For several weeks at the end of 2023, one name featured more prominently in global news headlines about the Israeli-Gaza war than any other: al-Shifa Hospital. The name of Gaza’s largest medical facility became synonymous with the suffering of Palestinian civilians but also wound up in the justification for Israel’s ground operation, as government and military officials insisted the hospital was disguising a Hamas command centre.
Al Jazeera was determined to go beyond those headlines and place audiences inside the very corridors to see the horrors of practicing medicine under siege and witness the human experience tested under unthinkable adversity. Horror at Gaza Hospital weaves the stories of a young female surgeon and a content creator armed with only a phone as they face life- and- death inside al-Shifa Hospital as Israeli forces draw near.
In a media landscape saturated with sensationalism, this character-driven film provides an intimate perspective of life inside al-Shifa Hospital and chronicles the inhumanity of war. This film provides the last ever snapshot into al-Shifa Hospital functioning as a medical facility, in its final desperate days as medical staff made frantic, often futile, attempts to save lives too injured to rescue.
Since October 7th, Israeli forces have been blocking the entry of essential medical supplies and medics to the strip, bombing hospitals, medical facilities, ambulances and killing healthcare staff. In our pursuit of telling stories that go beyond the news headlines, our hope was to capture an intimate perspective of the emotional toll of war and the collapse of the healthcare system in Gaza.
Our team managed to secure access to Dr Sara Al Saqqa, Gaza’ s first female surgeon operating in the enclave’s largest medical complex, the al-Shifa hospital. Following Dr Al Saqqa through the hospital’s corridors and capturing her relentless efforts to rescue patients was emotionally demanding. The team working on this film saw people with missing limbs, elderly screaming in pain for hours, and women and children lying in agony on the hospital floor.
To add complexity, we also collaborated with Ahmed Hijazi, a Palestinian content creator based at al-Shifa. His mission was to capture, and share with the world, the atrocities committed by Israel against the people of Gaza. As we were in our final days of editing, Israel’s assault on northern Gaza was reaching new highs and an ambulance outside Al Shifa was targeted, killing innocent patients who were being transported to the hospital.
Ahmad was there to capture the aftermath of the explosions, which added a real-time element to our film.
The editing phase was also demanding, as we grappled with raw emotions and worked under a tight deadline to deliver our film as Israel’s military was closing in on central Gaza City. Soon after we published, following days of heavy attacks in the area, the hospital was raided and forced to shut down. More than 600 patients, 400 medical staff, and thousands of displaced people sheltering inside Al Shifa were forced to evacuate the medical compound. Our film provides an intimate perspective of life inside al Shifa hospital and chronicles the inhumanity of war. It stands as a plea for the world to bear witness and is a reminder that amid chaos and horror, there is space for news stories that shine a light on human resilience.
The short film gained global attention after its publication on Al Jazeera’s digital platforms, reaching a large audience on Instagram and Twitter. Viewers, eager to learn more about the hospital’s internal workings during a critical juncture in history, actively engaged with the content- they commented and shared the film which got over 2.5 million views across Instagram and Twitter. Despite its initial success on Youtube, the platform blocked the film soon after it was published, due to its sensitive content, underscoring the challenges faced when reporting inside Gaza. Our film provides quite possibly the last ever snapshot into al-Shifa Hospital functioning as a medical facility, in its final desperate days as medical staff made frantic, often futile, attempts to save lives too injured to rescue.
