Doctor in Australia Sends Urgent Message to Anthony Albanese Amid Gaza Bombings

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An emergency doctor working in Gaza has called on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the Australian government to step in and “be a voice of reason” as Israeli attacks intensify.

More than 400 people were killed in airstrikes on Tuesday, and at least 38 were killed the following day, according to local health workers.

Dr Mohammed Mustafa, an Australian doctor in Gaza with the Palestinian Australian New Zealand Medical Association (PANZMA), told SBS News the situation on the ground is “catastrophic”.

Mustafa said a school had been bombed near the hospital he works at, resulting in hundreds of patients arriving within hours.

“We had women and children, we had multiple different types of injuries from burns and explosive injuries, crush injuries, we had children with missing limbs, with missing heads,” he said.

“Within an hour of the mass casualty event, we had run out of all our morphine in the emergency department, we’d run out of pretty much all of our sedatives as well, and we ended up doing medical procedures on people without any analgesia and very little sedation,” Mustafa said.

He said hundreds of patients were not able to be intubated because the hospital did not have enough ventilators.

Mustafa said there are children going “in and out of consciousness”, and the hospital has no way to monitor them, little to no antibiotics, and barely any medical equipment.

“We need the bombing to stop. That’s the first thing we need, and we need the blockade that’s been going on for three weeks to open,” he said.

“What we really, really need is medical doctors here … the second thing we need is medicines. We need medicines to get here and we need medical equipment.”

Doctor’s message for government as bombs fall

As bombs went off in the background, Mustafa said the Australian public needs to understand the gravity of the situation.

He also called on the government for a humanitarian intervention.

“I need my Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to do something about this; we cannot cope with the patients coming in, and there are children dying,” he said.

“We need our government to step in and to help, or at least be a voice of reason in this carnage that’s going on right now.”

In an interview with ABC Radio, Albanese said the government wants to see humanitarian support provided in Gaza.

He also reiterated the government’s support for a ceasefire and two-state solution.

“We have had the same position for some time, we’ve voted that way consistently in international forums,” he said.

“We’ll continue to do so and we’ll continue to advocate for a peaceful resolution that includes working towards a two-state solution where both Israelis and Palestinians can live in peace and security.”

People walking out of a mosque damaged by airstrikes.

Hundreds of people have been killed in Israel’s latest attacks on Gaza. Source: AAP / Jehad Alshrafi/AP

Liberal senator and former ambassador to Israel Dave Sharma said he’d like to see the ceasefire resume but Hamas couldn’t remain in power, as it was advocating for.

“Hamas have basically said they weren’t planning on returning any more [hostages] — in that situation, the Israeli government does not have a lot of palatable options,” he told ABC TV.

“The application of military pressure, as crude as that may sound, is about strengthening their negotiating position.”

Sharma also called for humanitarian aid to continue.

When asked whether Israel was wrong to deny aid to people in Gaza, Albanese did not directly answer but said access to essential services was a “basic human need”.

“We want to see peace and security, we want to see people looked after. We want to see people, of course, have access to basic services, including food and water and electricity,” he said.

“That is a basic human need. And we don’t want to see innocent people suffering.”

A dozen orphaned children

Mustafa also discussed a case of an orphaned child who had lost his entire family.

He filmed a clip of the young boy, which has been shared widely online. But he said he has not been able to keep track of the boy amid the ongoing chaos.

Mustafa also said he had lost track of three young girls who were separated from their parents, along with another sister.

“Unfortunately, we have about a dozen children that have lost their entire family that night from our hospital alone,” Mustafa said.

“I can’t tell you the whereabouts of where those children are, but I am actively looking for those children right now.”

Mustafa said he was particularly concerned for the young girls as one of them had a brain injury, while the other two had severe chest injuries.

“I am checking every ward, I am showing pictures to every patient and I am trying to find those kids because I don’t know where they are and I don’t know who’s looking after them.

“I really feel like I’ve let them down by losing track of them.”

— Additional reporting by the Australian Associated Press