"It's Just Barbarism": Dr. Feroze Sidhwa Mourns Friend Killed in Israeli Hospital Strike in Gaza

Israel’s latest bombing of Nasser Hospital in Gaza on Thursday killed six Palestinians, including surgeon Dr. Rizk Abu Shaira. He was featured in the recent documentary American Doctor, which follows international medical volunteers in Gaza’s battered hospitals as they work alongside Palestinian colleagues.

Israel claimed, without providing evidence, that it targeted a senior Hamas militant in the hospital strike. Israel has repeatedly bombed medical facilities in Gaza since the start of the genocide in October 2023, even though such attacks are prohibited under international law.

“It’s just barbarism. I don’t know why we’re supporting this,” says Dr. Feroze Sidhwa, one of the titular American doctors in the documentary, who demands accountability for Israel’s actions and a change in U.S. policy toward the country. “That’s an American-made bomb dropped by an American-made airplane burning American-supplied jet fuel.”

Sidhwa also comments on the catastrophic flooding in Gaza that has swamped the temporary shelters of tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians as Israel continues to block the entry of shelter materials into the territory. As a result, “babies are going to die of hypothermia in Gaza for the fourth year in a row,” Sidhwa says.