Intensifying conflict in southern Gaza has trapped a team of international doctors, including about 20 Americans, in a hospital near Rafah, worsening conditions for both the aid workers and their critically wounded Palestinian patients, medical personnel told The Washington Post.
The medical team was scheduled to leave Gaza on Monday after a two-week rotation at the European Hospital in Khan Younis, near Rafah. However, doctors there now say they are unsure when they can safely leave or reach the Egyptian border. Israel seized control of and closed the Rafah crossing on May 7, a critical route for aid organizations. On Monday morning, a U.N. staff member traveling to the European Hospital was killed when their vehicle, marked with a United Nations flag, was attacked.
“Right now we are stuck in Gaza,” wrote Monica Johnston, a nurse from Oregon working at a burn trauma center, in a message to The Post. “No safe way to get out and no new help or supplies coming in.”
State Department spokesman Vedant Patel confirmed at a news briefing Monday that U.S. officials are aware of reports about American medical staff trapped in Gaza and are coordinating with the Israeli and Egyptian governments. The department did not immediately provide additional details about contact with the Americans in Gaza or their families. The doctors’ situation was first reported by The Intercept.
Israel’s closure of the Rafah border crossing last week severed a crucial supply line for humanitarian aid organizations in Gaza. International medical volunteers in Gaza hospitals depended on the crossing for entry and exit from the conflict zone.
Volunteers have described severe overstretch in hospitals in southern Gaza. Israeli bombardment has blocked ambulance access to some areas, according to a Palestinian Red Crescent spokeswoman. Medical evacuees stranded at the Rafah border crossing are unable to reach help in Egypt. With many hospitals across Gaza closed, a UNICEF spokesperson described the European Hospital as Rafah’s “last lifeline.”
Johnston and her colleagues entered Gaza on May 1, some carrying up to eight suitcases of additional medical supplies for the European Hospital, said Mahmoud Sabha, a Dallas-based doctor with the team.
A nonprofit organization working with the medical personnel estimates that there are three dozen foreign aid workers at the European Hospital, including 20 U.S. citizens and staff from Jordan, Egypt, Oman, the United Kingdom, and Australia.
The Palestinian American Medical Association, a Virginia-based nonprofit, announced in a news release late Monday that 19 of its healthcare workers, including 10 U.S. citizens, are among those stranded at the hospital.
Volunteers with FAJR Scientific, another nonprofit organization, are also working at the hospital, according to Sabha and the group’s social media. FAJR Scientific did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
