Palestinian doctor in Belfast hopeful ‘15 months of genocide’ will end

A Palestinian doctor working in Belfast has spoken of his hope that “15 months of genocide” in Gaza will finally end.

Living in Northern Ireland for 26 years, Omar and his wife Dalal who are both from Gaza have previously spoken of losing 80 family members (including nine in an Israeli airstrike last month) since the conflict between Hamas and Israel erupted in October 2023.

Most recently, he said injured family members have had to endure painful surgery without anaesthesia because of a lack of hospital supplies.

He also spoke of hospital workers he knew in the southern city of Khan Yunis, who had to sleep in a freezing tent after finishing their shift.

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Explaining why he was unwilling to use the term ceasefire, Omar told The Irish News: “From the time Israel and the White House announced the news of the ‘ceasefire’ on Wednesday, after that 20 civilians in Gaza were massacred – within hours of that announcement."

“More were killed in Israeli airstrikes overnight. I want to highlight that, despite the media hype there is still a genocide happening right now as we speak.”

Gaza health authorities calculate the latest death toll at around 46,000, stating they are mostly women and children.

The Israel military has said it has killed over 17,000 Hamas fighters, but has not produced evidence to this effect.

Around 90% of Gaza’s 2.3 million population has also been displaced, with the United Nations reporting that hundreds of thousands are struggling with hunger and disease in squalid camps along the coast.

Omar said his own family members have been displaced a total of ten times, taking weeks to even find a tent.

“People are still dying in the freezing cold in the north and south of Gaza. I know some of nurses who after finishing their hospital shift, they went back to a freezing cold tent and they died.

“This is what I want the world to know, the realities of what’s happening on the ground in Gaza.”

Omar also criticised some reporting of the conflict, feeling not enough was being done to show the experiences of people on the ground.

“What’s happening about those children who were killed in the last 15 months, 20,000 of them,” he said.

“What will happen to the orphans who now have no mother or father in Gaza, where’s the reporting?”

Keeping in touch with his family in Gaza has been difficult, but Omar said any call or message he receives becomes the highlight of his day.

“We have civilian wounded family members. They’ve had to have surgery on their arms, legs and backs with no anaesthesia. Can you imagine this?

“There is little antibiotics, little medicine and little of everything in the hospitals.”

Despite the “hell” his family has endured, Omar said they remained “the most loving and peaceful people you can ever have.”

He also praised supporters in Belfast, with pro-Palestinian protests against the conflict now a regular occurrence.

“We are so thankful to have the people of Belfast standing with Gaza, with humanity and supporting the humans in this world,” he said.

“We are still grieving, we are not normal. We have deep, painful wounds that will never heal but we have to try and live with that.

“It’s very hard to do that but as much as we can, we try.”