnant lady, 15 week old baby

00:43:14.400 in her uterus comes in with trauma and, um, uh, and her blood pressure's dropping.

00:43:21.560 She clearly has some internal bleeding going on.

00:43:23.620 We put the fetal heart tones on the baby to see if their heart rate's going, no fetal heart

00:43:27.960 tones.

00:43:28.400 So we emergently take her up to the emergency, uh, operating room.

00:43:31.560 Um, we, um, we open up the, the uterus and extract the fetus and it's essentially a bullet

00:43:38.420 shot through the uterus, through the neck of the fetus.

00:43:42.520 And just to see that was, I don't think a human is expected to see that, you know, like

00:43:48.280 there's fetal demise, you know, fetal death from various medical causes, but you don't see

00:43:53.900 a exploded fetus with blood coming out of the neck.

00:43:57.660 That was probably the most disgusting thing I've ever seen.

00:43:59.540 And so, so the fact that she went from almost having a baby in a couple months to never being

00:44:05.240 able to have a baby again, because they had to take the uterus out is one of the most tragic

00:44:09.700 things for a woman, especially, right?

00:44:11.520 Like, especially in Gaza, where one of the, the, the, the, the biggest honors is to have

00:44:16.780 children and, you know, bring up the next generation and, and to know that female, even

00:44:22.080 though she survived, will never have a child again.

00:44:24.280 And, you know, really hit me hard, especially cause I just had a five month old waiting

00:44:29.500 for me at home.

00:44:31.100 And that was hard to, I'm still, I'm still thinking about that, you know, but to paradox

00:44:37.040 that I had a really amazing story, which, you know, if you don't mind, I'll share.

00:44:40.260 And this is brother, um, I'm here and he's a 15, um, 15 year old that shows up to the emergency

00:44:48.220 department.

00:44:49.520 You know, I don't see his face.

00:44:51.600 I'm just focusing on his blood pressure, which is like almost nothing.

00:44:55.840 And so we're putting a, an ultrasound on his heart and there's blood around his heart.

00:45:00.040 So his heart can't beat cause there's too much blood.

00:45:02.540 And so we, um, we put this tube emergently, um, into his heart and relieve the pressure

00:45:08.900 and his blood pressure spikes back up again.

00:45:10.720 He's still unconscious.

00:45:13.100 Two days later, the doctor who was taking care of him brings him to me and he's like,

00:45:17.520 do you know who this is?

00:45:18.340 And I was like, I have no idea.

00:45:19.300 I never saw his face.

00:45:20.740 And he's like, I don't know, is that your child?

00:45:22.260 And he's like, no, I'm like, look at him.

00:45:24.200 I was like, I have no idea.

00:45:25.260 And so he asked me, he asked the kid to like lift up his shirt and I see the scar where I put

00:45:29.600 the tube in and dude, this guy is smiling, like such a beautiful smile.

00:45:34.100 And he's literally going to be discharged in two days.

00:45:36.180 And look at that smile.

00:45:37.500 So he is just such a beautiful.

00:45:40.320 Oh, he's geeked.

00:45:41.060 Yeah, man.

00:45:41.520 It was, it was, it was probably the happiest story.

00:45:43.860 If I went to Gaza and I just had that story, I would come back a happy man, you know?

00:45:49.700 And that's what being able to provide medical care is all about.

00:45:52.760 Just that one experience.

00:45:54.980 Oh, that's great, dude.

00:45:57.340 Wow.

00:45:58.200 Yeah, that's cool.

00:45:59.600 But you know, that's, unfortunately, this is too far too common, you know?

00:46:02.400 Right.

00:46:02.820 I gave this example, but there's so many kids, you know, I'll tell you one more story, if

00:46:08.940 you don't mind.

00:46:09.560 Yeah.

00:46:09.800 Just pull it up here real quick.

00:46:12.660 This is a one-year-old and there was an explosion.

00:46:17.680 You know, this baby had 85% of the body burned, which is pretty much guaranteed death.

00:46:26.000 The team still tried to get some access into one of the blood vessels to give fluids, but

00:46:31.600 they were unable to.

00:46:32.800 So they had to declare the baby dead.

00:46:34.800 Why is it hard to get access into a blood vessel of a baby?

00:46:37.020 Well, with 85% burns, you basically have lost all your volume, your water.

00:46:42.580 There's like no fluid in you anymore.

00:46:44.780 To flow into.

00:46:45.620 Exactly.

00:46:46.080 So there's just nothing to get access into.

00:46:48.160 So then they had to tell the mom that, you know, the baby died, one-year-old.

00:46:52.820 The mom collapses.

00:46:54.120 Now we have to take care of the mom.

00:46:54.940 Anyways, after we finally got that taken care of, this is the baby.

00:47:00.900 And this is a one-year-old baby.

00:47:02.460 And then this is what I see next.

00:47:03.720 The father taking this one-year-old to the morgue.

00:47:06.540 And it's just like, to me, I see that man and I'm like, man, if, would I be that strong

00:47:11.660 to be able to hold my one-year-old in this foil wrap and walk to the morgue minutes after

00:47:18.020 pronounced dead by the doctor?

00:47:19.880 I don't think I would, you know, and I look at these Gazans and they're just so used to

00:47:24.800 death at this point that it's like, okay, what's next?

00:47:28.320 You know, and they're like machines.

00:47:31.740 And I think truly it's their faith that gets them through it.

00:47:34.480 You know, they don't really don't have anything else.

00:47:36.720 We talked about it.

00:47:37.780 There's no humanity left.

00:47:39.660 They feel like no one in the world's listening.

00:47:42.740 And it's really sad, you know, just to hear those stories from them that they just want

00:47:46.860 to be noticed.

00:47:48.160 I think it's changing.

00:47:48.940 You know, I think in America, especially people are talking about it.

00:47:52.000 Props to you, man.

00:47:52.640 Like the fact that you're talking about it on your podcast.

00:47:54.880 I think that's amazing.

00:47:56.100 I think I'm in fact, can I ask you a question?

00:47:59.280 Yeah.

00:47:59.680 Like what, what made you start talking about this?

00:48:03.620 Well, kind of like what I said before, it was like, well, this just seems to like be

00:48:07.340 everything that I've ever learned that seemed like wrong.

00:48:11.420 And then at a certain point, it just seemed like this was just like they were trying to like

00:48:16.100 exterminate a people, you know?

00:48:17.440 And I think my biggest thing in my life when I was a kid, I never had a voice, right?

00:48:21.600 I never had anybody to speak up for me.

00:48:23.100 I never had anybody to speak on my behalf.

00:48:25.480 I never, I was too scared to speak on my own behalf.

00:48:29.200 Like I just like, I mean, I just felt furious that I, there was nobody advocating for me,

00:48:36.760 right?

00:48:37.020 There was nobody advocating for me in the world or my siblings really.

00:48:41.320 And, um, and so, yeah, I just like, I think I did some of that kind of resonated with some

00:48:47.780 of that same feeling that I had when I was a kid.

00:48:50.320 And I was like, I just, the last thing I, like all I just, I just want to have a voice.

00:48:56.060 Right.

00:48:56.820 And I just, yeah, I don't know.

00:48:58.580 I'm getting chatty about it.

00:48:59.700 Well, you got, you have a moral compass is what I understand.

00:49:01.780 Well, I just want to have a voice.

00:49:02.800 It's like, this is a fucking voice.

00:49:04.560 This, these people don't have a voice or it feels like they don't.

00:49:07.240 And I don't understand why.

00:49:08.680 And it's the same feeling as when I didn't have a voice.

00:49:10.680 And so I was like, I just know that it couldn't be wrong.

00:49:13.140 And if it is wrong, here's the thing.

00:49:16.060 If it's wrong, what the fuck do I lose?

00:49:20.060 What do I, I like, what do anybody lose?

00:49:23.300 If I'm wrong about a group of people getting massacred or whatever, oh my bad.

00:49:28.640 So that's the thing.

00:49:29.540 I don't, I just don't see any of the other side.

00:49:31.360 I mean, I was definitely scared a lot of times, you know, but I think we're, if somebody said

00:49:35.640 to me, you can't talk about that, or I'm not going to be a sponsor.

00:49:38.680 On your show, I would say it.

00:49:40.540 I feel like I would mention it.

00:49:41.700 I feel like it would be, you know, that's part of me of having a voice as well.

00:49:45.520 And then other people say stuff and, and then people secretly will say like, thanks for

00:49:50.360 trying to say stuff.

00:49:51.260 And I don't know.

00:49:53.420 I don't know, man.

00:49:54.440 I think it, but it just fucking made me so angry.

00:49:57.200 I just don't understand.

00:49:58.520 And why are we still doing this shit?

00:50:01.040 You know, you know, there's a recent Gallup poll that said one third of Americans still

00:50:06.180 basically, you know, agree with what Israel is doing to Gaza.

00:50:10.740 So what does that mean?

00:50:11.540 Majority of Americans do not agree with what Israel is doing to Gaza at this point.

00:50:15.100 So I think humanity is waking up.

00:50:17.440 I think, you know, American, we have good moral values, man.

00:50:20.660 And I don't know what the hell the politicians are doing that, you know, doesn't represent

00:50:24.480 the American people.

00:50:25.480 I've talked to almost everyone I work with at work and everyone's so interested to hear

00:50:29.820 about what's going on in Gaza.

00:50:30.780 Um, and, and they're, they're all normal people, do they just want kids to survive moms

00:50:36.400 to survive, you know, brothers, fathers to survive, get some food and call it a day.

