It’s been two months since Osaid Alser has heard from his cousin, Khaled Al Serr, a surgeon at Nasser Hospital in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis.
Before late March, they had been in regular contact — or as regular as the shredded communication infrastructure would allow. Al Serr had created a telemedicine WhatsApp group where he and Osaid, a surgical resident in the U.S., recruited doctors from stateside, the U.K., and Europe to give advice to their overstretched colleagues in Gaza.
“He reported on a gunshot injury in a 70-year old,” Osaid said, of Al Serr. “It was in her head. And really, there were no neurosurgeons at that time.”
“He was sharing those cases, and he was asking for help,” Osaid went on. “It was like, ‘Is there any neurosurgeon that can help me? How can I fix this?’”
Al Serr was a natural vessel for the collective medical knowledge of the group chat. “He always wanted to help out, always liked to use his hands, to kind of fix a problem and have an immediate impact,” according to Osaid.
In February, the Israeli military invaded Nasser Hospital. The attack left the hospital hollowed out, just one of the destroyed health care centers in a medical system savaged by an overwhelming caseload and a relentless military assault by Israel.
Still, Al Serr maintained some optimism. His last post on Instagram was uploaded in mid-March, a short video showing the exterior of the hospital from the day before, captioned with a triumphant message:
Finally!! After more than a month of cutting electricity in Naser hospital, our staff was able to fix the generator and get the electricity again to Nasser Hospital. For the last two weeks, we are trying to clean and prepare the hospital’s departments to reopen the hospital again.
Six days later, on March 24, Israeli forces stormed the hospital again. Osaid had asked a few days earlier if Al Serr was alright. No response ever came. It was their last exchange.
His relatives believe that Khaled Al Serr, along with what was left of the hospital’s dwindling staff, was taken prisoner by Israel.
As early as November, reports emerged of doctors being detained and going missing in north Gaza. According to the World Health Organization, at least 214 medical staff from Gaza have been detained by the Israeli military. In early May, the detention and alleged torture of medical staff from Gaza made headlines when Israeli authorities announced the death of Adnan Al-Bursh, a well-known surgeon and the head of orthopedics at Al-Shifa Hospital. After being taken into custody in December, officials said Al-Bursh died in April while in Ofer Prison, an Israeli detention facility in the occupied West Bank.
“Dr. Adnan’s case raises serious concerns that he died following torture at the hands of Israeli authorities. His death demands an independent international investigation,” Tlaleng Mofokeng, the United Nations special rapporteur on the right to health, said in a statement last week. “The killing and detention of healthcare workers is not a legitimate method of warfare. They have a legitimate and essential role to care for sick and wounded persons during times of conflict.”
He was detained for two months before being released. Osaid mentioned that his cousin Al Serr had left shortly after the February evacuation to check on his parents in Rafah. However, he returned to Nasser Hospital to help reopen it and treat patients.
After the hospital attack in late March, there was very little news about Al Serr. The only information available was concerning his last online activity on WhatsApp in mid-April. Osaid suspected that his phone had been confiscated and accessed by authorities.
In an interview released on April 17 by Al Mayadeen, a Palestinian named Ahmed Abu Aqel claimed to have been detained and released by Israel. Abu Aqel, a former nurse at Nasser Hospital, reported that the doctors, including Dr. Nahed Abu Ta’imah, were being subjected to daily beatings and torture in detention.
Abu Aqel mentioned witnessing horrific abuse, including the plucking of a colleague’s beard with pliers. Osaid believed this colleague to be Khaled Al Serr. While Abu Aqel did not disclose the location of his detention, Osaid suspected it to be Sde Teiman based on past reports of abuse and deaths at the facility.
Despite Abu Aqel’s testimony, there was no further information on Al Serr’s condition or whereabouts. Osaid expressed his distress over the lack of updates on his cousin’s well-being.
Those Palestinians fortunate enough to be released from Israeli detention centers recount harrowing experiences inside. Khaled Hamouda, a surgeon who survived an airstrike on his family home, was taken into custody along with his colleagues at Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza.
After being ordered to leave the hospital by Israeli forces, Hamouda and others were detained and taken to an unknown location. Images of their detainment circulated on social media, providing evidence of their capture.
Hamouda described being mistreated and physically abused during his detention, especially after the soldiers learned he was a doctor. He witnessed similar treatment towards Dr. Adnan Al-Bursh, another member of the medical community. Hamouda recounted that Dr. Adnan was brought in around 2 or 3 a.m. and suffered mistreatment, experiencing pain and telling Hamouda that he had been beaten and violently attacked, with a fractured rib. Despite this, Hamouda managed to provide medicine and food for Dr. Adnan until he was taken away two days later. Dr. Adnan conveyed to Hamouda that his mother was at Al-Awda Hospital and well, which brought immense relief to Hamouda as he had been unaware of his family’s whereabouts.
After three weeks, Hamouda was released and reunited with his surviving children and mother in Rafah, following a journey to the Kerem Shalom border crossing in the south. He expressed gratitude for his release, knowing that many of his fellow doctors remained imprisoned for months, some still being held.
Even before the conflict, doctors played a vital role in Gaza, especially during Israeli border restrictions and military attacks. Hamouda’s father, a doctor himself, encouraged him to pursue the profession to benefit the community. Hamouda believes that healthcare workers are targeted in the war because they can provide essential care to the wounded and make a difference in the region.
Osaid, echoing his cousin Al Serr’s sentiments, highlighted the importance of becoming a doctor to help people in need, particularly in a war-torn area like Gaza. Al Serr’s social media posts documented the harrowing cases he encountered at Nasser Hospital, where he worked as a surgeon, amidst relentless attacks. Despite the devastation, Al Serr remained hopeful, as seen in his post about two babies born on the day of a hospital invasion.
However, with the war escalating and no communication from Al Serr for months, the prospect of him achieving his dream of forming a family and living in peace grows increasingly distant. Osaid praised his cousin’s bravery and dedication to his job, emphasizing that a surgeon’s role extends beyond healing physical wounds to advocating for patients.
He was showing his support for them.
“I pray that he is safe.”
