'I would do it all over again': UAE doctor reflects on life-changing mission in Gaza

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When Dr Nafea Al Yasi left Dubai for Gaza in January, he didn’t know what to expect. The scenes he encountered were nothing like what he had seen on his TV screen back home and he wasn't prepared for the psychological toll the four-week mission would take.

He saw parents desperate for their children to receive medical help, people suffering from a lack of treatment for basic conditions and families torn apart by the violence.

By the end of his journey, however, one thing was clear to the doctor. “Volunteering in Gaza changed me,” he told The National. “If the country asks me to go again, I won’t hesitate.”

Dr Al Yasi, a consultant paediatric gastroenterologist, was one of several Emirati doctors who volunteered as part of the UAE’s Gallant Knight 3 operation. His mission, alongside more than 80 others, involved providing urgent medical care in the UAE field hospital in Gaza.

The field hospital was established in December to help ease the significant pressure placed on Gaza's health service.

The death toll in Gaza rose to 42,847 on Thursday, the war-torn enclave's Health Ministry said, after 55 Palestinians were killed across the enclave in the previous 24 hours. Another 132 were wounded in the same period, taking the total number of injured to 100,544 since the war began last October. Thousands more remain missing.

Stories of resilience and hope

Dr Al Yasi remembers many heart-breaking cases from his time in Gaza but also moments that highlighted the courage of people he treated. One of the most emotional was that of Fatima, a young girl suffering from Budd-Chiari Syndrome, a rare and life-threatening liver disease.

Without proper medication, her condition was rapidly deteriorating. Her father, desperate for help, approached Dr Al Yasi, unaware he was a specialist in paediatric hepatology.

“When I opened her file, I was shaking,” Dr Al Yasi said. “Budd-Chiari Syndrome is incredibly rare and without the necessary medication, Fatima was on the brink of collapse.”

Luckily, Dr Al Yasi had access to the medicine Fatima needed. When he handed the box over, her father broke down in tears, kissing the package in gratitude.

“That moment hit me hard,” Dr Al Yasi said, reflecting on how easily accessible such medicine is in the UAE compared to Gaza. Fatima’s health stabilised and she later travelled to Turkey for a liver transplant, giving her a second chance at life.

Another case etched in his memory involves Yara, a young girl whose stomach was severely damaged by shrapnel from an Israeli air strike. “Her stomach was completely cut through, like an open book,” Dr Al Yasi said.

The girl required immediate surgery but the situation was complicated by the lack of resources. She could not ingest food or water and relied solely on intravenous nutrition. When medical supplies ran out, a donor stepped in, providing the necessary nutrition, administered by IV, that kept Yara alive. Eventually, her condition improved and she was transferred to the UAE for further treatment.

Another case he recalled involved Zahra, a young girl whose legs were shattered in a blast. After undergoing surgery a number of times, her blood count had dropped to a dangerously low level and her rare blood type, B-negative, made finding a donor nearly impossible.

But Zahra’s family and community rallied together and, against the odds, a match was found in time. Weeks later, Dr Al Yasi was overjoyed to see Zahra in Abu Dhabi, walking and smiling as she continued her recovery.

“Seeing patients recover gives me a deep sense of fulfilment,” he said. It’s that feeling that makes him want to return to the field hospital, he added, where he can continue making a difference where it’s needed most.

Psychological toll

Many people have asked Dr Al Yasi how he managed to cope with the psychological strain of the mission.

“Honestly, I don’t know the answer,” he said. “It wasn’t easy seeing dismembered bodies, corpses, people crying in pain. But as doctors, we have to put our emotions aside, even if just for a while. If you let your emotions control you, you won’t be able to work properly.”

He remembers suppressing his feelings until he boarded the plane back to the UAE. “That’s when most of the emotions came out. It was a difficult situation, but we say 'thank God' for everything.”

The hardest moments, he added, came when patients were discharged. “When you tell them to take care and go home, they say, ‘Home? My home was destroyed by the bombing’, or ‘My family died in the bombing.’ You’re tongue-tied. You don’t know what to say.”

“Leaving Gaza was both happy and painful for me,” Dr Al Yasi said. “Happy because I was finally going back to see my family after a month away but painful because I was going to miss the environment I had lived in, and my patients.”

One particular memory stays with him: as the convoy approached the Rafah crossing, he saw someone holding a UAE flag. “It was like a message of thank you to the Emirati convoy that came, helped, and left. It’s one of the moments I will never forget,” he said.

The road ahead

Though the mission was a success, Dr Al Yasi is candid about the challenges ahead for Gaza. “It’s going to take a long time to recover,” he said. “The healthcare infrastructure has been devastated and people with chronic illnesses are not receiving the care they need.”

He estimates that Gaza will need at least 10 to 20 more field hospitals to meet the overwhelming demand once the conflict ends.

Yet, despite the daunting obstacles, Dr Al Yasi is confident the UAE will continue to play a vital role in Gaza’s recovery. “The UAE has a clear vision. We are standing by our brothers and sisters in Gaza, not with words but with actions.”

Since returning from Gaza, Dr Al Yasi has been sharing his experiences on social media and has been working on a book to document the mission. “It’s important to tell these stories,” he said. “Years from now, people might forget but the stories of those who were there will remain.”