In the weeks since Israel launched its offensive against Hamas, one doctorās reports from Gazaās hospitals have proved more valuable to the media than any other: those delivered by Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah, a British-Palestinian surgeon. Indeed, when Abu-Sittah held a press conference in London this week after a 43-day stint in Gaza, almost every leading outlet turned up.
Israel, he told them, was deliberately targeting children with banned weapons: āThe primary target of the bombing was peopleās residential homes,ā he claimed at one point, the footage of which was later uploaded to The Guardianās website. āAnd we started seeing phosphorus burns. By day four or five, half of my operating list, which was around 10 to 12 cases every dayā¦ were children. At one night in al-Ahli hospital, I performed amputations on six children.ā
Describing him as āsoftly-spokenā, a Sky News correspondent repeated his claim that a rocket which hit the al-Ahli was not fired by Palestinian terrorists, despite compelling evidence to the contrary. āThere was no smell of fuel,ā Abu-Sittah was quoted as saying. āYouād think that a missile that was destined for Tel Aviv would be full of fuel.ā The channel also repeated the doctorās insistence that al-Shifa ā another of the hospitals where he worked ā was not a Hamas command centre, a claim which contradicts recent Israeli findings. āAt no stage did I see any [Hamas terrorists] ā at no stage did I see even armed policemen ā at Shifa hospital.ā
The BBC, meanwhile, conducted its own interview with Abu-Sittah after the press conference, in which he outlined the āoverwhelming sense of guiltā he felt towards āthe patients that still need my helpā. The exclusive interview came days after one of the broadcasterās reporters ā Sanaa Khouri, a Beirut-based religious affairs correspondent ā tweeted of him: āOne might say, āGive this hero a Nobel Prize,ā but nah, his name is much bigger and more iconic than any prize now. God bless you, Dr Ghassan. Thanks for showing us there is still good out in this monstrous world.ā
Elsewhere, The Telegraphās report highlighted that, āthroughout his time in Gaza, Prof Abu-Sittah provided regular updates to The Telegraphā, and described how he performed āsix amputations in one nightā. An interview with the Daily Mail a week after Hamasās attack detailed how he āhas been operating night and day ever sinceā his arrival on 9 October.
Amid the fog of war, such first-hand accounts are rare ā and for good reason: they are extremely hard to verify. And on this front, it seems much of the UK media has not told the entirety of Dr Abu-Sittahās story.
Join the discussion
Join like minded readers that support our journalism by becoming a paid subscriber
To join the discussion in the comments, become a paid subscriber.
Join like minded readers that support our journalism, read unlimited articles and enjoy other subscriber-only benefits.
Subscribe