22-07-2025
Meath based surgeon feels guilty eating while family have nothing in Gaza
"There is no break in the heartache," said an Irish-based orthopaedic surgeon who now feels guilty eating while his family in Gaza struggle to find food.
Dr Mahmoud Abumarzouq was hit with the news that his friend and former neighbour in Gaza, senior Gaza Health Ministry official Marwan Al-Hams had been allegedly 'abducted' by an Israeli undercover force, according to Reuters reports.
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It's reported that Al-Hams, who was in charge of field hospitals in the southern Gaza strip was on his way to visit the ICRC hospital in the city of Rafah when an Israeli force 'abducted' him after opening fire, killing one person and wounding another civilian nearby.
Dr Mahmoud who is based at Our Lady's Hospital in Navan, Co. Meath said he knew Al-Hams and described him as a 'great person and surgeon who worked voluntarily as an NGO for the greater good for humanity."
Dr Mahmoud has already lost six family members in the war in Gaza and said his baby niece, who survived an air strike is being breast fed by her aunt who gave birth to a baby of her own around the same time as she was born.
His sister Seham was seriously injured in the attack is recovering but she lost four of her children, including the mother of the baby Yaqout.
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"There is no break to this heartache. My parents, who are in their 70s, have to keep moving because there are bombs all around them, but there is nowhere to go.
"My wife's sister and her husband rang last night and feared they wouldn't see the morning. They thought their tent might be bombed and if they fled, they might be shot at. They got through the night but their tent is now destroyed. I would say they are homeless on the streets - but there are no streets anymore.
"No-one has food and if they have, they give it to the children and fill themselves up with water.
"The baby Yaqout is being breast fed by her aunt who had a baby of her own at the same time. But she is not getting enough to eat herself to provide the breast milk for the babies."
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Dr Mahmoud said he was trying to send as much money as he could to his family but there isn't a lot of food to buy and people are falling all the time with exhaustion and hunger.
"One egg cost €15. Can you imagine that? But there are no eggs anymore. My family is surviving on out-of-date Dahl but even that is running out.
"My brother-in-law has shrapnel in his leg and is on any and every kind of antibiotic he can find.
"My mam doesn't talk anymore. Calls last one minute because she has nothing to say other than they need food and they need this war to end.
"Every night my family and I sit down to eat and feel guilty because we have everything to eat and they have nothing. It feels like we are on a different planet."
