Gaza City, November 2025

Sami Al-Jamal, MSF Nurse

The traces of the genocide are still present. Honestly, something striking is the extent of the systematic method by the [Israeli] forces in destroying this place. It's something systematic, a systematic annihilation in a way the mind cannot comprehend.

Zaher Okasha, MSF nurse

This area was full of life. It was organised. There was a vibrant market, there was a park, and the streets were clean and tidy.

On-screen text : In mid-October, after a fragile ceasefire took hold, Sami and Zaher returned to Gaza City to resume work in what was left of the medical facilities. The MSF teams had been gone for about three weeks, as a ground invasion swept through the city.

Sami

We are currently in the courtyard of the Al-Shifa Medical Complex. There were departments here that were completely destroyed.

Sami is working as part of the MSF team in Al-Shifa hospital. Over the last two years, the hospital has been repeatedly besieged and attacked.

They [the patients] would come down to get a moment of rest here. But unfortunately, after all this destruction, this area has been turned into a graveyard inside the Al-Shifa Medical Complex. If you look here, you’ll see the graves of people who were killed, because at that time, people couldn't take the bodies and bury them in the cemeteries.

On-screen txt : Zaher is working in the MSF clinic, located close to Al-Shifa Hospital, providing wound care for people with burns and other injuries.

Zaher Okasha, MSF nurse

In the last days before the evacuation of the Gaza clinic, we would receive patients with injuries from nearby attacks in the area. The sound of explosions was very loud. And there was fear of vehicles approaching, because there was a ground offensive from several areas. So this fear was gripping us.

On-screen text : For a couple of weeks, Sami was displaced to the south but would still come to work in the Al-Shifa hospital, in Gaza City.

Sami

When you walk from Gaza City to the southern area, you walk no less than 20-25 kilometres on foot. It would take approximately four to five hours for me to come to work. To start my morning shift at 8 AM, I would leave the house at approximately 4:30 AM. And when I arrived home at the end of the day, I would leave at 3:30 or 4 PM from work and arrive at approximately 7:30 or 8 PM. This road, of course, was full of danger. Shelling, gunfire from everywhere. There was nothing that could make you feel safe.

Sami later started working in the MSF field hospital in Deir Al Balah.

The striking thing at that time, is that when I would walk between the sections, between the patients, and the patients would recognise me. "Hey nurse!" They would call. "I'm so-and-so, do you remember me?" I would find the same patient that I was following up in the northern Gaza Strip area. I asked how the road was, did they travel safely. They would tell me the whole road was full of gunfire, full of death. We were all threatened at every moment with death. The shelling was around us, the gunfire was around us. They would always ask me, "When will we return? When will you open the Al-Shifa departments?”

Zaher

Coming back to work here the first day was a beautiful feeling. To return serving people who were in dire need of the services we provide. We received almost 64 cases, which was a large number for the first day of work after returning from displacement.

Those who did not move to the south, and remained in Gaza City, were in dire need of dressing follow-up and wound care. Their wounds were very bad. They were suffering from severe infections.

Sami

I was waiting for this moment, to return to providing health services completely, to reopen the Al-Shifa departments, reopen our clinics. Unfortunately, the Sheikh Radwan area is destroyed. The clinic [in Sheikh Radwan] is destroyed. So, we won't be able to provide our service there currently.

The good thing is that our departments in Al-Shifa are still okay. We can provide our services. At least the building exists, but tools and supplies are not there. Will we have enough supplies?


Zaher

The first time I came to check on my house, to see if it was still standing or if any part of it was intact, I saw that it was destroyed. I was full of sadness and loss. Because the house wasn't just walls, or just furniture. It was full of memories. It was warmth. It was a safe haven. For me, my wife, and my daughters.

When we came [today], there were people tidying up or repairing [their homes]. Even if it's just one room, there's no other shelter for them to go to. Because living in a tent is very difficult. They are trying to live with the bare minimum.

I will settle in a place. I will focus on my life. I will focus on my daughters' lives. Despite the destruction I'm seeing, hope exists. But it's difficult.



On-screen text: Despite the ceasefire, people in Gaza continue to suffer the consequences of the genocidal war waged by Israel for the past two years. The Israeli authorities must immediately allow a massive scale up of humanitarian aid throughout the Gaza Strip.