DaysofPal – In a powerful act of defiance and resilience, 168 Palestinian doctors have earned their advanced medical certifications in Gaza against a backdrop of devastation, graduating in front of the shattered façade of the al-Shifa Medical Complex, once the largest hospital in the Palestinian territory.
The ceremony took place Thursday at the heavily damaged hospital in Gaza City, where the graduates, who named themselves the “Humanity Cohort,” completed their Palestinian Board certifications after two years of Israel’s war. Their achievement came under extraordinary conditions: continuous bombardment, displacement, starvation, and the collapse of Gaza’s healthcare system.
Many of the doctors studied for their exams while working around the clock in overcrowded hospitals. Some were wounded in attacks, detained by Israeli forces, or lost close family members during the war. Gaza Health Ministry official Youssef Abu al-Reish described the ceremony as a graduation from “the womb of suffering, under bombardment, among rubble and rivers of blood.”
Dr. Mohammed Abu Salmiya, director of al-Shifa Hospital, said Israel’s repeated attacks on medical facilities aimed to destroy Palestine’s human capital. “But it failed,” he said, pointing to the doctors standing amid ruins as proof that Gaza’s medical community endures.
One of the graduates, Dr. Ahmed Basil, said earning an advanced degree inside a destroyed hospital sent a clear message to the world. “We love life,” he said, “and we remain committed to science and knowledge, even in the darkest circumstances.”
The ceremony also honored fallen colleagues. Empty chairs bearing photographs of healthcare workers killed during the war stood among the graduates, a stark reminder of the cost paid by Gaza’s medical community.
A Hospital Turned into Ruins
Al-Shifa Medical Complex has been repeatedly targeted since the war began in October 2023. Israeli forces first stormed the hospital in November that year, arresting Abu Salmiya, who was detained for seven months. A second major incursion in March 2024 left the complex largely destroyed.
A World Health Organization (WHO) assessment conducted in April 2024 found the hospital reduced to what WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus described as “an empty shell with human graves.” While limited renovation work has since been carried out, most of the facility remains in ruins.
The fate of al-Shifa reflects a wider assault on Gaza’s healthcare system. Of the territory’s 36 hospitals, only 18 remain partially functional, and nearly all are operating under severe constraints. More than 18,500 critically ill patients, among them 4,000 children, require medical evacuation, an option that remains largely unavailable.
Attacks on Healthcare
Since October 2023, the WHO Health Cluster has documented 825 attacks on healthcare facilities in Gaza, resulting in 985 deaths and around 2,000 injuries. The Palestinian Ministry of Health reports that 1,722 healthcare workers have been killed in Israeli strikes over the past two years, while at least 306 medical personnel have been detained.
At least five healthcare workers have died in detention, and testimonies from released detainees and returned bodies indicate torture and abuse. The UN Human Rights Office has identified a recurring pattern in Israeli operations against hospitals: airstrikes and shelling, prolonged sieges, ground raids using tanks and bulldozers, mass detentions, forced evacuations, and withdrawal that leaves facilities non-functional.
Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq has described the destruction of Gaza’s healthcare system as systematic and consistent with a genocidal pattern.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 70,942 Palestinians have been killed and 171,195 wounded since October 7, 2023. Even after a ceasefire was announced in October, violations have continued, with 406 people killed and 1,118 injured, and 653 additional bodies recovered from beneath the rubble.
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