Hammam Alloh (Arabic: همام اللوح; c. 1987 – November 12, 2023) was a Palestinian nephrologist at Al-Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip.
Biography
Hammam Alloh undertook secondary school education in Gaza before leaving Gaza to study medicine and qualify as a nephrologist. He returned to Gaza after 14 years. On his return, he was the only nephrology specialist in Gaza.
After Israeli airstrikes on Gaza began in October 2023, Alloh gave several interviews to Western media about the situation of medicine in Gaza. On October 26 he gave an extended interview to Maya Rosen of Jewish Currents:
This is not the medicine I thought I would be practicing. I always wanted to progress in my field—to learn more, to teach more. In Gaza, I haven’t been able to do that. I hope to raise my kids to be ambitious—not to think about war, missiles, rockets. Every day, I see a fear in their eyes that I can’t do much about. It’s very painful. If you have kids, you know how horrible it is not to be able to comfort them, to ensure they are alright, to make them hope for anything beyond living one more day. We want to live freely like other people—to grow scientifically and economically, to walk in the street without fearing bombardments, to make plans. We want to be able to learn, think, grow, travel, dream—to feel like we are really human. Not to think only about meeting our basic needs. This is what life has always been about for us, and now—I want the world to know—we are being eradicated en masse. This is not what life should look like.
In a 2023 interview, Alloh discussed his work in the al-Shifa Hospital.
We are being exterminated. We are being massly eradicated. And you pretend to care for humanitarian and human rights, which is not what we are living now. To prove us wrong, please do something.
When asked why he hadn't left, he responded:
You think I went to medical school and for my postgraduate degrees for a total of 14 years so I think only about my life and not my patients?
Death and reaction
Alloh has been killed by Israeli airstrike on November 12, 2023, at the age of 36. His father, and his father and brother in law were also killed in the same attack.
Holly Cairns, leader of the Social Democrats in Ireland, quoted Alloh's final interview in an Irish parliamentary debate.
See also
References
- ^ Rosen, Maya (October 30, 2023). ""We Have Lost the Ability to Provide True Care"". Retrieved November 16, 2023.
- "'You think I went to medical school so I think only about my life?': Nephrologist and his family killed in Israeli airstrikes". New Indian Express. Retrieved November 16, 2023.
- ^ Hosford, Paul (15 November 2023). "Emotions run high as TDs discuss expulsion of Israeli ambassador". Irish Examiner. Retrieved November 16, 2023.
- ^ ""We're Being Exterminated": Hear One of Dr. Hammam Alloh's Last Interviews from Gaza Before His Death". Democracy Now!. November 13, 2023. Retrieved November 16, 2023.
- Shana, Fathimathu (November 14, 2023). ""Death Is coming To So Many People In Gaza," Said Dr Hammam Alloh In His Last Interview Before He Was Killed". Timeline Daily. Retrieved November 16, 2023.
