(WBBM NEWSRADIO) --At least five local doctors are flying to Gaza, a delegation organized by MedGlobal, a Chicago- based, international emergency health care response organization.
Dr. Thaer Ahmad is part of the delegation to the Gaza Strip, and a proud Palestinian, who grew up in Bridgeview, which he refers to as "Little Palestine."
Dr. Ahmad also served in war-torn Ukraine and similar to the situation there, he said many patients are requiring amputations in Gaza. Dr. Ahmad said that what he is hearing from sources on the ground are that patients are at risk of dying from infections after being amputated or being bedbound for the rest of their life.
MedGlobal staff members are trying to figure out "What interventions can be done and what impact can we have that can help save some of these people," according to Dr. Ahmad.
MedGlobal staff on the ground right now in Gaza, describe the situation as “the worst humanitarian crisis” they’ve seen, according to Dr. Ahmad.
Dr. Ahmad shared with WBBM some of the other sources he and his team turn to for the latest updates in Gaza.
"There's a consensus when it comes to the international humanitarian relief world-everything from UN agencies to Oxfam to Save the Children to MedGlobal to Doctors Without Borders, there's a consensus about the facts that are coming out of the Gaza Strip," he said.
"So there is no disagreement in regards to the degree of starvation that's happening or the food insecurity. There's no disagreement about the degree of destruction."
He acknowledges that many assume that information coming from the Gaza Health Ministry might be biased or compromised adding that the Pentagon, U.S. Department of Defense and U.S. intelligence agencies all suggest, if anything, that the death toll in Gaza is actually much greater than being reported.
Hamas' Oct. 7 attack from Gaza into southern Israel killed around 1,200 people, and some 250 others were taken hostage. Israel’s air, ground and sea assault in Gaza has killed more than 22,400 people, two-thirds of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory.
The count does not differentiate between civilians and combatants, the Associated Press reports.
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