EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW A YOUNG PALESTINIAN DOCTOR DARES TO DREAM OF RECLAIMING HIS LIFE
May 14, 2024Daizy: What you’re about to watch is both heartwarming and heartbreaking. But all in all, it’s truly inspirational. Last week, I had the privilege of interviewing young Dr. Mohammed Al Talla, a 26 year old Palestinian serving on the front line at Al-Aqsa Hospital in the heart of Gaza. Seven months ago, before the war started, this young man was on the precipice of fulfilling his dreams. But when the war began, his dreams turned to dust. Right now, he hopes that with our help, he can reclaim his dreams and go on to fulfill what has been promised to him. With offers at Sheffield and Bristol Universities in the United Kingdom so that he can come back and continue his service to his people and to serve humanity. I hope you’ll indulge me and watch this through to the end. Thank you.
Dr. Mohammed Al Talla: Al Salam Alaikom.
Daizy: Wa alaikom al salam. What can we say to you and to all the people in Gaza other than we are so sorry that you’re going through this? we need to do so much more because you are paying a very heavy price for all of our humanity, for all of us.
Dr. Mohammed Al Talla: Thanks a lot. And also, we in Gaza appreciate all efforts and hard efforts from all population, from all people from all the countries and we appreciate these efforts and we appreciate the students in the universities. The world means the world for us. It creates a hope inside our hearts, and it makes us strong to face these challenges of this disaster that we carry here in Gaza.
Daizy: It’s our duty. It’s our duty Mohammed. You’re at home now. You’re in central Gaza, is that right?
Dr. Mohammed Al Talla: Yeah, it’s right. I’m in that area called Al Maghazi Camp, which is situated in middle area. It is related to Deir El Balah. It’s in the middle of Gaza Strip. I’m in the roof of this building to try to connect to internet because there is no internet in Gaza, but we try to access the internet by E-sim.
Daizy: What can we hear in the background? What’s the banging?
Dr. Mohammed Al Talla: Yeah, it’s some sort of explosion far from us.
Daizy: I just I want this opportunity for the world to get to know you, Dr. Al Talla.
Dr. Mohammed Al Talla: I would like to introduce myself. I’m Dr. Mohamed Al Talla from Gaza Strip, especially from the middle area of Gaza. I am a fresh graduate. I was graduated in 2022. And after I finished my internship in 2023, okay, in June of 2023. And after I finished my internship and my studies, I became a medical director of a team of 30 nurses, 10 consultants, and five doctors and two pharmacists. In September 2023, I got a job of teaching assistant in the faculty of medicine here in Gaza at Al Azhar University. And since the war started, I lost the two previous jobs okay, and I started voluntary work in Al Aqsa hospital which is situated in the middle of Gaza.
Al Aqsa hospital is now one of the two main hospitals across all Gaza Strip, and I’m serving at the surgical department. And also, I established two medical volunteer refugee shelters. The last one I established about one month ago and that’s my life. And also, I go and come back to the hospital or even from the medical part by walking.
Daizy: How long does it take you to go and come back?
Dr. Mohammed Al Talla: From Al Maghazi town to Deir El Balah to the hospital, it takes two hours by walking and also when I return it takes the same. And also, in the morning today, I go to the medical part, which is in Nuseirat, it also takes another two hours from the place I am at. And in this war, I see my future destroying in front of my eyes and I can’t do anything. I had a lot of plans and a lot of dreams that already was destructed. I hope the war will finish and return to my normal life and start my plans and my dreams again.
Daizy: Well, I mean what a story and how old are you? I mean, you look so young, and you have done so much.
Dr. Mohammed Al Talla: Yeah, I did so much but I am young, I am 26.
Daizy: Wow. That’s incredible, incredible. God bless you. And God save and protect you for the people of Gaza that need your medical skill. We know how many medical staff are targeted and killed during this terrible, terrible war. And you told me that you were headed to Sheffield in the United Kingdom to undertake a course, a program or a scholarship. Can you tell us about that?
