Hospital Bombings, Children Shot in the Head & Mass Starvation: Trauma Surgeon Dr. Feroze Sidhwa on His Time in Gaza
We interview trauma surgeon Dr. Feroze Sidhwa, who narrowly escaped a hospital bombing by Israel in Gaza and exposed Israeli ground forces' propensity for shooting Palestinian children in the head.
“I hate to say it this way, because it sounds callous, but it doesn't really matter how many children are being shot in the head. What matters is that it's a systematic thing. It's a pattern. It's happening over a now, you know, 19-month period, and it's happening throughout the Gaza Strip, constantly. It's very unlikely—like, I'm sure the defense minister isn't calling his generals and saying, ‘Make sure you shoot 10 children in the head today.’ That's, that's silly. What's happening is that there are plenty of Israeli soldiers who are happy to do these things for whatever reason, and even though the Israeli military knows they're doing it, they're not doing anything about it. That's the same thing as setting policy.”
That’s an excerpt from our recent interview with Dr. Feroze Sidhwa, a trauma and critical care surgeon based in California who volunteered twice in Gaza and witnessed firsthand Israel’s unrelenting brutality on its civilian population.
His two weeks treating patients at the European Hospital in Khan Yunis, Gaza, in March and April 2024 were defined by the overwhelming number of children who were shot in the head and chest. Let that sink in for a second: the overwhelming number of children who were shot in the head and chest.
After initially chalking up such horrors to a particularly sadistic IDF soldier in that specific area, Feroze soon learned that many other healthcare workers and colleagues across Gaza were witnessing the same savagery, along with a whole slew of additional abuses impacting children. He penned an op-ed in The New York Times calling attention to it all, featuring dozens of testimonials, titled ‘65 Doctors, Nurses & Paramedics: What We Saw in Gaza.’
Feroze returned to Gaza again this past March, tending to patients at Nasser Hospital, also in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip. Violating a ceasefire that had been in place since January, Israel launched massive airstrikes beginning on March 18 and bombed that very hospital a few days later. While Feroze narrowly escaped death, his teenage patient, among others, did not.
Throughout our lengthy conversation, Feroze recalls his experiences from both visits, discussing the critical role of the United States in perpetuating the ongoing atrocities; Israel’s intentional targeting of hospitals, schools, and caregivers; the horrific humanitarian crisis decimating the civilian population of Gaza; and the utter impunity enjoyed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—a fugitive war criminal wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for charges of crimes against humanity.
He repeatedly stresses the vital need for the United States to immediately cease supplying Israel with U.S. taxpayer-funded bombs and weaponry, and end its participation in the mass killings.
“The Israelis have absolutely no capacity to do what they're doing without the U.S. making it possible—also the U.K. and Germany, but really, the U.S. is the main player. Haaretz just published a piece maybe two weeks ago now, maybe a little bit more, pointing out that the U.S. has paid for about 70% of the war, meaning—there's no abstract entity—the United States, you and I, have paid for about 70% of the war.”
To date, nearly 60,000 people have been slaughtered by Israel—the vast majority women and children—and countless more lie buried beneath the rubble of destroyed neighborhoods. The IDF’s deliberate targeting of schools, refugee camps, humanitarian and healthcare workers, and hospitals are especially heinous.
Why We Covered This Topic
Hospitals are being bombed, children are being deliberately shot in the head, and millions of people are starving to death. These crimes alone should be enough for condemnation of the Israeli military from every news outlet and elected official in the world, particularly those in the United States, but oh, wait—the U.S. government is supplying the tens of billions in weaponry used to “obliterate” (see what we did there) all Palestinians, the majority… Wait for it… WOMEN AND CHILDREN!
Such atrocities demand greater attention and accountability—of those pulling the triggers and dropping the bombs as much as those giving them the weapons—and we will continue to cover the ongoing bloodbath in Gaza and call out its facilitators.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode
There is a “systematic pattern” of Palestinian children being shot in the head by Israeli ground forces, along with a whole slew of other abuses.
Through the critical military support of the past two administrations, the United States remains the most vital participant in the mass killings of Palestinian civilians, since it is providing Israel the very weapons used to commit these atrocities. Connect the dots, and the blood drips right from the hands of American taxpayers. Yes, you should be disgusted and outraged.
Israel has been deliberately targeting hospitals, along with schools, refugee camps, food and aid distribution points, and many other places people seek shelter and reprieve from its relentless onslaught.
Palestinians are starving to death in Gaza due to its decimation by Israel, 18-year blockade, targeting of humanitarian workers, and deliberate prevention of aid. They’re also indiscriminately killed by Israeli soldiers as they attempt to forage for the rare morsels that may make it through.
Who We Interviewed & What They Said
Dr. Feroze Sidhwa is a trauma, general, and critical care surgeon in California, as well as a humanitarian surgeon with missions to Palestine, Ukraine, Haiti, Zimbabwe, and Burkina Faso.
“We have no clue how many people we’re even killing in Gaza. We have no clue how many children we’re starving to death in Gaza. We have no idea how many pregnant women we’re starving to death in Gaza. We are attacking some of the most vulnerable people on Earth, maybe the most vulnerable people on Earth, with the military ferocity of the American military machine, and nobody even cares what effect it's having. I shouldn't say nobody. I'm sure plenty of people actually care about what effect it's having, but the people who are unleashing this machine on a territory of this size, you really have to wonder if Gaza is going to survive as a political and social entity. I have to be honest, I don't think it will. And, but the people who are unleashing this machine on this little, tiny area the size of Philadelphia, with a 50% unemployment rate, before October 7, now it's virtually 100% and where half the population is children and 70% of the population is refugees—they just don't care how many people it's killing.”
Additional Resources
Read Dr. Feroze Sidhwa’s op-ed in The New York Times exposing, through dozens of testimonials from he and healthcare workers throughout Gaza, the horrific amount of children being shot in the head and chest by Israeli ground forces, and an array of other heinous acts perpetuated against—again—children: ‘65 Doctors, Nurses & Paramedics: What We Saw in Gaza.’
Follow Feroze on X @FerozeSidhwa and Instagram @FSidhwa, and learn more about him and his extraordinary work.
Learn more about the open arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant for charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Read Amnesty International’s report outlining its investigation and conclusion of genocide: “‘You Feel Like You Are Subhuman’: Israel’s Genocide Against Palestinians in Gaza.”
Check out Human Rights Watch’s “Extermination and Acts of Genocide: Israel Deliberately Depriving Palestinians in Gaza of Water.”
Read the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification report mentioned in the episode—it’s likely much worse.
Read the Haaretz expose featuring firsthand accounts of Israeli soldiers explaining why they deliberately murder starving, unarmed Palestinians at food distribution sites: “'It's a Killing Field': IDF Soldiers Ordered to Shoot Deliberately at Unarmed Gazans Waiting for Humanitarian Aid.”
Listen to our previous coverage of the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict: “9/11 Redux: Will the Israel-Hamas Conflict Lead to a Renewed War on Terror?” / “The Genocide Case Against Israel: Parts I & II” / “The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation Around the World” / “Disappeared: Inside Israel’s ‘Torture Camps’” / “‘Unspeakable Horror’: Amnesty International Accuses Israel of Genocide in Gaza,” and more.
Check out all our accompanying Substack pieces, along with video from our interview with Feroze, and many more.
News Beat is a multi-award-winning podcast brought to you in conjunction with Manny Faces Media.
Audio Editor/Sound Designer/Producer/Host: Manny Faces
Editor-In-Chief/Producer: Christopher Twarowski
Managing Editor/Producer: Rashed Mian
Episode Art: Jake Stringfellow