Medics to give insight into life in war-torn Gaza at documentary screening in Paisley
People will have the opportunity to hear from medics who have treated people in Gaza at a special event in Paisley next week.
Doctors, including Abdulla Alhasso, will give a first-hand account of their experiences of looking after vulnerable people in Gaza before it was engulfed by war.
Members of Medical Aid for Palestine will be at the Wynd Centre on Tuesday, August 19 as part of a screening of the Gaza: Doctors Under Attack documentary.
The documentary features live footage of medics treating the injured following attacks by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), as well as their detention and mass disappearances. Members of the production team who made the documentary will also take part in a Q&A session.
The event is being organised by Paisley 4 Palestine in partnership with Scottish Palestinian Health Partnership (SPHP).
John Kelly, a founding member of Paisley 4 Palestine, said both the documentary and guests would provide a powerful insight into the battle for survival at a time when journalists are prevented from entering and reporting in Gaza.
He told the Paisley Daily Express: 'This is a real opportunity for people in Paisley to hear first hand from medical volunteers as well as those behind this powerful documentary.
'SPHP held a screening recently at Glasgow University which was full to capacity on the night. We hope the people of Paisley will similarly turn out to watch it.
'The clear message from us is that people just need to keep talking about Palestine, we want people to continue to shine a spotlight on what is happening there and the suffering of the Palestinian people.'
Doctors Under Attack bills itself as a 'forensic investigation' into claims that the IDF has been systematically targeting Palestinian medics in Gaza's hospitals.
It demonstrates what the UN has called a pattern of attacks, in which hospitals first come under bombardment, are later besieged and finally invaded by tanks and soldiers. It is then, the Palestinians allege, doctors are taken and detained.
In the documentary, doctors who have since been released, and an Israeli whistleblower, say medics are being systemically tortured. The documentary was first broadcast by Channel 4 in July.
Despite the previous broadcast of the documentary, public screenings across west Scotland have proved incredibly popular, with people also keen to hear from those who have been on the ground in Gaza in the past two years.
Gaza: Doctors Under Attack was initially commissioned by the BBC but it infamously backed out of broadcasting it due to partiality concerns.
This was despite an Israeli whistleblower confirming accounts of torture by the IDF and analysis by independent human rights organisations.
The documentary also features the harrowing violence inflicted on innocent Israelis during Hamas' attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, when more than 1,000 people were killed and 250 people were taken hostage.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New Statesman
7 hours ago
- New Statesman
Gaza's children need Britain's support now
RAFAH, GAZA - MARCH 29: A child runs among debris following Israeli air strikes on March 29, 2024 in Rafah, Gaza. Despite warnings from US President Biden, Israeli forces have targeted the city of Rafah which is currently home to an estimated million Palestinian refugees. According to Gaza's Ministry of Health, more than 32,000 Palestinians have been killed, and over 74,000 wounded in Israel's ongoing bombardment of Gaza starting on October 7. (Photo by) After months of moral contortions, Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said that his government would recognise a Palestinian state sometime within this parliament. Not today, not tomorrow, but soon, well, soon-ish. The announcement notably came with a heavy dose of 'unless Israel' – grounding the position of the UK firmly in the realm of theory. But the timing of this rhetorical pivot is not coincidental. It follows a second, more immediate shift: the UK's announcement that it will evacuate over 100 critically ill and injured Palestinian children from Gaza to receive NHS treatment. A move campaigners, medics and charities such as ours have long demanded and one that arrives months – indeed, years, too late. Still, after months in which Gaza's children suffered under a siege in which starvation was strategy not side effect – whilst the British government clung to the safety of ambiguity – this feels like movement. Movement graded on a curve set by years of inaction. For Gaza's children, many of whom my colleagues at Children Not Numbers have been treating, it's less a breakthrough and more an indication that Britain may potentially, maybe, consider a late delivery on a stack of broken promises. As the situation begins to spiral out of control, Gaza's children are making a stand. S and S are among three critically ill children at the centre of a potential landmark legal challenge against the UK government. The two siblings are suffering from cystinosis – a rare, progressive disorder that severely damages kidney function. Amidst Israel's all out assault on healthcare facilities, the medication they urgently need is entirely unavailable in Gaza; without it, both face complete renal failure. Their case demonstrates that the government's rationale for denying medical evacuations – a preference for supporting treatment on the ground, is no longer tenable. Last month, with the support of Children Not Numbers, the siblings decided to act. The children initiated legal proceedings, sending a pre-action letter to the Foreign Secretary and Home Secretary. This marks the first formal attempt to hold the British state accountable for failing to establish a medical evacuation pathway for children in Gaza. The letter argues that ministers have breached their Tameside duty of inquiry – a legal requirement to properly inform themselves before making decisions – by failing to seriously assess the overwhelming evidence of medical necessity and humanitarian urgency before choosing inaction. Like so many others facing down a complex life-threatening condition, both brothers are malnourished. Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe Since the blockade began in mid-March 2025, we've recorded a 30 per cent increase in the death rate amongst children under our care. Alongside this devastating development, starvation is spreading like wildfire through the besieged enclave, leading to 70 per cent of the children we treat now being at risk of malnutrition. The crippling hunger gripping Gaza's children means the UK cannot afford to wait a moment longer. The shame is in the contrast: while the UK moved at lightning pace to welcome Ukrainian medical evacuees in 2022, Gaza's children have been met with bureaucratic fog and political equivocation. This disparity is now under legal scrutiny – the law, unlike politics, has a low tolerance for hypocrisy. If in Starmer's statehood plans, peace, even an unjust peace, can delay recognition, the legal challenge brought by the three children suggests the inverse might also be true: that properly filed paperwork can force principle to the surface. Questions abound as to the precise details of the proposed pathway and the question of recognition is likewise, up in the air. Officials say they'll assess 'progress' in September, which is Westminster-speak for: the red lines are written in pencil. One thing is certain, the ministerial press releases and soundbites that have long been failing Gaza's children are now failing the Prime Minister. Instagram humanitarianism will no longer suffice amidst the mounting legal challenges and hefty political premium on inaction. With Gaza's hospitals in ruins and its children starving on camera, the dam is cracking. The moral ambiguity that once cloaked our policy in the fine mist of 'complexity' is evaporating under the glare of mass civilian suffering. What we're left with is not just a humanitarian crisis, but a mirror: reflecting a British foreign policy that has, for years, outsourced its ethics to perceived strategic interests, PR management and the enduring fiction that some human lives are worth less than others. Dylan Stothard is the Policy and Advocacy Coordinator for Children Not Numbers Related
Daily Record
8 hours ago
- Daily Record
Medics to give insight into life in war-torn Gaza at documentary screening in Paisley
Members of Medical Aid for Palestine will be at the Wynd Centre on Tuesday, August 19 as part of a screening of the Gaza: Doctors Under Attack documentary People will have the opportunity to hear from medics who have treated people in Gaza at a special event in Paisley next week. Doctors, including Abdulla Alhasso, will give a first-hand account of their experiences of looking after vulnerable people in Gaza before it was engulfed by war. Members of Medical Aid for Palestine will be at the Wynd Centre on Tuesday, August 19 as part of a screening of the Gaza: Doctors Under Attack documentary. The documentary features live footage of medics treating the injured following attacks by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), as well as their detention and mass disappearances. Members of the production team who made the documentary will also take part in a Q&A session. The event is being organised by Paisley 4 Palestine in partnership with Scottish Palestinian Health Partnership (SPHP). John Kelly, a founding member of Paisley 4 Palestine, said both the documentary and guests would provide a powerful insight into the battle for survival at a time when journalists are prevented from entering and reporting in Gaza. He told the Paisley Daily Express: 'This is a real opportunity for people in Paisley to hear first hand from medical volunteers as well as those behind this powerful documentary. 'SPHP held a screening recently at Glasgow University which was full to capacity on the night. We hope the people of Paisley will similarly turn out to watch it. 'The clear message from us is that people just need to keep talking about Palestine, we want people to continue to shine a spotlight on what is happening there and the suffering of the Palestinian people.' Doctors Under Attack bills itself as a 'forensic investigation' into claims that the IDF has been systematically targeting Palestinian medics in Gaza's hospitals. It demonstrates what the UN has called a pattern of attacks, in which hospitals first come under bombardment, are later besieged and finally invaded by tanks and soldiers. It is then, the Palestinians allege, doctors are taken and detained. In the documentary, doctors who have since been released, and an Israeli whistleblower, say medics are being systemically tortured. The documentary was first broadcast by Channel 4 in July. Despite the previous broadcast of the documentary, public screenings across west Scotland have proved incredibly popular, with people also keen to hear from those who have been on the ground in Gaza in the past two years. Gaza: Doctors Under Attack was initially commissioned by the BBC but it infamously backed out of broadcasting it due to partiality concerns. This was despite an Israeli whistleblower confirming accounts of torture by the IDF and analysis by independent human rights organisations. The documentary also features the harrowing violence inflicted on innocent Israelis during Hamas' attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, when more than 1,000 people were killed and 250 people were taken hostage.