00:50:41.000 Like, let's get this over with man.

00:50:42.780 Now, every day, is there trauma in these, in the hospitals?

00:50:46.220 Like, is it always full of like these MCIs or is it like, are there times when it's a little

00:50:50.880 bit quiet?

00:50:51.360 Like, what was that like?

00:50:52.660 Um, it's not always MCIs, but there's always trauma coming here and there.

00:50:56.120 There are some times when it's quiet, um, but the hospital is always, um, jam packed

00:51:02.180 with trauma patients.

00:51:03.200 So for example, it's a 250 bed hospital officially, which is a small community hospital that probably

00:51:07.940 has a thousand patients in there and they're almost all trauma patients.

00:51:11.120 So for example, chronic care is completely forgotten about, right?

00:51:14.660 People with cancer, you know, forget it.

00:51:16.900 Um, yeah.

00:51:17.400 Take that shit down the road.

00:51:18.840 I mean, yeah.

00:51:19.220 Yeah.

00:51:20.140 Chemo, dude, just hang your head out of a window here.

00:51:22.740 Sadly, that's true.

00:51:23.700 Yeah.

00:51:23.900 I mean, it's just ridiculous shit.

00:51:25.140 Um, so, so, so anything like that, but so, so no chronic care, like if you had the measles

00:51:30.920 or something, we don't have time for that.

00:51:32.040 No, we don't have time for that.

00:51:32.860 There's no resources either, right?

00:51:34.360 Um, there, there's diseases popping out that we should see in textbooks that are popping

00:51:38.120 up in Gaza because there's no clean water.

00:51:40.700 There's no vaccines.

00:51:42.060 There's, you know, is everything that you would expect in a third world country is being

00:51:47.040 recognized in Gaza, but it's all man-made.

00:51:50.320 It's all engineered.

00:51:51.200 It's every solution is like 30 minutes away at the border, just not being allowed in by

00:51:57.480 Israel.

00:51:58.100 You know, whether it's Egypt or Jordan, it's there.

00:52:00.840 It's just not able to come in.

00:52:02.660 And that's where, you know, my push is let's get these UN organizations that have been doing

00:52:07.060 it for decades.

00:52:08.940 Let's give them the responsibility.

00:52:10.720 Why aren't we giving them responsibility?

00:52:12.120 Are they, have they been compromised?

00:52:13.320 Well, that's what, that's what Israel will say, right?

00:52:14.700 Like that, that UN WRA has some Hamas elements in it or something, but that's been debunked

00:52:19.120 by many, um, uh, NGOs.

00:52:21.940 And you, you know, you can, you can fact check me on that, but, um, I don't think they've been

00:52:26.360 compromised.

00:52:26.700 I think they're just seeing the reality that majority of the world is seeing.

00:52:30.180 The GHF took over aid supporting Gaza after Israel and the United States responding to

00:52:34.620 accusations that Hamas was diverting humanitarian aid, insisted on a new aid mechanism.

00:52:39.140 Okay.

00:52:39.320 The GHF was set up with backing from both, both governments.

00:52:43.100 Um, but the GHF was having problems now, right?

00:52:46.140 Aren't they saying now that the Hamas was commandeering some of their supplies?

00:52:48.840 It's always an excuse.

00:52:49.960 Right.

00:52:51.120 But I'm specifically talking about the UN RWA, which is historically has been providing

00:52:54.800 aid in Gaza.

00:52:55.940 Um, so they said that had Hamas elements in it and that's why they shut that down.

00:53:00.220 And there's, um, again, there's news articles that basically say that's not, we fact checked

00:53:04.040 it, we fact checked it and it's not true.

00:53:06.840 And this is on perplexity.

00:53:08.040 UNRWA, why are they no longer providing aid in Gaza?

00:53:11.080 UNRWA is no longer providing aid in Gaza, primarily due to a combination of Israeli government

00:53:16.080 bans on its operation in the area and major donor suspensions following Israeli allegations

00:53:21.460 that a small number of UNRWA employees participated in the October 7th, 2023 Hamas attacks.

00:53:27.240 Okay.

00:53:28.360 When you did sleep.

00:53:29.520 So if you said, you said it earlier that there's some, sometimes you can only work like four

00:53:32.580 hours a day.

00:53:33.940 Um, the shifts, uh, in the ER, they were recommending up to four hours a day just because it's so

00:53:37.900 intense.

00:53:38.220 But you know, the surgeons were doing as much as they can.

00:53:40.280 There's really no rules as to what you can do there.

00:53:42.840 You can work as much as you want.

00:53:45.180 Um, obviously you wouldn't work as little as you want.

00:53:46.980 You went there to help patients, but you know what I realized when you're there, you're

00:53:49.880 not just a doctor, you're a journalist.

00:53:52.020 We were having media reach out to us and say, Hey, can you get a video of this?

00:53:55.500 Can you get a video of that?

00:53:56.080 Because there's no outside journalism allowed.

00:53:57.860 Right?

00:53:58.060 So we, as Americans got to see firsthand.

00:53:59.980 So we, you know, we got interviewed by many different organizations when we were there.

00:54:03.780 NBC, uh, NPR, Democracy Now, um, some media organization in Australia.

00:54:09.420 They all reached out to us and like props to them because at the end of the day, we

00:54:12.080 wanted our voices heard.

00:54:12.920 So again, thank you for giving me this opportunity to talk.

00:54:16.200 I think it's super important.

00:54:17.400 And like we were talking about before the show, I think I'm the first person in America

00:54:21.620 that has actually been to Gaza talking about it on a, you know, on a show like this.

00:54:27.380 Um, and so I, I just want to tell you what I objectively saw.

00:54:31.680 And I actually gave a, you know, in medicine, we have this big conference called Grand Rounds.

00:54:35.460 I actually just on Wednesday, this past Wednesday, I gave a Grand Rounds at my hospital and it

00:54:39.320 got pretty good reception because I was just objective.

00:54:41.860 No politics, you make your own decision.

00:54:44.500 I'm going to show you pictures.

00:54:45.820 I'm going to show you data and you can make your own decision, right?

00:54:49.020 I can't tell you how much positive feedback I received after that.

00:54:51.880 And it had all the gory stuff in it too, because there's doctors, it's all medical related.

00:54:56.560 Yeah.

00:54:56.860 I mean, I think I just got inspired by Ms.

00:54:58.500 Rachel, to be honest with you, man.

00:54:59.780 But, um, do props to you, man.

00:55:01.300 That's amazing.

00:55:02.040 She's well, I shouldn't be watching children.

00:55:04.600 Do you have kids?

00:55:05.380 I'm going to say that.

00:55:06.040 No, I don't.

00:55:06.880 And so that's even making it worse.

00:55:08.440 That is kind of weird, man.

00:55:09.380 Well, thanks, doc.

00:55:10.100 You know?

00:55:12.140 Well, but, okay.

00:55:13.760 Moving on.

00:55:15.000 Um, I will say this.

00:55:16.840 Uh, yeah, Ms.

00:55:18.640 Rachel's been, she's been like a champion, you know?

00:55:20.940 And then how I met you was I saw a woman on TikTok.

00:55:25.960 Her name was Heba, H-E-B-A, I think.

00:55:28.140 Oh, yeah.

00:55:28.600 Yeah.

00:55:28.720 And she said, oh, I have, I know two doctors that I just heard from or something.

00:55:32.220 And then she connected me with you.

00:55:33.500 So it was just kind of crazy.

00:55:34.420 I mean, I just saw a TikTok and I was like, oh, I just want to learn more.

00:55:37.440 You know, I'm just kind of shocked sometimes that like the major news networks aren't talking

00:55:40.660 about it.

00:55:40.920 I'm like, what the fuck are we, what are you, you know?

00:55:44.000 And then it's like all about the Epstein shit.

00:55:45.600 Like, yeah.

00:55:46.620 Anyway, I don't know.

00:55:47.440 It's fucking crazy that that's what we're choosing.

00:55:49.340 That's, that that's even part of the discussion.

00:55:51.780 Um, what were situations like with children there and providing care to children?

00:55:55.880 Like, what was the realities of that?

00:55:57.960 Like, uh, was, were you able to like save any, like keep them from the gore?

00:56:02.840 Like, was there, you know, cause usually, you know, a lot of times with in there's like

00:56:06.440 children's hospitals and there's, you know, those hospitals and then there's places for

00:56:09.720 kids, right?

00:56:10.400 It's a little bit different and less severe.

00:56:12.340 Um, what was that like there?

00:56:14.740 So there was a kid's hospital, but it wasn't the trauma hospital.

00:56:17.740 So all the kids trauma still came to Nostra hospital.

00:56:19.920 They're right next to each other.

00:56:20.860 And so we were seeing all the kid trauma as well.

00:56:23.600 And the kid trauma was, was different, man.

00:56:26.120 Um, just so, you know, difficult to see and experience.

00:56:31.820 It was difficult to process, difficult to treat, um, difficult to talk to the family members

00:56:38.180 with these children.

00:56:39.060 I mean, you were seeing, you're seeing kids as young as one, you know, sometimes, you

00:56:42.720 know, infants, but, um, majority of them are like, you know, young boys, young girls.

00:56:46.580 And it just, why?

00:56:47.860 Like, you know, we asked, I love to hear people's stories, right?

00:56:50.800 So I asked this one girl, like, what were you doing through the family?

00:56:54.200 Because I don't speak Arabic.

00:56:55.520 So we were using translators and, um, and she's like, oh, I was just sitting in my tent

00:56:59.860 reading the Quran, which is like the Holy book, like reading the Bible.

