Front Burner - A mother, and a doctor, in Gaza

Episode Date: May 20, 2021

Najla Shawa is getting her young daughters to count the sounds of bombs at night — turning it into a game to try to soothe their fears. Dr. Mohammed Abu Mughaiseeb is navigating rubble-strewn streets to deliver medical aid — made harder now that one of his clinics was damaged in an airstrike. Today, a view from the ground in Gaza.

In the Dragon's Den, a simple pitch can lead to a life-changing connection. Watch new episodes of Dragon's Den free on CBC Gem. Brought to you in part by National Angel Capital Organization, empowering Canada's entrepreneurs through angel investment and industry connections. This is a CBC Podcast. Hello, I'm Jamie Poisson. Hello, hi. I hear you okay. This is Najla Shawa. She's in Gaza. As we were setting up, we heard some buzzing in the background.

I just want to double check with our producer, Derek, to make sure that you sound okay. Derek, how's everything going? And Najla says that sound was... Drones. That's drones. Wow. Yes. Can you tell us more about that? Drones are part of our kind of every minute.

They don't stop, basically. So these drones that she's talking about, these are part of the arsenal that Israel is using in its airstrikes on Gaza. The airstrikes are in response to thousands of rockets fired by Hamas and other militant groups, which, as of Wednesday night, have killed 12 Israelis, including a 5-year-old boy and a 16-year-old girl. Rockets have also damaged houses and buildings, mainly in central and southern Israel. But the biggest toll of this war is being felt in Gaza. Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 227 people in the territory. They include 64 children and 38 women.

The UN says 52,000 people are now displaced and that nearly 450 buildings have been destroyed or badly damaged. They include several high-rise towers that have been leveled to the ground. Israel says Hamas is operating inside these buildings and that by conducting their operations in densely populated areas, Hamas is using civilians as human shields. Today, a look at what life is like right now for two people in Gaza, starting with Najla, a humanitarian worker and mother of two. Now, Najla, can you describe what your daily life has been like over the last 10 days since the airstrikes began? Mainly what's been happening, it's airstrikes from fighter jets, which, you know, once you hear them coming, you're like, okay, you hold your breath, then you go to the corridors and see what's going to come next,

or you hear the missile coming from it and it walks, it takes a few seconds until it hits. And these are the worst moments. And it's so frequent, like it's every day, every day, without any exaggeration. Every day, every hour, you hear something like that. Now, beyond all that, you see there are little I'll say little in comparison or in relative terms that like little in explosions here and there where you try to cope where you don't hear them you act as if you're not hearing them anymore like what's happening right now it's far we're fine the kids are watching TV and so I'm like trying to explain to my daughters. I mean,

I have two daughters, one is six years old, and one is four. And I had to explain this time, because we had situations similar before, but they were like shorter periods, like for a day or two, and then they would be asleep, and they wouldn't tell they couldn't tell. like for a day or two, and then they would be asleep and they wouldn't tell, they couldn't tell. Or we could tell them it's thunder or it's fireworks or it's just nothing or just completely ignore. But this time, the biggest challenge was like, okay, my daughter Zainab, she is now aware. She's asking questions. She's terrified. It's not that she's asking questions she's terrified it's not that she's asking questions

she's terrified she's like screaming because of um of bombings that took place uh during noontime while she was i think just finishing lunch or something and and she saw the smoke from the from the window it it wasn't very very close to us but I mean it was very visible and so I was trying to comfort her that no look it's far it's far it's nothing we're going to be fine and then it's like no mama it's very loud it's very loud I was like yes they're they're going to be loud and this this might continue it might happen again but we will be fine and then i would just distract the conversation by doing something else you know and it's very hard because we're

we're put in the situation i'm put personally i mean as a mother basically to to to not i don't want her to understand so much too much because uh it would really affect her. And I could see really the fear in her eyes in the past few days, especially at night. And when she screamed just very, very naturally and suddenly, like, I don't want my house to be bombed. Now, she now, well, because it's really constant, like, while I'm speaking, I heard like five or six bombings in different places. You can hear bombings right now?

Oh, of course. Yeah. I mean, I could count. I don't know. That's one here. You heard? I did, yeah. a little bit that compared to the overall picture and giving given the the overall picture they are coping with some level of that and of course I don't know what's happening inside them I don't

know how traumatized they are so far but looking at how how much suffering and destruction there is around me, I'm grateful. I hope we can manage to survive this with as little damage as possible. Being a Palestinian, and maybe more specifically in Gaza, but being a Palestinian in general, you grew up with different kind of traumas that we don't even recognize anymore as trauma. I've been in 2014 war. I was pregnant with her.