The Independent
9 hours ago
- The Independent
Israeli strikes kill journalists and aid-seekers as Australia backs Palestinian statehood
Israeli ground and air strikes hit northern and southern Gaza on Monday, killing aid-seekers as well as others sheltering in tents and homes as Israeli troops prepared for a broader campaign in the besieged territory. Hospital officials reported that at least 34 people were killed on Monday, not including journalists who were slain in a tent shortly before midnight. Among the dead were at least 12 aid seekers killed by Israeli gunfire while trying to reach distribution points, or awaiting aid convoys. Relatives told The Associated Press that casualties included children and an infant. Witnesses to gunfire near the Morag corridor said they saw barrages of bullets and later dead bodies, describing the grim scene as a near-daily occurrence. The military did not immediately respond to questions about the deaths. Earlier Monday, it said air and artillery units were operating in northern Gaza and in Khan Younis, where resident Noha Abu Shamala told AP that two drone strikes killed a family of seven in their apartment. Aid seekers were killed from three kilometers (nearly two miles) to just hundreds of meters (yards) from sites operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, according to Nasser and Awda hospitals. GHF is the private contractor backed by the United States and Israel that in May replaced the United Nations as the territory's primary aid distributor. It said it was unaware of incidents in the Israeli-controlled security zones leading to its sites in central and southern Gaza. The latest deaths raise the toll to more than 1,700 people killed while seeking food since the new aid distribution system began in May, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Most were shot along routes to distribution sites, but in recent weeks more have been killed near food convoys delivered by the United Nations. U.N. agencies generally do not accept Israeli military escorts for their aid trucks, citing concerns over neutrality, and its convoys have come under fire amid severe food shortages in the blockaded territory. The deaths came hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called reports about conditions in Gaza a 'global campaign of lies," and announced plans to move deeper into the territory and push to dismantle Hamas. An official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters said the operation wasn't expected to begin immediately and will take a significant amount of time to scale up. Five more Palestinians, including a child, died of malnutrition-related causes in Gaza in the past 24 hours, the health ministry said. Israel increased the flow of supplies two weeks ago amid such concerns. Still, international experts warn the territory is facing a 'worst case scenario of famine' and aid groups say deliveries remain a fraction of what's needed after months of total and partial blockade. Australia moves to recognize Palestinian statehood On Monday, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese added his country to a list moving toward recognition, along with France, Britain and Canada. He said his government's decision aimed to build momentum toward a two-state solution, which he called the best path to ending violence and bringing leadership other than Hamas to Gaza. 'The situation in Gaza has gone beyond the world's worst fears,' he said. 'The Israeli government continues to defy international law and deny sufficient aid, food and water to desperate people, including children.' Israeli strike targets and kills Al Jazeera journalists Israel's military targeted an Al Jazeera correspondent with an airstrike Sunday, killing him, another network journalist and at least six others in what press advocates described as a brazen assault on those documenting the war. Officials at Shifa Hospital said those killed included Al Jazeera correspondents Anas al-Sharif and Mohamed Qreiqeh. The incident marked the first time during the war that Israel's military has swiftly claimed responsibility after a journalist was killed in a strike. It came less than a year after Israeli army officials first accused al-Sharif and other Al Jazeera journalists of being members of the militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Al Jazeera called the strike a 'targeted assassination' while press freedom groups denounced the rising death toll facing Palestinian journalists working in Gaza. Mourners laid the journalists to rest in Gaza City. Israel on Sunday repeated claims that al-Sharif led a Hamas cell — an allegation that Al Jazeera and al-Sharif have previously dismissed as baseless. Hamas-led militants abducted 251 people and killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered the war. Most of the hostages have been released in ceasefires or other deals but 50 remain inside Gaza, around 20 of them believed by Israel to be alive. Israel's air and ground offensive has since displaced most of the population, destroyed vast areas and pushed the territory toward famine. It has killed more than 61,400 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not say how many were fighters or civilians but says around half were women and children. In addition to those killed, 121 adults and 101 children have died of malnutrition-related causes, including five in the past 24 hours, the ministry said. One was a child. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals. The U.N. and independent experts consider it the most reliable source on war casualties. Israel disputes its figures but has not provided its own. ___ Shurafa reported from Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, and Magdy from Cairo. Associated Press writers Charlotte Graham-Mclay contributed from Wellington, New Zealand. __