Dr. Mohammed Al Talla: Recently I received two unconditional offer for a master’s degree from Sheffield University, the first for Neuroscience and the second for cardio-vascular science. And I applied for great scholarship, which will be full scholarship, and I missed it because of the war here in Gaza. So, the master will begin next September, and I missed a great scholarship so I don’t know what I should do, and I don’t know how I can get this fund to support me to start this master next September. It’s one of my dreams this course. And I hope, I hope, I find someone or some organisation that can help me in this master because you know here in Gaza there is a shortage in medical staff and there is also a shortage in medical academic personnel. I like the surgery too much and I’m serving now in the surgical department, I did a lot of surgery and I hope that I will find someone to help me in this master. I received also an unconditional offer from Bristol University for cardio-vascular science. So now I have three unconditional offers for a master’s degree. So, I wish to find a fund for this master.
Daizy: So how can we help you with this? What do you need from us that we can tell, you know the world about, to help you with this degree to get there?
Dr. Mohammed Al Talla: Yeah, the last six months with the war I was too busy in the hospital, and I don’t have time to think how can I find the funds. After a long period of thinking I take a decision to establish a campaign, GoFundMe to help me, to support the master’s degree. Part of my plan, the funds of this campaign will go for two main way. The first one will go for my fund for this scholarship and the second way will go for a victim. I plan to give some of these funds to the victims here at Al Aqsa hospital, especially the person who needs to travel abroad to have their management abroad as they are too complicated cases, and already, I helped one victim. It was a child, a young female and she had complicated injury in her skull, and she need a graft from her skull, and I tried to facilitate this travel and tried to find management for her case abroad.
Daizy: Well, we will do everything we can to help you. And it’s important that people get to know you and get to know that you’re real because I think a lot of people are scared. There’s a lot of people asking for support from Gaza, and we all want to help Gaza, but I think it’s very important for them to see who you are. Tell me a little bit about your work in the hospital. how is Al-Aqsa still up managing? Has it been damaged severely by the strikes, the Israeli strikes?
Dr. Mohammed Al Talla: About one month ago, there was a direct strike at the hall of the Al Aqsa hospital, no words can describe what is happening at Al Aqsa hospital. Al Aqsa hospital is too crowded. And patients are sitting in the corridor of the hospital. In the corridor, yeah. And they are situated near us. There’s no distance between patients and also there are tents inside the hospital. There are refugees inside the hospital. So it’s totally crowded and there’s a shortage of medical staff, medical equipment. That’s why I decided to stay here as a lot of surgeons died, some of them travelled, and some of them are missing. So that’s why I took a decision to stay in the hospital, and I didn’t leave it since the war started. We try to manage these lifesaving conditions and sometimes we did some operations, some main operations without anaesthesia, just with the painkiller, what is called analgesia. So the health system here is too bad. And no words can describe it. Our shift in the surgical department consists of five doctors in the surgical department. Two of them were interns, two intern doctors. Me and another GP and the other doctor was a consultative surgeon. These are the members of the surgical team of my shift. Five members. There is totally complete shortage.
Daizy: A couple of weeks ago, there was diplomatic and international pressure on Israel to begin allowing much more aid to come into Gaza. And yet I’ve seen videos recently just today of hundreds of trucks, hundreds of trucks with aid being thrown out of it and destroyed by Israelis. I want to know if the aid has actually changed. Are you receiving more food, more water, more medical supplies, more aid as Israel is telling the world that it’s allowing thousands of trucks into Gaza now, what is the reality for you?
Dr. Mohammed Al Talla: Absolutely no. There’s two small trucks that can enter into Gaza and some of them was for trade not for aid. And if you see the videos besides the Rafah crossover in the Egyptian side, you can see thousands of trucks. They aren’t allowed to enter Gaza. Why? We deal with many patients, with many children with malnutrition and we cannot do anything for these children. Although the adult is also complaining of malnutrition. Personally, I was 83kg before the war. And now I am less than 60kg. So personally, I am malnourished. So, what about the children? Every day in the medical shelter I managed and I deal with malnourished children. So not all of the aid enter Gaza and also there is deficiency in the food and also there is a deficiency in the healthy water. So, the truth and the fact that not all aids enter Gaza.
