Turkish doctor recounts difficult choices during volunteer work in Gaza

ISTANBUL

A Turkish pediatric surgeon who volunteered in Gaza says he had to make agonizing decisions as hospitals were bombed and medical resources ran out, forcing doctors to choose which children to save.

Taner Kamaci, a pediatric surgery specialist, told Anadolu that he had to decide between operating on two critically injured children at once. “Choosing one meant leaving the other to die,” he said. “It was the hardest decision of my life.”

Kamaci was in Istanbul this week to attend the final four-day session of the Gaza Tribunal, a global and independent initiative investigating Israel’s alleged war crimes in Gaza.

The tribunal, chaired by former UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine Richard Falk, opened Thursday at Istanbul University with the participation of academics, human rights advocates, media representatives, and civil society organizations.

It will conclude on Oct. 26 with the announcement of its final verdict.

During the session, Kamaci testified about his experience treating children and civilians in Gaza during Israeli attacks.

“Israel is not only fighting Hamas; it is waging war on children and women,” he said. “Ambulances were bombed, hospitals destroyed, and medical supplies like anesthesia and antibiotics were blocked. Even the basics—electricity, water, and food—were being denied. It’s a campaign that amounts to genocide.”

Kamaci said the scenes there were far worse than what people see on television.

“What we watch on screens is not even one percent of reality,” he said. “Children who lose their limbs live in pain for months. Families shelter in hospital corridors or makeshift tents, and many have no bread to eat.”

He described chaotic hospital conditions, where patients were treated on floors amid shortages of equipment and staff. “Hospitals were being bombed as we worked,” he said. “There were no stretchers left; IVs were started and stitches done on the ground. That was daily life.”