Foreign volunteer doctor in Gaza strip says Gazans don't support Hamas

Hamas has exploited hospitals, and many Gazans do not support the terrorist group, according to Dr. Baxtiyar Baram, a Kurdish physician who recently volunteered in northern Gaza.

An interview with Baram, published this week on the Kurdish website Rudaw and on YouTube, provided unique insights into what has been happening in northern Gaza in recent weeks.

Baram revealed that not only does Hamas continue to exploit hospitals, but it also has a “VIP” section in one hospital, where it only allows certain patients – apparently those with connections – to receive treatment.

Baram went to northern Gaza after entering the Gaza Strip through Rafah in April, prior to the IDF’s operations in the Rafah area and its reentering Jabalya.

According to the report, he received permission to go from Rafah to northern Gaza as part of a small team that included four doctors and a nurse. It apparently was one of the first teams of foreign medical aid workers to enter northern Gaza in months, the report said.

Hamas exploits hospitals

“We made it to northern Gaza,” Baram told Rudaw’s Sangar Abdulrahman. “They needed an orthopedist; I was the only candidate who dared to go.” He recounted entering Rafah at a time when it was still a “normal” border crossing from Egypt to Hamas-controlled Rafah.

A Gazan girl near a destroyed building in Rafah (credit: RAHIM KHATIB/FLASH90)

To get to northern Gaza, however, the team had to cross the Netzarim corridor, an area controlled by Israel south of Gaza City. When the team passed into northern Gaza, he said, it reminded him of scenes from devastated Kurdish cities during the Anfal campaign, when Iraq was suppressing the Kurds. He compared northern Gaza to Halabja, a city that suffered grievously under Saddam Hussein, and also to the Saidsadiq area, where thousands were killed in 1988 by Iraqi forces.

Baram described his work in two hospitals, Al-Awda in Jabalya and Kamal Adwan in northern Gaza. There were IAF airstrikes near where he stayed, and one of them was so close, it blew away his blanket, he said.

Hamas continues to exploit hospitals, Baram said in the interview. It is a political and military organization that “needs to exploit all these places for survival, and that’s unfortunate, but I saw that hospitals had been used for hiding Hamas leaders,” he said.

Baram said he had spoken to a founder of Hamas in one of the hospitals and sat with him for coffee.The Gazans must accept that Hamas uses their hospitals as bases, because they cannot ask it to leave, he said, adding that this is the reality.

Baram described a wounded man who was affiliated with a Salafi religious movement, and apparently, because he was disliked by Hamas, they would not let him receive the proper treatment in the hospital.

“When we were trying to save his life, there was no oxygen, so we took him to intensive care on the third floor, and an employee stopped us, saying the department is only for VIPs,” he said.

Baram said he had challenged the employee and put his patient in the section anyway.

The exploitation of hospitals may go beyond Hamas using them as shelters, Baram indicated, suggesting that it also has influence that allows it to hijack the medical system to serve its own interests.

Self-serving

Baram also described how he felt Hamas did not have a strong base of support in Gaza. Support for Hamas was possibly as low as 10% of the population, he said, adding that Hamas rules the area with an “iron fist.”

“They have eyes everywhere,” he said. “Every bakery, coffee shop, [and] sunflower seller is associated with them.” In this way, Hamas continues its rule, he added.

Baram said it was possible that in some stores, the associates of Hamas have weapons. This stems from Hamas’s long control of Gaza and the many wars it has fought, he said. “They eliminated public opposition,” he added.

Nevertheless, Baram estimated that 90% of the Gazans were not on the side of Hamas but are afraid to be suspected of being against it.

Mafia groups

Mafia-like groups have become more prominent in Gaza due to the chaos, he said. As Hamas continues to focus on fighting Israel, the mafia groups are active. He said he saw how mafias steal aid, for instance. The aid is then sold on the black market.

Baram said he assumed Hamas takes advantage of the lack of stability and allows mafias to act in this way. It then seems like the chaos is the result of Hamas not being in control, causing people to beg it to return, he said.

Baram also said these mafia groups attacked the aid workers’ car when they crossed into areas in Gaza between Israeli control and Hamas control. These kinds of no-man’s-lands, apparently several kilometers on either side of Netzarim and other areas, are where the thieves are active, he said. “They carry swords,” he added.

The situation in Gaza is dire, according to Baram. He described how people are exhausted from the war and said he met people who had seen 42 of their family members killed since October 7.

People are on the brink of starvation, Baram said, adding that most people do not have any cash or money to buy staples, and many basic items are now very expensive. A cigarette can cost up to $14, he said.

Women mourn Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, at Al-Aqsa hospital in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, March 21, 2024. (credit: REUTERS/Ramadan Abed)

One man spent the equivalent of two months’ salary just to buy some eggplant, zucchini, and rice, Baram said. Only items made from flour are commonly found, and they enter northern Gaza as aid, he said. People are living in the destroyed and damaged buildings, and children are barefoot and begging for water, he added.

This was one of the first interviews, from a foreign perspective, since the war began to shed light on what is happening in Gaza, and it provided a relatively neutral overview of the situation on the ground.