Israel-Gaza war threatens Palestinian medical student’s dreams of becoming doctor

Palestinian student Aseel Abu Haddaf was due to graduate medical school in Gaza this year, but now lives in a tent as her home and her university lie in rubble

In addition to household chores in the tent, she also volunteers for medical duties as far as she can with local authorities to get practical experience in doctoring

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Aseel Abu Haddaf (middle), a Palestinian medical student who fled her house in Khan Younis with her family, sits next to her father at a tent camp where they shelter in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Photo: Reuters

Published: 9:21pm, 29 Jan 2024

Palestinian medical student Aseel Abu Haddaf was due to graduate medical school in Gaza this year, but instead she is living in a tent as her home and her university lie in rubble from Israeli air strikes, wondering if she will ever become a doctor.

Israel’s war in Gaza, triggered by a Hamas attack on October 7 that killed more than 1,200 people, has uprooted every vestige of normal life in the tiny, crowded enclave and killed about 25,000 Palestinians according to local health authorities.

For students like Abu Haddaf the future is even more uncertain than for most, not knowing if their hard years of study will now count for anything or if what remains of the university still has any record of their academic progress.

“Medicine has been my ambition ever since I was young. As a child, I always used to see myself as a doctor because of the situation we live in Gaza,” Abu Haddaf said, adding that the devastation of the war had made her yet more determined to achieve that goal.

Aseel Abu Haddaf, a Palestinian medical student who fled her house in Khan Younis, now spends much of her day cleaning the family tent, washing clothes and cooking the little food they can find. Photo: Reuters

She had been in the final year of her six-year course at Al-Azhar University in the southern part of Gaza City, ready to graduate later this year and start work as an intern to become a fully fledged doctor. She hoped eventually to become a surgeon.

Gaza City has been largely cut off from the rest of the enclave for weeks after Israeli forces encircled it during their first major offensive into the enclave, but massive destruction has been evident from video, photographs and satellite pictures.