00:57:02.200 Right.

00:57:02.900 And, uh, this quadcopter just shot through the tent and here I am, you know, and you

00:57:06.940 know, there's some weirdness going on when a bullet goes from up to down, you know, like

00:57:12.760 people usually get shot from forward to back, right?

00:57:14.700 From up to down and sitting in a tent is very strange.

00:57:18.000 So, you know, there's some people who are suspicious about quadcopter shooting middle

00:57:21.840 of tents, which is in the green zone, the safe zone where civilians live.

00:57:25.400 But it's almost every day we are hearing of civilians, girls, boys being shot by quadcopters.

00:57:33.040 I haven't seen one myself, but I wasn't out there, right?

00:57:35.420 I was in the hospital.

00:57:36.600 We said quadcopter.

00:57:37.560 What do you mean by that?

00:57:38.260 Well, this is kind of interesting.

00:57:40.120 So there are basically these drones that have been engineered to, um, shoot.

00:57:46.380 It has like an assault rifle on them, remotely activated.

00:57:50.060 Um, it's like a kind of a drone, so to speak.

00:57:54.320 Does it look like that kind of?

00:57:55.600 I haven't seen one.

00:57:56.440 Oh, you haven't?

00:57:56.900 They say if you see one, you're probably going to get shot.

00:57:58.980 Granted, we're American, but we weren't allowed to go there anyways.

00:58:01.720 But could you hear drones ever?

00:58:03.100 Oh yeah.

00:58:03.720 Oh, 24 seven.

00:58:04.860 There's drone buzzing over you.

00:58:06.240 Really?

00:58:06.500 They say they know where everyone is.

00:58:09.120 They're watching everyone's face.

00:58:10.720 It's probably some crazy AI stuff.

00:58:13.200 I mean, honestly, I think they probably act like have everyone's phone, you know, attract.

00:58:18.360 We were connecting to the Israeli towers too.

00:58:20.340 So it's like they, they know where we are.

00:58:23.700 Yeah.

00:58:24.160 There's, um, there's a company called Palantir.

00:58:26.540 I know that I believe, see if you can bring that up that I believe had, um, which I believe

00:58:32.160 is helping with some of the drone AI work over in Gaza.

00:58:34.860 Palantir allegedly enables Israel AI targeting in Gaza, raising concerns over war crimes.

00:58:41.720 Um, earlier this month, and this says allegedly earlier this month, uh, saw a continuation of

00:58:49.920 that effort with the targeting of three well-marked or fully approved aid vehicles belonging to

00:58:53.880 world central kitchen, killing their seven occupants and ensuring that the food would

00:58:57.700 never reach those dying of starvation.

00:58:59.300 The targeting was precise, placing missiles dead center in the aid agency's rooftop logos.

00:59:06.060 Israel, however, said it was simply a mistake, similar to the mistaking killings of nearly

00:59:10.200 200 other aid workers in just a matter of months.

00:59:13.760 Such horrendous mistakes are hard to understand considering the enormous amount of advanced

00:59:17.700 targeting AI hardware and software provided to the Israeli military and spy agencies.

00:59:23.220 Some of it by one American company, in particular, Palantir Technologies.

00:59:27.700 We stand with Israel.

00:59:29.000 The Denver based company said in posts on X and LinkedIn, the board of directors of Palantir

00:59:34.960 will be gathering in Tel Aviv next week for its first meeting of the new year.

00:59:40.340 So when was this?

00:59:42.220 April, 2024.

00:59:43.220 Oh, so this is-

00:59:44.460 Yeah, I remember that.

00:59:45.140 So there was a-

00:59:45.820 This is a while back.

00:59:46.800 Yeah, well, there was an Israeli, uh, website, 972 mag that actually called this out.

00:59:52.260 So it's Israeli information.

00:59:54.120 I think it's Project Lavender.

00:59:55.780 And, um, there's a mission where the AI basically gets permission to kill a Hamas commander if

01:00:01.940 there's like 300 collateral damage.

01:00:03.580 And then if that's like, if it's going to go over 300 civilians, then there's an operation

01:00:08.200 that gets activated called like Daddy's Home, where it waits for that Hamas guy to go home

01:00:11.980 and just shoots the entire family.

01:00:13.540 It's just crazy.

01:00:14.560 Like the fact that this is completely normalized now.

01:00:17.380 And I think this is, I think this is experimental.

01:00:20.040 I think this is what's going to, you know, the future is going to have everything to do with

01:00:23.380 what we're saying here.

01:00:24.280 I, I, I agree with you.

01:00:25.840 Go back to that first article.

01:00:26.920 Just, uh, the project involves selling the ministry on artificial intelligence platform that

01:00:31.760 uses reams of classified intelligence, intelligence reports to make life or death determinations

01:00:36.680 about which target to attack.

01:00:38.820 And an understatement several years ago, Carp admitted our product is used on occasion to

01:00:43.680 kill people, the morality of which he himself occasionally questions.

01:00:47.300 I have asked myself, if I were younger at college, would I be protesting me?

01:00:51.460 Um, yeah.

01:00:53.040 And this is allegedly, this is just stuff that I'm reading from an article here.

01:00:55.680 Which website is this?

01:00:58.780 This is business and human rights resource center.

01:01:02.760 What's wild is, uh, that this is the same company that's now has a contract to operate

01:01:09.400 in America.

01:01:11.220 Palantir lands $10 billion army software and data contract.

01:01:15.420 So Palantir has linked a contract with us army worth up to 10 billion to meet growing

01:01:19.300 warfare demands over the next decade.

01:01:21.080 As part of the deal, Palantir will help the military streamline efficiencies while preparing

01:01:25.020 for threats, consolidating 75 total contracts into one enterprise deal.

01:01:30.340 Um, the agreement creates a comprehensive framework for the army's future software and data needs.

01:01:36.260 So I think my fear is that, uh, the, in the future, this is what it'll be like.

01:01:41.980 We'll be living in a surveillance state and this is what it'll be like.

01:01:44.140 And I hate to say that, but I don't know if it's my fear.

01:01:47.140 It just seems like, um, like that's kind of where we're headed, you know, did it ever seem

01:01:54.800 over there?

01:01:55.260 Yeah.

01:01:55.380 Like, like it was a experimental grounds over there.

01:01:58.080 Like it, it must seem so dystopian.

01:02:00.320 Like what even, cause does it feel like a war where do you see like Hamas troops?

01:02:05.480 Like, do you see any of that military?

01:02:07.700 No, it seemed overkill for what we were visualizing.

01:02:12.080 Like, you know, you see F 35 or F 16, I'm not sure which one, but some fast jet flying

01:02:15.840 overhead at night.

01:02:16.840 And then you hear the drone buzzing.

01:02:18.620 Then you hear the tank, the, the Merkava tanks in the distance.

01:02:21.160 You can see them with your own eyes.

01:02:22.160 Right.

01:02:22.380 And then you hear them shooting and then you can hear the shell landing.

01:02:25.040 And then you hear the Apache helicopter shooting.

01:02:26.900 And then you hear the rockets landing.

01:02:28.340 And it's like, how is this all happening against some people underground?

01:02:31.980 Like it, it, something's not adding up.

01:02:34.860 And then, like I said, from a doctor's perspective, you're seeing the casualties, which are civilians.

01:02:39.920 I mean, you can make whatever conclusion you want about what's going on from the military

01:02:44.580 aspect.

01:02:44.980 And I, I am also suspicious, like what, what is going on?

01:02:49.740 Is it just like a big show of different equipment?

01:02:52.840 We actually had a situation where there was a, some sort of a gas being used.

01:02:58.340 And, um, patients were asphyxiating, um, but we didn't know what it was.

01:03:04.080 There was no testing.

01:03:04.820 Right.

01:03:05.560 But, um, um, uh, you know, the x-ray was normal.

01:03:08.640 The chest x-ray was normal, but the patients were asphyxiating.

01:03:11.520 It was really weird.

01:03:12.100 And we had no idea what, what we were treating.

01:03:14.120 So we would just watch them in the ICU, make sure there were, you know, oxygen was okay.

01:03:18.660 Um, so there's some weird stuff going on and it's not, um, just me saying that if you

01:03:22.740 look at some of the locals or say there's bombs, which we've never heard before.

01:03:26.300 Um, there's, um, explosions that we've never seen before.

01:03:30.800 Uh, one time we saw this bomb that's like a shotgun bomb that explodes into thousands

01:03:35.400 of pellets and just disfigures the body.

01:03:38.360 It doesn't penetrate as deeply, but it just completely disfigures the body.

01:03:42.640 And it's just like, man, like what is going on?

01:03:44.720 There's so many, such a variety of different things from a military point of view going

01:03:48.880 on and I'm just seeing the results of it in the ER from again, kids, women, children,

01:03:54.560 elderly, handicapped people, and something doesn't add up.

01:03:59.500 Yeah.

01:04:00.640 Yeah.

01:04:01.080 I think that's the feeling it gets even, it's like, what, what, what's happening?

01:04:05.680 And then the weird thing too, is like, we're seeing this, right?

01:04:09.440 Like just on TikTok, social media, you're seeing video.

01:04:12.180 It's like, well, does that not, do nobody even care anymore if that's happening?

01:04:16.440 Like, are we becoming like immune to it?

01:04:19.060 Is that happening just to put videos out to make people immune to, to a massacre?

01:04:25.080 Like, I don't understand.

01:04:26.300 Like it starts to make, because then I start wondering, am I part of some experiment, you

01:04:29.660 know?

