Chicago, August 21 (RHC)-- A pediatrician who volunteered in Gaza and treated patients injured in the Israeli genocidal attacks participated in a Palestine-centric panel at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Monday.
Dr. Tanya Haj-Hassan moved the audience to tears as she recounted her first-hand experience of treating severely wounded patients in the besieged Palestinian territory, most of them children, many of whom had lost their families in the genocidal war.
She spoke of a Palestinian child who arrived at the hospital where Dr. Haj-Hassan was working, gravely injured and told her that he wished he had died too because everyone he loved was in heaven.
A pediatric intensive care physician, Dr. Haj-Hassan spent two weeks volunteering at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, in March. “We have witnessed civilian massacre after civilian massacre,” she said at the Democratic National Convention in what was the first-ever panel on Palestinian rights and the Israeli genocidal war.
“I cannot make sense of this. I suspect you cannot either, and I hope the Democratic Party recognizes the irony and hypocrisy of what we continue to fund and finally chooses to stand by the values of human rights and justice that we claim to uphold,” she added.
In an interview with CNN later on Monday, Dr. Haj-Hassan said that she and her team of doctors who volunteered in Gaza were so “horrified” by what they witnessed that it haunts them in their “dreams.” “The U.S. is violating both its own laws and international law by continuing to fund this,” she said.
“History is watching us, and I know I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I were in the position of these decision-makers.”
The death toll from the Israeli genocidal war on Gaza, financially and militarily backed by the United States, has now risen to 40,200, with more than 16,500 of them being children.
According to the latest data from the Gaza media office, a total of 885 doctors and paramedics have been killed in Israeli bombings since October 7, 2023.
The number of people battling cancer and facing the risk of death is 10,000, and the number of hepatitis infections is 71,338. Additionally, 1,737,524 people are battling infectious diseases due to displacement.
Since October 7th last year, 34 hospitals have been taken out of service by the occupation forces, and 80 health centers have become non-functional during this period.
The number of ambulances destroyed by the occupation army since October 7, 2023, is 131.
In an interview with Democracy Now in late March, after returning from Gaza, Dr. Haj-Hassan said she had witnessed “the worst of what humanity is capable of.” “This is not just a humanitarian crisis; this is the worst of what humanity can do, and it’s entirely man-made,” she told host Amy Goodman at the time.
“This is an utter and complete failure of humanity, and, to be frank, I feel ashamed to be an American citizen. I feel ashamed to be part of a society that has allowed this to continue.”
In another interview with CNN on April 1, Dr. Haj-Hassan criticized the news host when asked whether she had seen Hamas fighters inside Gaza hospitals. “I am just shocked that we're still having this conversation,” she responded.
A day after Dr. Haj-Hassan's remarks at the DNC in Chicago, Israeli airstrikes killed 35 more Palestinians across the Gaza Strip, most of them children.