I really suffered from great amount of anxiety because it was so dangerous where we were living. And we had to evacuate. And I was trying to protect her as much as possible from my own fear, from my own fear. I was so afraid that I want to keep calm, but it was impossible. And she stopped moving for like almost two days. And I, yeah, and so like panic goes to more panic. It's so hard to control. Now I have to explain to

her this war and it's it's like a new chapter in my life yeah yeah I naturally can't imagine it's it's unimaginable You know, we talked about your children, and you seem to be so concentrated on trying to give them some sort of normalcy. Can I ask you how you're doing? How are you trying to cope through this? I really have no time or chance or room to maybe, I don't know, reflect on that. But we are emotionally, mentally, physically drained. kind of recharge our energy, our morale to continue because it's getting so bleak. After some initial news of the possibility to reach ceasefire, now we're not even in that point.

And it's sad. And the biggest concern is now how can we continue? How can we stay resilient? How can we really remain contained and just sustain ourselves in the coming days? Or I don't know how many more, how much more time. Najel, do you feel like you have anywhere even somewhat safe to go? Nigel, do you feel like you have anywhere even somewhat safe to go? Honestly, I live in an independent home and this is already one criteria that helps in such a situation because what many people are suffering from who are living in big buildings, in high-rise buildings where they had to evacuate or had their buildings bombed. That's the most terrifying thing about this war and the past one.

And I'm even super lucky. I think I'm one of the very, very few who have, like, a basement. So since, like, four nights we are sleeping in the basement because around this time when it starts to close to be dark, tension really rises so much like you feel it so much in the air even. And nights are harsh, very unpredictable. Like there are always surprises. A few nights ago we started with this kind of pattern of hitting roads very hard with huge bombs as if

it's a huge hammer and you have like the whole earth in like a ball you know when you hold it in your hand like a ball and then a hammer that keeps banging that that's how it feels and I'm so like with each one honesty honestly, with each bang, there's, like, no time to breathe. There's a next one and a next one and another. So they do, like, 50 of them. How are your children reacting at night? What do they do?

So the older one, when things are loud, she puts her fingers in her ears. And then at night when it gets more difficult, she asks us to put our hands on her ears. And she says it like she says, press harder, press harder, Mama, I don't want to hear this. And she cries. Mama, I don't want to hear this. And she cries.

But she responds to our comforting kind of remarks or, you know, when we try to hold her or hug her and say it's going to be okay. But listen, I mean, there were a few times which were horrible. Like, we were, like, holding the two of them and they were, like not like they didn't they couldn't leave us for just you know they were so close and and we were in the corridor and we were the the house was shaking and the the windows the the glass was shaking uh you can even feel the air the pressure of the air in the house and the curtains moving,

so it's not easy, you know, and I was terrified, so yeah, I tell her, I tell her that it's not nice, I know, but it's going to pass, it's going to go, mama, it's going to end, let's count, I tell her, let's count them. Let's count the bombs. So, yeah, oh, five, six, seven. Oh, my God, how many are they? So that you're going to tell your aunt when you speak to her, how many did you hear?

And then we try to make it as a game, but it's so hard. Yeah. Great. yeah yeah I don't want this to sound like a really like obvious question but what do you need to happen right now we want a fair solution to to our problem because even if there's a ceasefire today which i of course want immediately

but without a fair solution our life will continue to be miserable in Gaza and the suffering will not be heard or addressed because we will not be making it to the news. And this is what hurts more than the war itself. Because Palestinians have been treated so unfairly for many decades, and the whole politics of it, we all know, and I don't want to go there. It just has been so unfair.

And we just want people to understand the real situation, to understand why is this happening, to understand this side of the story and once they open their minds and hearts they will would understand um that things will not be resolved with ignoring palestinian rights ignoring Palestinian rights. Najla, I really want to thank you for this conversation, for speaking with me. I hope that you and your children and your husband, I hope that you'll be safe. Thank you so much. Thanks.

In the Dragon's Den, a simple pitch can lead to a life-changing connection. Watch new episodes of Dragon's Den free on CBC Gem. Brought to you in part by National Angel Capital Organization. Empowering Canada's entrepreneurs through angel investment and industry connections. Hi, it's Ramit Sethi here. You may have seen my money show on Netflix. I've been talking about money for 20 years. I've talked to millions of people and I have some startling numbers to share with you.

Did you know that of the people I speak to, 50% of them do not know their own household income? That's not a typo, 50%. That's because money is confusing. In my new book and podcast, Money for Couples, I help you and your partner create a financial vision together. To listen to this podcast, just search for Money for Couples. I help you and your partner create a financial vision together. To listen to this podcast, just search for Money for Couples. The second person that I want you to meet today is Dr. Mohamed Aboumougeise.