01:04:30.000 And I just, I don't know.

01:04:32.820 It, I just don't even understand it.

01:04:34.880 And, but then it does start to make you believe in pure evil because you're like, well, what,

01:04:38.760 what else would do something like this?

01:04:40.720 Yeah.

01:04:41.120 There's actually this interview with Peter Thiel with some, I think some pastor who's asking

01:04:46.500 him like, you know, when the Antichrist comes, what kind of technology thing you think he's

01:04:51.020 going to be using?

01:04:51.660 And then he's like, oh, I think Greta Thienberg, you know, I think that she's going to develop

01:04:56.000 the technology for the Antichrist.

01:04:57.860 And then the, the, the pastor's like, well, you're developing this like defense company that

01:05:02.640 has all this technology.

01:05:03.680 Don't you think maybe the Antichrist would be using your company?

01:05:06.620 He's like, no, I don't see that.

01:05:08.220 You got to watch it.

01:05:09.380 It's awesome.

01:05:09.980 Let me see it.

01:05:10.580 It's awesome.

01:05:11.700 Pull it up.

01:05:12.620 This is my, my, my very specific question for you, right?

01:05:16.260 Is that you are, you're, you're an, you're an investor in AI.

01:05:20.020 You're, you know, you're deeply invested in Palantir, in military technology, in technologies

01:05:25.620 of surveillance and technologies of warfare and so on.

01:05:29.540 Right.

01:05:29.740 And it just seems to me that when you tell me a story about the Antichrist coming to

01:05:36.980 power and using the fear of technological change to sort of impose order on the world,

01:05:43.020 I feel like that Antichrist would be maybe be using the tools that you, that you were,

01:05:49.220 that you were building.

01:05:50.040 Right.

01:05:50.320 Like, wouldn't the Antichrist be like, great, you know, we're not going to have any more

01:05:54.160 technological progress, but I really like what Palantir has done so far.

01:05:58.440 Right.

01:05:58.940 I mean, isn't that, isn't that a concern?

01:06:00.840 Wouldn't that be the, you know, the irony of history would be that the man publicly worrying

01:06:06.340 about the Antichrist accidentally hastens his or her arrival?

01:06:11.040 Well, they're all, look, there are all these different scenarios.

01:06:18.480 I obviously don't think that that's what I'm doing.

01:06:21.140 I mean, to be clear, I don't think that's, I don't think that's what you're doing either.

01:06:24.940 I'm just interested in how you get to a world willing to submit to permanent authoritarian

01:06:31.360 rule.

01:06:31.920 Well, but, doesn't have an answer.

01:06:34.980 But again, there are these different gradations of this we can describe, but is this so preposterous

01:06:45.820 what I've just told you as a broad account of the stagnation that the entire world has

01:06:53.500 submitted for 50 years to peace and safetyism?

01:06:57.300 This is a 1 Thessalonians 5.3.

01:06:59.320 The slogan of the Antichrist is peace and safety, and we've submitted.

01:07:05.040 I mean, it's a, and you know what?

01:07:07.660 It's scary to be alive, but at the same time, it's like, this is where you are.

01:07:14.040 This is where we are.

01:07:15.540 And most people just want to take care of their families, you know?

01:07:17.940 They just want to get home and get their kids safe and get them fed, you know?

01:07:20.980 And, yeah.

01:07:24.260 What's their relationship to Hamas?

01:07:25.800 Do you feel any relationship to Hamas and the people?

01:07:27.800 Did you see, like, did you perform any surgeries on any Hamas military?

01:07:32.900 What was that like there?

01:07:34.140 I mean, I did not see any combatants.

01:07:36.860 We don't know who's a combatant or not.

01:07:38.740 But, no, I did not treat any Hamas.

01:07:41.300 I did ask the local people, like, you know, what are your thoughts about Hamas?

01:07:45.200 And, you know, at the end of the day, I would say some of them support them.

01:07:49.740 Some of them don't.

01:07:50.920 At the end of the day, they're a political entity in Gaza.

01:07:53.140 They were democratically elected, I think, back in the 2000s.

01:07:57.380 You're going to have every type of opinion on that.

01:08:00.020 Just like in America, you know, you have different political factions.

01:08:04.020 And so over there, it's a political faction.

01:08:05.960 Obviously, in America, they're considered a terrorist organization.

01:08:08.280 But locally, they're not, right?

01:08:10.020 So, but, yeah.

01:08:11.680 Just to answer your question, no, I did not see any or treat any obvious combatants.

01:08:16.400 Yeah.

01:08:16.680 I'm just curious if you see any of their military guys over there.

01:08:19.480 You know, I thought about that when I was there.

01:08:22.540 I don't think they're stupid enough to come to the hospital because they know that drone is watching.

01:08:27.700 Oh.

01:08:28.220 You know?

01:08:30.220 And I don't think they would risk the hospital being bombed.

01:08:34.220 But granted, Israel has done that to other hospitals already.

01:08:37.640 Yeah.

01:08:38.040 I think it's intentional systemic collapse of the healthcare system.

01:08:42.120 And it's perfect.

01:08:43.420 You know, right now we're talking about famine.

01:08:45.540 But this famine is not random.

01:08:47.860 Like, it was engineered.

01:08:49.200 It starts months ago, right?

01:08:51.260 Your body doesn't starve overnight.

01:08:53.060 It takes three or four months for all your calories to go away, your glycogen storage in your liver.

01:08:59.980 Then your body starts eating the muscles.

01:09:01.940 Then your body starts eating, you know, your bones.

01:09:05.300 It takes months for that to happen.

01:09:06.920 And now we're seeing the last stage of starvation for the first set of people.

01:09:13.860 It's just going to get logarithmic, I mean, exponentially worse until we reverse this.

01:09:19.080 And even when we reverse it, it's not like you just feed some starving person some chicken or a steak and they suddenly become good.

01:09:25.380 Or, yeah, or some nuggets or something.

01:09:28.700 Well, it's a refeeding syndrome.

01:09:30.140 So it's a problem of electrolytes.

01:09:32.320 You need to have some pretty specialized nutritionists there in Gaza alongside with the doctors, alongside with the aid.

01:09:39.560 And we're at a point of no return.

01:09:41.660 Unless things change immediately, I'm very scared what's going to happen next.

01:09:45.980 Is that true?

01:09:46.500 You really believe that?

01:09:47.160 I'm very, unfortunately, pessimistic the way we're seeing our government respond to what's happening there.

01:09:54.480 Oh, for sure.

01:09:55.200 I'm surprised because America is supposed to be the one to help, right?

01:09:57.700 And it's like usually you see something bad and you think, oh, America will help.

01:10:00.660 And the people want to help.

01:10:02.320 That's right.

01:10:02.780 The people want to help.

01:10:03.960 That's why it's like I hope that those people know that we don't support that kind of stuff.

01:10:08.460 We don't support – or I feel like we've always been taught not to support that sort of cruelty.

01:10:15.480 And that's – I think that's one thing is just – but then also throughout time, governments have – people have always had to sit in the shadow of their government and wish it wasn't as dark, I think.

01:10:30.140 But I wish I could speak to Trump.

01:10:31.520 I mean, as a physician, maybe a group of physicians can go talk to him personally, 10 minutes, just tell him what we saw and, hey, man, can you just flood Gaza with aid?

01:10:41.260 I mean, is that really too much to ask for?

01:10:43.000 But how does he not know that, I wonder?

01:10:44.560 He knows that.

01:10:45.020 He admitted it.

01:10:46.020 I don't know why he doesn't – he's like, why are you working with Israel?

01:10:50.420 You're more powerful than Israel.

01:10:52.420 Just go there and decide, wait, we're flooding aid.

01:10:54.880 That's it.

01:10:55.980 He has a right to do that.

01:10:57.680 I mean, America is the most powerful nation in the world, right?

01:10:59.900 We all know that.

01:11:00.720 But militarily, economically, I mean, Trump basically says what he wants and he gets it, right?

01:11:06.740 I don't know why there's something about Israel that is holding him back.

01:11:11.500 Yeah.

01:11:13.100 Yeah, I don't know.

01:11:14.240 You know, I don't know.

01:11:15.360 I don't know.

01:11:15.940 I think that's like some stuff out of our grade of understanding sometimes.

01:11:21.120 And I think it's like that at different levels.

01:11:22.780 I just think we don't know.

01:11:24.020 And then it's like, are we all like – I don't know.

01:11:26.500 It starts to feel like you're on a damn game show or something.

01:11:28.740 It starts to feel – and I can't even imagine what it feels like if you're in the game – like if you're trapped – you feel like you're trapped in an experimental land.

01:11:37.900 Why do you think the world is seemingly apprehensive to like – to stop these atrocities from continuing there?

01:11:45.160 Well, I think it depends which country you're talking about.

01:11:49.680 I think the people want to stop this genocide.

01:11:53.800 But every country has its own kind of problem that they're having to deal with, whether you're talking about Egypt or Jordan, whether you're talking about the Arab states, whether you're talking about Europe.

01:12:05.260 You know, I don't really know what Russia and China are doing.

01:12:07.720 But, yeah, America and Israel are kind of like the ones leading this genocide.

01:12:13.480 And I hate to say it because it's my country.

01:12:15.020 But I don't know what's going on with the American politicians that they just want to continue this thing.

01:12:21.520 Let's talk about Egypt and Jordan too.

01:12:23.220 Like what are some – because you see like that Jordan doesn't allow Gazans in.

01:12:29.720 Is that true?