Daizy: And I think this is something that, you know, we need the world to understand, and especially the political leaders who are listening to the Israeli authorities claiming to be allowing thousands of trucks every day.
Daniel Hagari: In the coming days, the amount of aid going into Gaza will continue to scale up even more. Food, water, medical supplies, shelter equipment and other aid.
Daizy: And yet the reality on the ground is that you have not seen any change in the situation for yourself.
Dr. Mohammed Al Talla: That’s right. Yeah. And also, I would like to mention something. Some of these aids reach Gaza and is expired and in some of these cans we can find inside it worms.
Daizy: The maggots.
Dr. Mohammed Al Talla: So, it’s expired yeah.
Daizy: It’s torture. It’s terrible. So tell me the GoFundMe. I just want to go back to that for a moment. So you’ve put a target of £40,000, is that correct?
Dr. Mohammed Al Talla: That’s right, yes.
Daizy: And that will help you get to the UK.
Dr. Mohammed Al Talla: Yeah, simply it will help. I hope that it will help and absolutely I will give part of this fund to the victim as I mentioned. Yeah, I think it will be a good amount for starting this journey.
Daizy: And you’ve had a good start. So hopefully we can encourage more people to support you and hopefully make your dream come true, but at least ease your life a little bit as well, because there are a lot of amazing people around the world who are desperate to help in any way that they can. And I’m sure, watching you speak and listening to you and listening to what you’re doing, it would be very encouraged to to support you.
Dr. Mohammed Al Talla: I hope that. I hope that. Before the war, I had two jobs, teaching assistant and Medical Director and I had two salaries. And I worked my dreams and plans according to this salary, and it was too good. And since the war started, I lost these jobs and now I am in voluntary work. The work I did is not paid, it is voluntary work. So that’s why I pushed myself to establish this fund.
Daizy: You need to get back on track. I think the world should be able to help you and support you.
Dr. Mohammed Al Talla: I hope.
Daizy: Because you’re contributing something very valuable to humanity and to the people of Gaza. Tell me how it feels to see your country destroyed like this.
Dr. Mohammed Al Talla: It’s too complicated to describe what I can feel. Every day I return from the hospital or even from the shelter. I have a depression and I didn’t try to express this depression to my family or to anyone around me. And really I lived very bad moments, even in the hospital to see that these families lost their families. You see a child in the hospital and he’s the only one person who still alive in all of his family. He lost all of his family and what you can do for him? How will he live? Who will get his aids? I don’t know I try to force myself to go alone, to separate myself from others. And I sometimes I have tears in my eyes, I didn’t show these tears to anyone around me. So, the situation here it’s very bad and I didn’t try to think about what is happening and only when I see the destruction, the amount of the destruction that around us, or even in my walking every day, I cannot imagine how these buildings will rebuild again, and where are the families that are inside these buildings and there is some of the families inside these destructed buildings till now and no one can get them out. I cannot imagine and I cannot describe the situation here. I force myself to hide these feelings always and I cannot express it. I just express it when I go to my bed to sleep or I force myself to go to an empty room and like this.
Daizy: It is heartbreaking. I can just imagine. But again, I say the courage that you have to keep going is very inspirational to us and we need you to keep going.
Dr. Mohammed Al Talla: However all of that I try to create hope by smiling, by saying simple words to the others. Every time I try to give smiles for every person even if I know him or not. I think it will be good and it makes some difference. So that’s why I’m trying to keep a smile always.
Daizy: It’s incumbent on every human being that has a soul, that has a heart, that believes in justice and humanity to help the Palestinians until you are free and until you have justice, and you can live truly independently on your own terms. I hope we are going to see a final conclusion.
Dr. Mohammed Al Talla: And also, I appreciate you, appreciate your support and I appreciate that you keep my voice heard. And I really thank you, and I hope this war will end soon. So, thanks a lot.
Daizy: Thank you, Doctor. Thank you very much. Thank you. It’s my pleasure and God keep you safe.
Dr. Mohammed Al Talla: I will try to do my best, Inshaallah ya Rab
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