He's the Deputy Medical Coordinator for MSF, or Doctors Without Borders, in Gaza. On Sunday, airstrikes damaged an MSF clinic in Gaza City. Can you describe what you saw on Monday morning when you arrived at the MSF clinic? So I went that morning and I was really shocked when I saw the neighborhood, actually. This neighborhood was one of the most quiet neighborhoods in Gaza. It's, I mean, very nice to live even. So everything was completely destroyed. The neighborhood was almost, I mean, it was

really like a ghost town. I mean, with all these rebels buildings. And in front of the clinic, there was one strike, which led to a big hole and the clinic was partially the wall damaged. The sterilization unit was out of the clinic. The autoclave and the material and the room itself was almost collapsed. I mean, sorry, collapsed. The waiting area was as well partially damaged. Thanks God that our team, there was a watchman working during the night. He was safe. He was not injured.

man working during the night he was safe and he was not injured but this neighborhood at that day i mean there were 40 people dead i mean majority of them are children and women and there was our two doctors as well who were as well dead in this night strike what does the rest of Gaza City look like right now? Yeah, no, it's a very touchy question. It's horrible. I mean, Gaza was, I mean, Gaza, I mean, yes, it's under closure and cease and cease. But there was life. I mean, there is still life and it's incredible resilience of this population here because they want to live and they want to enjoy so i mean a few days ago before just

the war i mean people were in the street they were preparing because ramadan was ending as you know they were planning to starting to buy for the kids new clothes toys and sweets so because it was they were preparing for the feast and i mean it was full of lights and colorful and and in one day it's it's a ghost town i mean when you watch some movies like i'm a legend and you see you know will smith walking the streets with same i mean there is no one in the street. You just find destroyed buildings from every 200 meters. You find a kind of main junction of the streets are bombed. I mean, it's horrible. Dr. Mugesib, from your perspective,

how does the damage in this latest war compare to the damage you've seen in previous conflicts? You know, I've been here with MSF and during the last three wars and even with the last big demonstration in 2018. And I remember that in 2018, when we spoke about the number of injured, I said to one of the journalists, I said, you know, the Great March is equal to the three wars, what I saw in the three wars. Now I'm saying that the 10 days is equal to the three wars plus the Great March demonstration. I mean, the destruction, the infrastructure is completely damaged. I mean, the water, the sanitation system is totally broken. And I can't say it because I have it at my home now. I mean, I have in front of my house the Lake of Victoria of sewage because the main sewage system was completely bombed.

The situation, I mean, it's compared to the last 2014 war, the 50 days. I mean, it's even more than that. I mean, if you wait it, it's totally different. This is worse. This is horrible. Since the airstrikes started last week, you and your colleagues at MSF have been providing support to hospitals. Can you tell me a little bit about how you're trying to help them? So we, first of all, we contacted the hospitals to see what is the main shortage that they need. And mainly it was anesthesia drug, life-saving drugs and some disposables. As well, we tried to see in terms of human resources what we can help because there is lack of subspecialties in Gaza.

We were planning to start bringing intensive care unit doctors, vascular trauma surgeons. Unfortunately, we, until now, we couldn't have any kind of clearance on the daily side. I just want to make sure I understood something that you just said. Did you say that you've been trying to bring in more medical teams into Gaza, but you haven't been able to?

No, we are not, and we are trying. And even yesterday, there was an ICU intensive care doctor was planning to enter Gaza, but unfortunately, the Israeli closed again the checkpoint. Right. I'll just note that Israel says they closed the border crossing on Tuesday because a soldier accompanying the aid trucks at one of the crossings was slightly injured by a mortar bomb. And an Israeli spokesperson said they didn't open it Wednesday because militants again fired mortar shells at another crossing. Can you tell me what kind of injuries the hospitals are treating right now? So they have head injuries mainly, lower extremity and upper extremity open fractures, lower extremity and upper extremity open fractures.

Some burn patients from the explosive, from the strikes. So they are treating, I mean, different type of injuries. I know many of the injured are children. Around 40% of all the injuries are children and women. Some of the children, they lost their, I mean, spinal injury, lost their limbs. Still some of them with head injury that could, I mean, still unconscious. Some with burns with 70% total body surface. I mean, it's very critical. So there is some cases that I can confirm, but in general, it's around 40% women and

children. Where are you hearing that it's 40%? How do you know that it's 40%? It's from all the data that is released as well from the WHO here and from the Minister of Health and, of course, our contacts with the hospitals on a daily basis. I should note, too, that the WHO says the airstrikes have damaged a total of 18 hospitals and clinics and destroyed Gaza's only coronavirus testing lab. And I also know that on top of that, Gaza has high numbers of COVID-19 cases right now. So given all of these factors, where are these new patients who have been wounded by airstrikes,

where are they going? Is there room for them in the hospitals? I mean, until now, they are able to cope. I mean, until this moment, until today, they are able to cope with the number of patients that they are receiving. But as you mentioned, I mean, COVID-19 second wave was a few weeks ago. The peak was high in Gaza. We are very worried about the COVID situation in Gaza. According to the UN, 40,000 people are displaced in the schools. And in the schools, it's crowdedness.

And I mean, it's very difficult to put measurements. So we are really concerned about COVID at the same time. What do you need to happen right now? Stop the military operation as soon as possible, now, and to give a chance to the humanitarian actors to enter Gaza to support medically, financially, whatever. I mean, Gaza is suffering since long time of this kind of closure and this kind of force and I think with this COVID and with the

recent 10 days I think it will need years to overcome it. All right, that's all for today. I'm Jamie Poisson. Thanks so much for listening to FrontBurner. Talk tomorrow. Talk tomorrow.