Dr. Baxtiyar Baram, who volunteered recently in northern Gaza provided new revelations about how Hamas has exploited hospitals and also how many Gazans do not support Hamas. The interview with the doctor, published on the Kurdish website Rudaw and also on YouTube, provided unique insights into what is happening in northern Gaza in recent weeks.
Baram revealed that not only does Hamas continue to exploit hospitals, but it also has a “VIP” section in one hospital where it only allows certain patients, apparently those with connections, to get treatments.
Baram went to northern Gaza after entering the Gaza Strip through Rafah in April, prior to Israel’s operations in the Rafah area and prior to the IDF entering Jabalya.
According to the report, he received permission to go from Rafah to northern Gaza. The small team, apparently one of the first teams of foreign medical aid workers to enter northern Gaza in months, included four doctors and a nurse, the report says.
Hamas exploits hospitals
“We made it to northern Gaza. They needed an orthopedist, I was the only candidate who dared to go,” Baram said in an interview with Rudaw’s Sangar Abdulrahman. The doctor recounted entering Rafah at a time when it was still a “normal” border crossing from Egypt to Hamas-controlled Rafah.
However, to get to northern Gaza, the team had to cross the Netzarim corridor, an area controlled by Israel south of Gaza City. He said that when the team passed into northern Gaza it reminded him of scenes from devastated Kurdish cities during the Anfal campaign when Iraq was suppressing the Kurds. He compared northern Gaza to Halabja, a city that suffered grievously under Saddam, and also to the Saidsadiq area, where thousands were killed in 1988 by Iraqi forces.
The doctor described work in two hospitals, Al-Awda in Jabalya and also Kamal Adwan in northern Gaza. There were airstrikes near where the doctor stayed during his time. He said one airstrike was so close it blew away his blanket.
Hamas continues to exploit hospitals, he claimed in the interview. He described Hamas as a political and military organization that “needs to exploit all these places for survival and that’s unfortunate but I saw that hospitals had been used for hiding Hamas leaders.”
He says he spoke to a founder of Hamas in one of the hospitals and sat with the man for coffee. He also said that, given they cannot ask Hamas to leave, Gazans must accept that Hamas use their hospitals as bases. This is the “reality,” he said.
In one instance, he described a wounded man who was affiliated with a Salafi religious movement, and apparently, because he was disliked by Hamas, they would not let the man get the proper treatment in the hospital. “When we were trying to save his life there was no oxygen, so we took him to intensive care on the third floor and an employee stopped us saying the department is only for VIPs and the guy said it is for VIPs.”
The doctor says he challenged the employee and put his patient in the section anyway.
This story reveals that the exploitation of hospitals may go beyond Hamas using them as shelters, but also show that Hamas has influence that allows it to hijack the medical system to serve its own interests.
Self-serving
The doctor also described how he felt Hamas did not have a strong base of support in Gaza. He said support for Hamas was possibly as low as ten percent of the people, but that Hamas rules the area with an “iron fist.” He said “they have eyes everywhere, every bakery, coffee shop, sunflower seller is associated with them.” In this way Hamas continues its rule.
He said that it is possible that in some stores, the associates of Hamas have weapons. He said this stems from Hamas’ long control of Gaza and the many wars it has fought. “They eliminated public opposition.”
Nevertheless, he estimated ninety percent of the people are not on the side of Hamas but are afraid to be suspected of being against the group.
Mafia groups
The doctor also revealed that mafia groups have become more prominent in Gaza due to the chaos. As Hamas continues to focus on fighting Israel, the mafia are active. He said he saw how mafias steal aid, for instance. The aid is then sold on the black market.
The doctor said he assumes that Hamas takes advantage of the lack of stability, allowing mafias to act in this way and then making it seem like the chaos is the outcome of Hamas not being in control, making people beg Hamas to return. The doctor also said that these mafia groups attacked the aid worker’s car when they crossed into areas in Gaza between Israeli control and Hamas control. These kind of no-man-lands, apparently several kilometers on either side of Netzarim and other areas, are where the thieves are active. “They carry swords,” the doctor said.
The situation in Gaza is dire. The doctor described how people are exhausted from the war and he met people who had seen 42 of their family members killed since October 7. People are on the brink of starvation. He said most people don’t have any cash or money to buy staples and many basic items are now very expensive. He said a cigarette can cost up to $14.
He also said that one man spent the equivalent of two months’ salary just to buy some eggplant, zucchini, and rice. The only thing that is common are items made from flour, which enters northern Gaza as aid. He said people are living in the destroyed and damaged buildings, children are barefoot and begging for water.
This is one of the first interviews since the war to shed light, from a foreign perspective, on what is happening in Gaza and it provides a relatively neutral overview of the situation on the ground.
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