01:12:30.940 I'm sorry.

01:12:31.500 I know it's not your responsibility.

01:12:32.560 But you may know more of that than I do.

01:12:34.620 Yeah, I'll talk – I mean I'll talk briefly on this.

01:12:36.900 And, again, that's why it's nice to have a Palestinian on your show and who can speak on this.

01:12:40.180 But I will just say Gaza does not share a border with Jordan, right?

01:12:44.940 So Israel would have to allow that exodus to Jordan.

01:12:50.240 So normally people historically have left through the Rafah border into Egypt.

01:12:55.440 But Egypt basically said they closed the Rafah border.

01:12:58.660 And now Rafah has been completely taken over by Israel.

01:13:01.820 So no human soul can actually go into Rafah to even evacuate to Egypt.

01:13:06.580 I think initially they tried to forcefully displace everyone into the Sinai Peninsula.

01:13:14.200 But Egypt basically put a hard stop on that.

01:13:16.460 But in my opinion, they should have at least allowed women and children and the sick to leave.

01:13:21.720 Let's see what perplexity has to say here.

01:13:24.000 Egypt did not allow people to leave Gaza primarily because the Rafah border crossing,

01:13:27.640 the only exit from Gaza not controlled by Israel, was closed on the Palestinian side

01:13:31.760 after Israel seized it during the 2024 Rafah offensive.

01:13:36.260 Egypt also cited concerns about the security and the need for proper procedures before allowing crossings,

01:13:42.620 stating that any movements, including those of foreign delegations or activists,

01:13:48.660 need prior approval due to the volatile situation.

01:13:52.200 So maybe they didn't want Hamas in their country?

01:13:53.800 Yeah, that's essentially it.

01:13:55.200 Got it.

01:13:55.880 I think at the end of the day, the conversation has to be about how we can get aid back into Gaza, right?

01:14:03.240 And, you know, push our politicians and President Trump to, you know,

01:14:09.080 kind of use his power and leverage over Netanyahu and say,

01:14:14.280 well, you are allowing aid in no matter what.

01:14:16.280 Because what we're seeing on Twitter, what we're seeing on TV, it's unacceptable, man.

01:14:21.660 It's 2025 and we're seeing kids really rot away.

01:14:25.600 It's pathetic.

01:14:26.580 And the fact that people are now trying to deny it, I mean, come on, man.

01:14:29.880 I think this most recent picture that this New York Times article, have you heard about this?

01:14:33.180 This mom and this baby, it shows a baby starving.

01:14:37.720 And the mom apparently does not look like she's starving.

01:14:41.180 And so Israel's media basically saying, well, there's no starvation going on there.

01:14:47.360 Yeah.

01:14:47.880 Like, wait, what are you telling me?

01:14:49.360 The baby starving, but not the mom?

01:14:51.140 Well, they're saying the mom is selfish and not feeding the baby, apparently.

01:14:54.700 And now they're saying, well, now the baby had a pre-existing condition.

01:14:58.660 Of course, everyone in the hospital has pre-existing conditions, right?

01:15:02.480 Yeah.

01:15:02.660 Well, it's hard to sleep next to fucking missiles going off.

01:15:06.160 That's right.

01:15:06.760 I could imagine that that's a pre-existing curve, you know?

01:15:09.940 I mean, I wet the bed is because I would get an ass whooping every now and then, dude.

01:15:14.620 I cannot even imagine trying to wet the bed when you haven't had a cup of water in a fucking month.

01:15:19.960 That's right.

01:15:20.720 So I don't, I just, I don't understand.

01:15:25.020 I just do not understand.

01:15:26.560 It's like you're taught your whole life.

01:15:28.260 This is how to do things.

01:15:29.660 This is when you, you know, G.I. Joe type shit.

01:15:32.980 This is when your country helps out.

01:15:34.760 And then you're watching this.

01:15:36.220 It's almost like you're being forced to watch it.

01:15:37.960 Like the algorithm is, it's all this stuff.

01:15:40.620 And then it's like, but don't, you can't feel this way about it.

01:15:44.980 Or that's not right.

01:15:45.900 Or this has been, it just like, it's bizarre, man.

01:15:49.580 Well, you know, I think you deserve a lot of credit for talking about this.

01:15:53.220 I think a lot of people are scared to talk about it.

01:15:54.940 You know, I was initially scared to talk about it at work.

01:15:57.500 But then I was like, you know what?

01:15:58.380 This is a medically related genocide.

01:16:01.880 I mean, I have the right to say it's a genocide as a healthcare worker.

01:16:04.800 It's not legally binding.

01:16:05.780 Only the International Court of Justice can actually label it officially a genocide, which

01:16:09.600 is going to take like 15 years.

01:16:11.020 And at that point, there will be no Gaza.

01:16:13.300 You know, so like we can't wait for that.

01:16:14.580 I'm going to label it a genocide as a healthcare worker.

01:16:17.040 And many other people are.

01:16:18.260 And even in Israel, like B'Tselem has labeled it a genocide.

01:16:22.480 Genocides, Holocaust survivors have basically said it's a genocide.

01:16:26.380 So Mandy Patinkin came out and said, dude, boom, from freaking criminal minds.

01:16:31.520 Well, he has a moral compass.

01:16:33.660 How could you not, dude?

01:16:34.960 You know how many fucking criminals he's busted?

01:16:36.580 I'm going to trust that guy.

01:16:38.100 That's easy.

01:16:39.820 That is easy, man.

01:16:41.000 And I thought that that was brave of him to say something.

01:16:44.560 But I don't know.

01:16:45.500 People shouldn't feel good because they fucking just said something that seemed like it makes

01:16:49.600 sense.

01:16:50.400 I don't know, dude.

01:16:51.340 I can't.

01:16:52.080 You'd be surprised if you went to Gaza and you told people, hey, I spoke up.

01:16:56.780 You are better than the rest of humanity to them.

01:16:59.840 That's all they want.

01:17:00.720 They just want you to speak up.

01:17:02.020 They're not expecting you and I to save the day.

01:17:04.520 They're not expecting you and I to get rid of the bombs and the drones and the tanks.

01:17:09.520 They just want us to be a voice, like you said before.

01:17:13.740 And try to convince who we can, whether it be our family, our friends, that these people

01:17:19.040 are human.

01:17:19.600 They're not all Hamas, okay?

01:17:21.920 And they deserve to live.

01:17:24.240 You know, they deserve to be educated.

01:17:25.740 They deserve to have fun, smile, to see their kids grow up.

01:17:29.040 At the end of the day, it's about just humanism, you know?

01:17:31.580 And it sounds kind of cliche.

01:17:33.200 Why am I a doctor, right?

01:17:34.180 Because I love taking care of people.

01:17:36.140 That's the interview question that got me into medical school.

01:17:38.800 But when I went to Gaza, I truly, I can say with true conviction that I was so honored

01:17:45.040 to be a physician.

01:17:46.020 There was no financial payments.

01:17:47.760 There was no insurance, you know?

01:17:50.600 There was no conflicts of interest.

01:17:53.200 It was literally pure patient care.

01:17:55.920 And it was the most beautiful thing I've ever experienced.

01:17:58.080 And I felt so honored and blessed that there's two, you know, there's however many billion

01:18:03.760 people on the earth and only maybe 500 doctors in the last two years have actually been there.

01:18:09.760 And I was one of them.

01:18:10.720 I felt really blessed, you know?

01:18:12.260 And I will say, if you talked to maybe all these 500 doctors, they'll say the same thing,

01:18:17.080 that children are being blown up, that women are being shot, that fathers are being killed.

01:18:22.300 They're going to tell you the same thing.

01:18:23.300 And you, especially these last three months, talk to all the doctors who have been in the last

01:18:26.980 three months, and they're going to say the same thing.

01:18:28.800 There's famine, there's starvation, there's, you know, anemia, there's mothers who can't

01:18:34.400 breastfeed anymore, there's no formula, there's no food.

01:18:37.080 What food are they getting?

01:18:38.300 Okay, that's a great question.

01:18:39.240 They're getting flour.

01:18:40.920 They're getting, well, they have zucchini, tomatoes, and peppers, which they grow domestically.

01:18:45.960 And so from outside, okay, so from outside, they're getting flour, sugar comes in,

01:18:52.920 but it's extremely expensive.

01:18:56.040 And they used to have rice, but it's basically flour and chickpeas now.

01:19:00.060 Beans, flour, and chickpeas.

01:19:01.900 Okay.

01:19:02.220 And where do they buy it from?

01:19:03.840 Is there a shop or something?

01:19:05.120 Yeah.

01:19:05.320 So they have markets, which is this tent with like, you know, food.

01:19:09.280 And unfortunately, the inflation there is serious.

01:19:12.580 So for example, I think tomatoes have gone up like 3,000% in the last few months.

01:19:18.500 Um, or, or before, before this conflict to now, it's like 3,000%.

01:19:23.000 I have a chart, which I'll share with you.

01:19:25.040 Um, and it was in my grand rounds that I was talking about.

01:19:28.740 And it's a cash economy there.

01:19:30.580 So when people take it out of their bank accounts, it's like 50% of their value is lost in this

01:19:37.080 transaction.

01:19:37.940 So, uh, like a bag of cucumbers and tomatoes, um, with in America, might cost 10 bucks, cost

01:19:44.020 like $50 there, but that's after the, um, the 50% cut.

01:19:50.140 So it's a hundred us dollars to buy a bag of tomatoes and cucumbers.

01:19:54.540 I mean, just the inflation is crazy.

