On this episode of the Humanitarian Lens podcast, host Avril Benoît speaks with Dr. Aqsa Durrani, a US-based pediatrician and epidemiologist, whose latest assignment was at an MSF field hospital in Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza.
Dr. Durrani describes the immense suffering of civilians across the Gaza Strip after more than a year and a half of an all-out war and a brutal siege. Israeli forces are systematically destroying the conditions necessary for Palestinian life.
During her assignment, from February 24 through April 24, 2025, Dr. Durrani and her colleagues treated patients of all ages for injuries from airstrikes, burns, fractures, and gunshot wounds, among others. The vast majority of patients she saw were women and children.
Learn more about MSF’s response in Gaza on our website:
https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/latest/our-response-israel-gaza-war
The Humanitarian Lens, a new podcast from Doctors Without Borders/ Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) USA, explores the world’s most urgent humanitarian emergencies through the experiences of MSF aid workers.
Follow MSF USA on social media for updates about Gaza and our medical humanitarian work in over 70 countries around the world.
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00:00-00:28 - The vast majority of patients we were seeing were women and children.
00:28-01:04 - Today we're looking at Gaza through a humanitarian lens.
01:09-02:31- Why Dr. Aqsa Durrani took the assignment to Gaza.
02:31-05:18 - What it was like entering Gaza.
05:18-08:50 - Dr. Durrani's role and the kinds of cases she saw.
08:50-10:54 - Obstacles to accessing medical care and a story about a particular patient.
11:22-14:44 - The heartache of patients' situations and stories about patients who lost their family members.
14:44-18:18 - The lack of food in Gaza.
18:18-20:23 - The systematic nature of attacks on health care in Gaza.
20:23-22:10 - Coming back to the US after being in Gaza.
22:10-23:01 - Dr. Durrani's Palestinian colleagues in Gaza: "If they have hope, who are we not to have hope?"