“We operated on the ground, on stretchers, we ran out of beds,” recalls the 47-year-old German citizen of Palestinian descent. On Friday he was received in Berlin by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, together with seven compatriots who, like him, were able to leave the Gaza Strip after the opening of the Rafah border crossing on the border with Egypt.

“The week I left the hospital, the situation became worse: we had no electricity, no water, no oxygen. And without oxygen it is impossible to operate. That’s why I left the hospital, on the 28th day of the war.” The Israeli military assured that the Al-Shifa hospital hid the main command center for Hamas operations in the Gaza Strip, something the Islamist movement denies. Asked about the group’s presence in the hospital complex, Abunada said: “I worked there as a doctor and didn’t notice anything.” On Thursday, Al-Shifa’s director, Mohamed Abu Salmiya, was arrested for questioning by intelligence services. “I hope he is released soon,” he said.

Abunada studied in Germany and part of his family lives in the Hesse region, in the center of the country. Eight years ago, he lived in Gaza with his wife and four children, and one of them was injured before they left for Europe. Part of the family stayed in the Gaza Strip. He is very concerned about his mother, who had to leave her home to move to the south of the area. Despite being 85 years old, he continued on foot.

“Who am I letting die?”

The war broke out over Hamas’ bloody attack on October 7, in which the fighters killed 1,200 people and kidnapped 240. The Israeli army claims that some hostages were being held in Al-Shifa. Israeli forces launched a raid on Al-Shifa hospital in mid-November, searching room by room for suspected Hamas hideouts.

Abunada, head of the vascular surgery department at this complex, explains that he has had to make “extremely difficult” decisions since the start of the war. “Who do I let die, this woman or this man? I don’t have time to operate on this child, so I have to amputate it. It is very difficult for a doctor,” he admits.

As the only person in charge of his shift, he only had time to rest. “Of course I had to take breaks to sleep. But sleeping without being able to lie down is difficult,” he says. “The bombings took place everywhere. There was too much noise to sleep a whole night,” he adds.

In the week before he left, bodies piled up at the entrance, he says. “The bodies smelled and the dogs came to eat them,” he says. “They told me they buried the dead in the hospital after I escaped,” he recalls.

During the meeting with the German president, he described the situation in Gaza and asked for help to the Palestinians. “I have requested the establishment of a medical airlift to deliver materials and medicines through Egypt. There are many German doctors of Palestinian descent. They can obtain permission to practice medicine there. All patients have the right to be treated,” he emphasizes.

The surgeon hopes that the international community will assess the conflict “taking into account both sides”, and also take into account “humanitarian and human issues”.