01:19:56.480 A bag of flour, which, uh, maybe 20 kilograms, which would last like a normal average family,

01:20:02.260 maybe two to three weeks costs 500 us dollars.

01:20:05.960 It's not possible, right?

01:20:07.300 So people are going to the GHF sites because they can't afford that.

01:20:10.800 Right.

01:20:11.180 So they have to go there to get food.

01:20:12.600 The poor in Gaza cannot afford that.

01:20:15.140 Who is selling food at those prices?

01:20:17.200 Like, is it Hamas or no?

01:20:19.460 No, it's not Hamas.

01:20:20.200 It's gangs inside of Gaza.

01:20:22.840 So that's a whole different conversation.

01:20:24.260 If you want to get into, we can talk about it.

01:20:25.420 Yeah.

01:20:25.440 I'd love to talk about that.

01:20:26.400 So, so the gangs are a whole different problem in Gaza.

01:20:30.140 So I think what the, the Israeli military realizes they just can't do the job that they were

01:20:35.480 intending to do.

01:20:36.600 They can't destroy Hamas.

01:20:37.860 So they have employed a new methodology where they have basically taken people in Gaza who

01:20:43.780 hate Hamas.

01:20:44.980 So ex prisoners that were probably in Gaza before and employed them.

01:20:49.880 So they basically drop these little bombs that shoot out little e-sims and say, hey, call us

01:20:54.640 if you want to work with us.

01:20:56.040 SIM cards, you mean?

01:20:56.600 Yeah, SIM cards.

01:20:57.140 That's what I meant.

01:20:57.460 Okay.

01:20:57.600 And it says, call us.

01:20:58.740 So, you know, this person who wants to sell out basically calls them, hey, we'll protect

01:21:02.480 your family.

01:21:03.120 We're, we're going to give, make sure your family's happy.

01:21:05.500 We're going to give you some money.

01:21:06.480 We'll make sure we'll never bomb you, et cetera.

01:21:08.800 Right.

01:21:08.920 Is that true?

01:21:09.740 I mean, I'm telling you what I was told.

01:21:11.640 Okay.

01:21:11.980 Abu Shabab is this main gang leader.

01:21:14.140 Okay.

01:21:14.980 He actually, there's news articles about him.

01:21:17.180 Yeah.

01:21:17.480 Yasser Abu Shabab.

01:21:19.120 He works with the IDF.

01:21:20.860 And so his gang basically gets first dibs on the aid coming in.

01:21:25.860 So he and his gang steal the aid and then they go to the market and sell at super high

01:21:31.620 prices.

01:21:32.160 And you might think, oh, this is like an internal Gazan problem, but it's not.

01:21:35.660 It's all engineered by the Israeli army.

01:21:39.240 Okay.

01:21:39.760 Here's what it says here.

01:21:41.000 Organized gangs, often tied to large families or clans and sometimes involved in pre-war

01:21:44.720 smuggling or petty crime, have become the principal forces controlling the trade and distribution

01:21:48.880 of food.

01:21:49.380 Notably, an armed group called the Popular Forces led by Yasser Abu Shabab is active in

01:21:56.460 southern Gaza.

01:21:57.380 This group, described as a criminal gang by aid workers and analysts, is widely accused

01:22:01.140 of looting aid trucks and charging protection bribes to traitors.

01:22:05.260 Abu Shabab's group has been linked to the theft and resale of aid and some reports

01:22:09.540 alleged it operates openly under Israeli military control.

01:22:12.540 So that's just alleged, but.

01:22:13.880 Yeah, it's alleged.

01:22:14.480 But, you know, I will say, if you go to Gaza with a gun, guess what's going to happen?

01:22:18.860 What?

01:22:19.440 You get drone-striked, right?

01:22:21.140 These guys are walking on the streets with their guns.

01:22:23.560 And not getting drone-striked.

01:22:24.320 Yeah.

01:22:24.460 We were in the hospital looking outside and there's like, you just hear this AK-40s.

01:22:27.500 And I asked the locals, I was like, I thought you can't have a gun in Gaza.

01:22:31.380 And they're like, you can't.

01:22:32.720 And I was like, so how is that guy shooting a gun openly in the air, trying to get everyone

01:22:36.880 away from the aid in their IDF-associated gangs?

01:22:41.900 It's like contractors.

01:22:43.300 Yeah, it's contractors.

01:22:43.960 But like, it's logic, right?

01:22:45.740 If you are walking around with a gun in Gaza, that drone is watching you.

01:22:48.920 You are going to die.

01:22:50.120 But what is also the rumors of Hamas controlling food there?

01:22:53.380 I have no evidence for that.

01:22:56.080 And I don't even see how that's feasible.

01:22:59.560 I mean, how are they going to loot the trucks when that drone is watching?

01:23:03.680 That drone is, that surveillance drone is watching every single move of everyone in Gaza.

01:23:07.900 So tell me that you walk outside, you can hear the drone?

01:23:10.080 Oh, yeah.

01:23:10.360 It's just buzzing over you 24-7.

01:23:12.100 How many are there, do you think?

01:23:13.200 I mean, I'm sure there's a couple in Gaza.

01:23:15.260 I'm sure there was one dedicated just for Khan Yunus.

01:23:17.760 You know, I'm sure one's dedicated for Gaza City up north.

01:23:20.180 I don't know.

01:23:21.220 You're going to have to ask some.

01:23:22.200 Can you watch a live feed or anything or no?

01:23:24.480 Like of the, or you know what I'm saying?

01:23:25.700 Like a, um.

01:23:26.500 No, you can't.

01:23:26.980 You can't really see them.

01:23:28.220 They're pretty high up.

01:23:29.120 You can't really see them.

01:23:29.540 But you can hear it.

01:23:30.040 You can hear them.

01:23:30.540 Yeah.

01:23:30.680 It's just this buzz.

01:23:33.240 You can kind of get used to it.

01:23:34.440 Yeah.

01:23:35.220 It was freaky when we first got there.

01:23:37.320 You just hear explosions and you hear this drone overhead and you just don't know what's

01:23:40.620 going to happen next.

01:23:41.540 And you just get used to it.

01:23:43.140 I remember one time we went and did some shows and, um.

01:23:45.680 Um, I can't remember the name.

01:23:48.680 It was some base where during, um, like Afghanistan times and they would have the alarm on the

01:23:55.480 base would go off.

01:23:56.200 And that meant that like something to come into the base, like come like a projectile

01:24:00.060 that come into the base.

01:24:00.740 So people would just stand around like waiting for something to happen.

01:24:02.960 It was so creepy.

01:24:04.060 But I can't even imagine that being under that stress 24 hours.

01:24:06.980 What do you think are some of the long-term effects of like this sort of trauma and stress

01:24:10.260 there, um, in Gaza and the people there?

01:24:13.940 That's, that's a great question.

01:24:14.880 And that's going to be generational, man.

01:24:17.660 Um, the, the stuff that kids are seeing, like their father's brains being splattered.

01:24:22.680 We're seeing it in the ER and it's hard for me as a physician to see that.

01:24:26.220 Imagine being a kid and having to see your family member dying in front of you.

01:24:30.680 I mean, I don't, I don't know.

01:24:32.560 Like, what do you think?

01:24:33.920 I think it's common sense.

01:24:34.940 Every child is going to just have trauma that they can't get over.

01:24:38.760 I don't think there's any psychiatrist in the world that can treat these people in

01:24:43.200 Gaza.

01:24:43.400 You know, I don't think it's normal.

01:24:45.820 It's just like the Holocaust, right?

01:24:47.220 What happened there was so tragic that we still talk about it, right?

01:24:51.300 Yeah.

01:24:51.600 And it's going to be, in my opinion, a very similar concept.

01:24:55.820 Yeah.

01:24:56.020 Do you think they're going to let the people out of there?

01:24:59.840 Did it feel like there's a solution coming?

01:25:02.040 What did you feel like?

01:25:03.480 Did you feel like the people there felt like they still had hope?

01:25:06.500 What was that like?

01:25:07.340 I think a lot of people want to leave Gaza, especially those people who have kids and families and

01:25:12.900 just want to give the best for their, you know, best opportunity for the kids.

01:25:16.420 There was some, a lot of students who want to study abroad, like the UK or Qatar.

01:25:21.660 And you could see that that's their way out.

01:25:24.240 But there was also a large segment of the population that basically said, we're not leaving our

01:25:29.220 homeland and there's nothing you can do about it.

01:25:32.100 And it was like, dang, dude, you got some faith and you got to give props to those people.

01:25:36.540 Oh, those are like Alabama fans, dude.

01:25:38.380 You know what I'm saying, bro?

01:25:40.840 That's true.

01:25:42.260 They're fucking, yeah.

01:25:44.260 Next level, right?

01:25:45.340 I mean, they are locked in, dude.

01:25:47.220 Were you an Alabama fan or LSU?

01:25:48.700 I'm an LSU fan.

01:25:49.780 I like UT too and Vanderbilt since I live in Tennessee now.

01:25:53.600 But yeah, I mean, that's just, that's an intensity, you know?

01:25:57.100 Yeah, so you know what I'm talking about if you want to compare it to that.

01:25:59.660 But yeah.

01:25:59.980 I mean, kind of.

01:26:01.580 But I mean, yeah, it's like some people that's, you know, you stay locked into your home.

01:26:06.420 I don't know.

01:26:07.420 I don't know.

01:26:07.880 Sometimes if you lose your home, people feel like they have anything, especially some people

01:26:11.620 that have already lost their family.

01:26:14.200 What, you know?

