Lubnah prayed that the women’s bodies would be the last ones to die in a bombing after their parents, sister, and husband were killed. Dr. Marwan al-Sultan, one of the only two surviving cardiologists in the Strip, was one of the country’s most well-known doctors and director of the Indonesian Hospital.
Along with his wife Dhikra, their daughter Lamees, his sister Amneh, and Lubnah’s husband Mohammed, his son-in-law, were killed on July 2 by an Israeli bomb.
After evacuating their home in Jabalia in accordance with instructions from the Israeli occupation forces (IOF), the family had been living in an apartment there, which Israel had designated as “safe.” Despite the daily struggles of Israeli occupation, the so-called “Chalet area” in western Gaza City once provided families with time to relax and enjoy themselves.
No other building was destroyed, despite the fact that the bomb targeted Dr. Marwan directly in the room. Lubnah stayed alive because she had prepared food downstairs. Because they were away from the house, Omar, Ahmad, and Nimr, her brothers, also, managed to survive.
Dr. Marwan and his son Omar had a hopeful vision the day before his death when they learned of a potential ceasefire.
When a ceasefire is reached, we’ll first return home. In a month or two, we can resume operations as we did before thanks to everyone’s efforts. The hospital will then be rebuilt, he said. His father gave him inspiration.
Dr. Marwan was buried with him in his dreams.
The prayers of his daughter Lubnah were not answered. There were still victims in the genocide.
Another doctor, Dr. Musa Hamdan Khafaja, a consultant at Nasser Hospital in terms of obstetrics and gynecology, was killed on July 4. The attack and attack were both terrifyingly similar. Dr. Musa had flocked to al-Mawasi, another “safe zone,” and had also complied with the IOF’s orders, and had fled his home there. He pitched a tent there to provide for his family. Their grave was in that tent.
His wife and three young children, Shaza and Judi, and Adel, also passed away. His son Amr was the only one to survive.
Both men had dedicated their careers to ending bombings and hospital sieges while remaining with their patients.
Dr. Musa became the 71st healthcare worker to pass away in the previous 50 days, while Dr. Marwan was the 70th. According to the Government Media Office in Gaza, their deaths bring the total number of medical professionals who have died since October 2023 to at least 1, 580. Every two days since the start of the conflict, Israel has killed five medical professionals, or 16 of them, each week.
The most renowned medical professionals from Gaza are just a few of the victims of the genocide. Dr. Omar Farwana, the former dean of the Islamic University of Gaza, Dr. Rafat Lubbad, the director of Hamad Hospital for Artificial Limbs, Dr. Soma Baroud, a well-known obstetrician-gynaecologist, Dr. Sayeed Joudeh, the last orthopedic surgeon in northern Gaza, Dr. Adnan al-Bursh, the head of a women’s hospital in Beit Lahiya
On the way to work, Dr. Soma and Dr. Sayeed were killed. In Israeli custody, Dr. Adnan and Dr. Iyad passed away.
Dr. Hussam Abu Safia, the hospital’s director, has been detained since December 2024, along with more than 180 others in Israeli detention facilities.
A primary target continues to be the medical infrastructure, which is protected by international humanitarian law. Since the start of the war, 734 of these attacks have been documented by the World Health Organization. Hospitals have been converted into graveyards, according to Wikipedia.
This is deliberate destruction of Gaza’s capacity to live, not collateral damage. Every doctor who has been murdered demonstrates the loss of years of training, commitment, and the potential to save lives. Gaza’s capacity to heal, survive, and endure is being destroyed by each bombed hospital. Futures have been destroyed in these lives, not just lost ones.
In Gaza right now, this is the case. It has little to do with Israel’s stated military goals of bringing down Hamas and ensuring the release of the captured on October 7, 2023.
Instead, it’s what I like to call the “destruction of al-Ibah.” Al-Ibdah is the complete destruction of a people’s social, cultural, intellectual, and biological continuity, a process known as “absolute erasure.” And one of the most important parts of it is to kill medical workers.
Mohammed, Lubnah’s husband, was a Palestine Magazine journalist before he was killed, and they both spent one and a half years in Israel. He confided to Lubnah after his release that he felt that a death that he had experienced would have been preferable to what he had endured while imprisoned. She was deeply shaken by his confession.
Today, Lubna says, “Enough, please. Enough said, “Stop this war,” but this one, like her other requests, has already gone unanswered.
