Kurdish doctor Baxtiyar Baram is an orthopedic surgeon, lives in Denmark and works for Norwegian NORWAC Association. He volunteered with a team of doctors to go to northern Gaza from April 28 to May 22 to work in hospitals and assist the wounded Palestinian civilians as they have been devastated by the war.
Dr. Baram has worked and stayed in both the Kamal Adwan and Al-Awda Hospitals, which he said were designated by the United Nation and agreed to be recognized as such by the Israeli government. Indeed, this team of doctors was granted the approval from the Israeli government to enter the Gaza Strip to provide medical assistance to people.
However, Dr. Baram in an exclusive interview with the Kurdish channel, RUDAW, explained the situation and what he witnessed in Gaza. He said upon the attack on Aljabalia area and the perimeter of (Kamal Adwan) Hospital, the team had to evacuate completely and move to (Al-Awda) Hospital. Dr. Baram said that the Israeli troops informed them that they had to evacuate (Al-Awda) Hospital as well because they are preparing to attack it.
Dr. Baram said, “ Hamas, as a political and military organization, needs to utilize every place for its strategic plan and own survival, of course, unfortunately when I say this, I witnessed that in the hospitals, they utilize them (the hospitals) to hide Hamas’s leaders.”
Indeed, Dr. Baram said that he witnessed Hamas’ leaders using the hospitals as a human shield. Dr. Baram said that he spoke to the Hamas’ leaders in the hospitals. In fact, he said, “ Yes, we saw them and spoke to them. One of the founders of Hamas Organization was Mr. Munir Albursh.”
Furthermore, Dr. Baram said it was not a secret that Hamas’ leaders were using the hospitals as shelters. As a team of doctors, he said that the purpose of the hospital was, of course, was to assist wounded people only.
However, Dr. Baram mentioned that Hamas’ popularity has been greatly diminished as people have endured the war that Has began that has devastated their families. Generally, Hamas has no support among the majority of people, as Dr. Baram said. But the fact is that with its power and coercive abilities, Hamas is able to control the people of Gaza.
Obviously, the war in Gaza became a factor for many mafia groups to exist, as confirmed by Dr. Baram. He has witnessed many groups that continue to exploit the situation and confiscate humanitarian assistance intended for people of Gaza so it can be sold in the black market. Hamas is using theses group for its political purpose, Dr. Baram said.
By using hospitals as shelters and exploiting the situation for its own political purposes, Hamas’ leaders are not representing the Palestinians but rather serving their own political agenda. As Munir Albursh told the volunteer doctors team ‘between religion and politics, we have chosen politics.”
– Serwan Zangana supported Operation Iraqi Freedom as a U.S Army translator before coming to the U.S from Kurdistan, Iraq in 1997 to seek political asylum. He was granted asylum status and years later proudly became a U.S citizen. He currently serves as a correction officer in Roanoke.