01:26:15.000 I will say Gazans are probably the most stubborn people you'll ever meet in a good way, right?

01:26:19.640 They don't give up.

01:26:21.240 You know, you go there and they're smiling at you and you wouldn't even know they're going

01:26:25.000 through a genocide until you actually start talking to them.

01:26:28.620 And I went there like, you know, as a proceduralist, like I said, as a doctor.

01:26:31.940 But one thing I realized is like, I was just a brother.

01:26:34.960 I was just another brother who put my hand on someone's shoulder.

01:26:39.800 And I said, man, just talk to me, you know, tell me what's going on.

01:26:43.580 And it took me a few days to get to this level with people because, you know, the trust thing

01:26:47.720 is real, the mistrust.

01:26:48.980 So once I got to really trust people and they got to trust me, people opened up to me, man.

01:26:53.480 Like there was this, I don't want to say the specialty because I don't want to compromise

01:26:57.160 him.

01:26:57.920 You know, people are very scared to talk openly on camera, especially because I actually asked

01:27:02.980 some of them, hey, I was like, can I get your testimony on camera?

01:27:05.260 And I'll show my people back home to tell your story.

01:27:08.040 And they're like, no, absolutely not.

01:27:09.860 But there was this guy in the hospital working.

01:27:12.020 He was jailed for two months, no charges.

01:27:15.060 He told me about his jailing experience.

01:27:16.620 And I'll get to that.

01:27:18.140 There was another doctor who was a surgeon.

01:27:19.880 He was jailed for a year, no charges.

01:27:21.700 And again, we're talking about doctors being arrested and put in maximum security prisons

01:27:27.900 or jails with no charges and then being let go.

01:27:31.220 And it's like, oh, you can go back to your normal life.

01:27:33.320 You know how much psychological toll that happens there?

01:27:35.760 And he didn't really tell me the entire story because you could just tell so much crap happened

01:27:39.860 to him.

01:27:40.740 He was talking about the skin diseases he got.

01:27:42.600 He was talking about how they're not allowed to talk to their neighbor.

01:27:45.020 And there's like 200 people in just this space.

01:27:48.220 And they're basically zip tied and blindfolded.

01:27:51.600 And imagine doing that for two months or a year.

01:27:55.900 And the guards would beat them if they talked to their co-jail, co-prisoners.

01:28:01.860 I mean, I just don't understand how we can be normalizing that in the healthcare field.

01:28:09.460 Doctors, nurses, healthcare workers, I just don't get it.

01:28:13.580 Like, what do you mean by that?

01:28:14.440 Like, you know, if a pedophile or a serial killer goes to jail, have at it, man.

01:28:20.680 Put them in jail.

01:28:21.440 Put them in maximum security.

01:28:22.620 You're talking about an innocent physician, an innocent surgeon, an innocent nurse.

01:28:26.460 Like, how can we accept that as human beings?

01:28:31.780 Right.

01:28:32.860 Number of detained medical workers right here, according to the head of information for the

01:28:36.960 Hamas-led Gaza Health Ministry, over 365 healthcare workers are being held in Israeli prisons as of

01:28:42.860 early 2025.

01:28:43.680 Yeah, so I met two of them, right?

01:28:45.860 They were let go without charges.

01:28:47.800 I mean...

01:28:48.120 They were?

01:28:48.760 Yeah.

01:28:48.960 And where do they live at?

01:28:50.340 They live in a tent, man.

01:28:51.520 In Nakhon Yunus, there's a tent city.

01:28:53.340 One third of Gaza all live in this place called Mawasi Camp.

01:28:56.580 I'll send you a picture of this.

01:28:58.140 And it's just tents.

01:28:59.200 Like, you literally just find a plot of land.

01:29:00.980 You put your tent down.

01:29:01.900 And you have, like, 20 family members living in there.

01:29:04.260 Yeah.

01:29:04.460 So, like, each one of those is a tent, right?

01:29:06.060 Oh, that's pretty crazy looking.

01:29:07.280 Yeah, it's not like just you and your wife.

01:29:08.500 It's like you and your wife and your family and kids and in-laws.

01:29:12.760 So, this is kind of the new Gaza here.

01:29:14.700 Yeah, it's one third of Gazas right here.

01:29:16.020 Wow.

01:29:16.460 Yeah.

01:29:16.700 What's the vibes here, man?

01:29:18.000 I know that's a crazy thing to say.

01:29:19.520 Like, it's a damn nightclub or something.

01:29:21.040 But, I mean, shit.

01:29:23.480 But, it's like...

01:29:24.040 They got a bouncer up front?

01:29:28.280 You know, you see kids playing on trampolines.

01:29:30.680 You see kids being kids.

01:29:32.180 Yeah.

01:29:32.620 You see fathers kind of, you know, sulking, trying to figure out, like, what to do.

01:29:37.840 You see mothers kind of just hiding in their tents, trying to take care of their little ones.

01:29:42.360 You see grandpas kind of, like, hanging out with other grandpas.

01:29:46.580 You see what you would expect a normal life to be, and that's what it is.

01:29:51.360 These people are normal civilians just living their life, man.

01:29:54.500 You see donkey carts moving around.

01:29:56.560 You know, everyone cooks here with firewood, right?

01:29:59.620 There's no electricity.

01:30:00.960 So, they get the wood through old furniture.

01:30:04.360 And so, they're burning old furniture as their firewood.

01:30:06.400 Dude, the toxic fumes here are unreal.

01:30:08.520 These people are going to have chronic diseases for the rest of their life.

01:30:11.700 And cancers are going to develop in, like, 15 years from stuff that, you know, they're burning.

01:30:15.160 I mean, it's every kind of, you know, we actually smell the thermite after these bombs.

01:30:20.580 I don't know what health effects that has on people.

01:30:23.140 I just, I fear what's going to happen in the next generation.

01:30:25.980 Like, we're going to see some, not only psychological diseases, psychiatric diseases, but also literally physical diseases that's going to come about.

01:30:32.920 So, this is right there, one of the larger tents, and they kind of use it as a school.

01:30:38.540 And so, all the children are here, and they're singing.

01:30:41.860 They're just trying to live a normal life, man.

01:30:43.120 These are the kids there.

01:30:44.420 And so, I went here, and I asked the principal, hey, do you mind if I record?

01:30:47.600 I'm from the U.S.

01:30:48.760 Dude, when I told him I'm from the U.S., he's like, please record it and share it with people.

01:30:53.120 You know, and that's what they want.

01:30:54.020 They want people to see they're human, right?

01:30:56.600 And, yeah, so I started recording this, and you'll notice I abruptly cut it off because I just couldn't handle it.

01:31:22.240 Oh, it's cute.

01:31:26.160 Just kids having a good time, huh?

01:31:27.980 Yeah.

01:31:28.440 I broke down like a baby.

01:31:29.520 Really?

01:31:29.940 I just couldn't handle that.

01:31:32.740 Why?

01:31:33.160 Because it's just such a contrary.

01:31:34.280 Like, what were some of the feelings you were having?

01:31:36.200 Dude, you see all the kids being destroyed in the trauma bay, and you realize that's the people that are being bombed.

01:31:43.360 Like, that's the people that 60,000 dead and 50% are women and children.

01:31:48.420 Like, that doesn't make sense, man.

01:31:49.700 Yeah.

01:31:49.920 Like, I have kids at home that age.

01:31:52.460 Yeah.

01:31:52.740 And to see them trying to enjoy life in the setting of bombs going off in the background and quadcopters and drones and tanks, it's like, they're just singing.

01:32:04.040 They're just kids, man.

01:32:04.900 They're just normal human beings that look different, that talk different, and somehow they're the targets.

01:32:13.900 Yeah.

01:32:14.860 It hurts.

01:32:17.760 Yeah.

01:32:18.220 I mean, the fact that, like, I don't know.

01:32:21.520 I just feel like nothing is making sense some days.

01:32:24.240 But, yeah, kids should not have to feel that way.

01:32:27.180 I mean, I'll say for the third time, because I can't thank you enough, just keep talking, man.

01:32:31.640 And I'm not saying make this the reason for your podcast, but, you know, just here and there, if you know someone that's willing to talk about what's going on over there.

01:32:39.840 Yeah, come for the humor.

01:32:41.120 Yeah.

01:32:41.280 Stay for the genocide, you know?

01:32:42.580 I think that's, I'm just joking, but it's like, you got, look, I learned from police officers in moments of trauma, sometimes you have to step outside and laugh, you know?

01:32:52.780 That's right.

01:32:53.240 You have to step outside and laugh.

01:32:54.400 And to your point, the Gazans laugh, they smile, they have a good time, they know their situation is hell.

01:33:02.520 It's just terrible, right?

01:33:04.040 But they somehow find humanity within themselves and around them enough to enjoy whatever life they have left.

01:33:13.080 So props to you for laughing, because you need to.

01:33:15.720 We're human at the end of the day.

01:33:16.760 We can only handle so much stress and trauma, right?

01:33:18.680 And I do want to say that as like, I mean, right now I'm in a space where I do work for myself pretty much or for our listeners, you know?

01:33:24.260 And so, yeah, I think, I don't think there's any real like kudos to me.

01:33:30.300 I mean, some of those thoughts are nice, but I'm in a, I'm in a position where I can kind of speak up and you're in a position where you can say just what you saw or what you heard.

01:33:37.080 And it's really just what I feel.

01:33:38.580 It's like, I don't fucking know.

01:33:40.280 I know these, a lot of these countries have been at war forever.

01:33:42.260 I know that like the Middle East has always been, you know, this like behind the veil, like shaking this hand and a knife behind the back.

01:33:51.040 And, you know, it's always had this mysterious like knives in Casablanca type of vibes, you know?

01:33:56.320 But, um, but I don't know.

01:33:58.600 I just, you see a bunch of kids like fucking, you know, playing hide and go seek forever.

01:34:04.880 And it's fucking scary.

01:34:07.760 You're like, what is this?

01:34:09.320 You know?

01:34:09.780 Wow.

01:34:10.080 So you're like, well, I'm going to speak up to about this a little because I don't want it on my doorstep.

01:34:15.060 I, you know, and who knows, fucking who knows?

01:34:17.520 You don't know what the devil has planned, brother.

01:34:20.540 You know?

01:34:21.440 And they say the devil will come and he'll, you'll, you'll, you'll think he's a nice guy.

01:34:26.340 That's a thing.

01:34:28.380 You know, he doesn't show up in a shirt that's like, hey, I'm the devil, you know?

01:34:32.200 That's right.

01:34:32.620 He shows up in something pretty decent and you're like, all right, this seems, this guy seems pretty decent.

01:34:38.180 You know, his wife makes a nice casserole or whatever.

01:34:42.540 Um, do you think you had a positive effect there?

01:34:47.080 Um.

01:34:47.680 And would you do something different if you could go again?

01:34:50.140 Absolutely had a positive effect.

01:34:51.940 The amount of friends, the amount of doctors that just were so happy to see us there, to see the camaraderie, the medical friendship that we have made there is endless.

01:35:01.980 And I keep in touch with them every day.

01:35:03.500 Every day I wake up and I'm saying, hey, how are you doing?

01:35:05.560 And, you know, it's negative.

01:35:07.080 But, um, I say just, just keep praying to God.

01:35:09.520 You know, there's going to come a day where you're going to be smiling and, um, being happy with what's, what's theirs, if it's in this life or the next.

01:35:17.280 So, you know, I'm going to keep trying to do everything I can.

01:35:20.020 Uh, I'm going to try to go back.

01:35:21.340 I want to meet them again.

01:35:22.620 I want to meet that kid, Amir, again.

01:35:24.360 Uh, I don't know where he is, but I hope I see him again.

01:35:27.300 Yeah.

01:35:27.960 Amen, man.

01:35:28.760 Yeah.

01:35:29.260 Yeah, it is that.

01:35:30.260 Yeah.

01:35:30.400 Even just thinking about his smile, that is exciting.

01:35:32.300 You know, um, you got to witness this firsthand.

01:35:35.800 Did it, um, did it alter your kind of view of humanity?

01:35:39.800 What was that like?

01:35:41.160 What has that kind of been like after a little time has passed here?

01:35:44.400 Cause you've been in for a month.

01:35:45.700 Yeah.

01:35:46.060 So I came home and, uh, you know, seeing all these stories of these children and women and my kids come up to me and they're like, Bob, can we play video games?

01:35:56.260 Can we play Mario Kart?

01:35:57.580 I was like, man, like, how do I, how do I go back to reality?

01:36:00.680 You know?

01:36:01.780 Cause it really was a different world out there, man.

01:36:03.880 It really was.

01:36:04.540 And just like going back to work and just having to deal with a patient that's complaining that maybe I'm a little bit late or.

01:36:11.500 Yeah, I'm fat or whatever.

01:36:15.020 Yeah.

01:36:15.380 Like, dude, who isn't fat?

01:36:17.600 You know?

01:36:18.320 I don't know 78 people that aren't fat.

01:36:20.320 Yeah.

01:36:20.460 There you go.

01:36:21.320 Or just like not, not being comfortable enough on the table cause we didn't provide enough pain medications.

01:36:25.280 You know?

01:36:25.520 Right.

01:36:26.000 Legitimate.

01:36:26.360 Legitimate concerns that any human should be able to convey.

01:36:30.300 But just coming back to that, man, I just felt so grateful for everything that we had.

01:36:35.220 And I think that's the sensation that the feeling I have right now, just so much gratitude for the life that we live.

01:36:42.460 You know?

01:36:43.020 And at the same time, a little bit of guilt too.

01:36:45.280 Like when I eat meat now, I'm like, dang, dude, I wish I can give this to my friends back I made in Gaza.

01:36:50.260 The doctors I worked with, the nurses that I worked with, the medical students I worked with.

01:36:54.360 Like, I wish I could give this to them, you know?

01:36:56.060 And that's how I feel now.

01:36:58.280 And I eat less, you know?

01:36:59.860 Yeah?

01:37:00.260 I do.

01:37:00.800 I just can't get myself to eat three meals a day.

01:37:03.820 I mean, I find myself to eat like one meal a day now.

01:37:06.420 Yeah.

01:37:06.600 That's what I was doing in Gaza.

01:37:07.660 I mean, you've talked about like talking to world leaders and stuff like that.

01:37:10.000 What message would you communicate to world leaders, having been there and having offered aid there?

01:37:17.120 I think some of the world leaders are actually waking up.

01:37:20.000 Canada, France, Spain, they're all willing to recognize a Palestinian state, which, you know, should be obvious.

01:37:26.500 I mean, I don't know why Trump can't recognize that humans require dignity and honor and food and water.

01:37:35.960 Um, so I really wish, I feel like Trump has it in him.

01:37:40.800 He just, he needs to be convinced by the right group of people.

01:37:44.120 And I feel like doctors are decent people.

01:37:47.860 Um, that's why I wish I could communicate this with them.

01:37:50.700 That said, um, I think, you know, the, the UN is the perfect organization to do something.

01:37:58.340 The Security Council has convened about five times about a permanent ceasefire.

01:38:04.000 And they have the military capability of doing something, imposing that ceasefire.

01:38:10.100 And all five times the U.S. has basically said no.

01:38:14.560 Every other country has said yes.

01:38:16.220 So it's really the U.S.

01:38:17.680 I mean, it really is the U.S. that's preventing the UN from doing their job.

01:38:21.600 Prior to this, in early June, 2025, the UN Security Council attempted to pass a similar resolution for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, but it was vetoed by the United States, despite 14 out of 15 council members voting in favor.

01:38:32.940 So we're the ones holding it up.

01:38:34.420 Oh, yeah.

01:38:35.840 Man, that's unreal.

01:38:39.360 And that's, that's, uh, binding.

01:38:42.240 So that's binding on every country that's part of the UN has to abide by that.

01:38:47.820 So if America approved that, it would be a game changer.

01:38:52.420 The U.S. opposition to this resolution should come as no surprise.

01:38:57.700 It is unacceptable for what it does say.

01:39:01.000 It is unacceptable for what it does not say.

01:39:04.280 And it is unacceptable for the manner in which it has been advanced.

01:39:09.800 The United States has been clear.

01:39:12.700 We would not support any measure that fails to condemn Hamas and does not call for Hamas to disarm and leave Gaza.

01:39:21.080 This resolution would undermine diplomatic efforts to reach a ceasefire that reflects the realities on the ground and emboldens Hamas.

01:39:30.020 This resolution also draws false equivalents between Israel and Hamas, which is both wrong and dangerous.

01:39:40.300 There you go.

01:39:42.440 Well, and I don't know what the specifics of that resolution were either, but the fact that 14 countries...

01:39:48.580 We're talking about the 14 biggest countries, by the way.

01:39:50.660 We're not talking about, like, Martino.

01:39:53.160 Yeah, or Myanmar or whatever.

01:39:54.700 And shout out to the...

01:39:55.780 To the...

01:39:58.020 To Myanmar's out there.

01:40:00.820 Or Myanmar's.

01:40:02.220 I don't want to freaking go hard R on them.

01:40:05.500 Dr. Rahman, thank you so much for coming on, man.

01:40:08.140 I appreciate it.

01:40:09.220 Well, I appreciate you bringing me here and...

01:40:11.120 Yeah, thanks for your service.

01:40:12.480 ...giving me an opportunity to talk.

01:40:13.560 And, yeah, man, I really have to shout out to you for being brave about this and talking about this.

01:40:19.500 This is obviously difficult to hear these stories, and it's not normal to hear that brains are coming out of people's heads and being shot in the head so routinely.

01:40:28.300 But it is what it is.

01:40:29.500 We saw it, and I would like to share it.

01:40:31.360 And I apologize to the audience if this was too gruesome or grotesque, but it is what it is.

01:40:36.420 Yeah.

01:40:36.760 I think that's the truth, man.

01:40:38.320 This is where we are, you know?

01:40:39.940 Well, thank you so much again, brother, and travel safe back to Milwaukee.

01:40:45.140 And, yeah, just keep praying, man.

01:40:49.460 Absolutely.

01:40:50.420 Never stop.

01:40:51.500 Never will stop.

01:40:52.140 Now, I'm just falling on the breeze, and I feel I'm falling like these leaves.

01:40:58.440 I must be cornerstone.

01:41:03.520 Oh, but when I reach that ground, I'll share this peace of mind I found.

01:41:09.200 I can feel it in my bones.

01:41:12.560 But it's gonna tell me.

01:41:15.400 It's gonna tell me.

01:41:17.780 Oh, man.

01:41:18.440 This is a shame.

01:41:19.020 I don't see a shame.

01:41:19.400 It's gonna tell you.

01:41:19.660 It's gonna tell you.

01:41:20.600 It's gonna tell you.

01:41:22.540 That's it.

This Past Weekend with Theo Von - August 12, 2025

#602 - Gaza Doctor (Aziz Rahman, MD)

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