A girl of 13 smiles nervously. She will soon be operated on for the second time in a short time, at a hospital in Gaza. There are people everywhere. Not only patients and employees, but also people who have sought refuge. Every vacant corner is now occupied; even in the stairwells there were people sleeping. Around 25,000 people live in and near the hospital. Children, women and men have set up tents outside, close together. They don’t care that it’s crowded. They only care if it is safe. Or, a little safer than other places, at least. These surroundings do not make the girl any less nervous. Before her first operation, she gave her tall, Norwegian doctor a “high five”. He’s too nervous for now. To comfort her, the doctor asks if she has any siblings. The girl nods, she has three brothers and three sisters. The doctor asks how old they are, but then the nerves are replaced with sadness in the eye. Everyone is dead, she says. Parents too. – I know I’ll be professional as long as I’m wearing the uniform, but right now I’m struggling. Very. That’s what the senior Norwegian doctor says. Or Thor-Erling Engemyr, as his name is. Together with five other health workers from Norway, he traveled to Gaza in January. For several weeks they worked at the European hospital in Gaza and tried to save lives. He performed around 70 operations, including on the poor girl who had lost her family. It all started with a missed call. The Family Council’s decision It is Christmas Eve, and the Lillesand man Thor-Erling is at a cabin with his family. Inside there is a fire in the fireplace, outside it is thick with snow. Right then, it’s almost as if the rest of the world doesn’t exist. Then suddenly the world jumps into the cabin. Thor-Erling has a missed call from an old colleague and calls again. My colleague Geir has been to Gaza several times, and will go down again soon. This time he wants Thor-Erling to attend. – My first thought was that “oh, yes, I want this, this is right”. As an orthopedic surgeon, he works with injuries to muscles and bones. Such a doctor is needed in Gaza now, he knows that. Then he must hear what the family thinks. They gather around the kitchen table. Both his wife and daughters aged 13 and 16 understand that this is important, even if it is difficult. – I understand that they are afraid of not getting their dad home again. The family council nevertheless agreed: Dad must move down. The Lillesand man thus becomes part of the team of six that will travel down to Egypt on 8 January. The Norwegian team from Norwac entered Gaza on 10 January. From left: Erik Fosse, Geir Stray Andreassen, Thor-Erling Engemyr, Hilde Vollan, Kjersti Fiveland and Mohammed Abou-Arab. Photo: Privat / news Feels safe Right from the start, Thor-Erling strongly believes that he will get through it all with his life intact. – I am relatively naive, but also very realistic as a person. There are over 2 million people in Gaza, and I would probably be one of the safest there, says Thor-Erling. International rules of war specifically say that it is not allowed to attack hospitals or health personnel. Carpet and curtains act as dividing walls in the hospital. In the corridors, there is just enough space for the staff to move the beds from room to room. Photo: Thor-Erling Engemyr The many thousands who have sought refuge at the hospital also feel safer there. – They say that they feel safer when there are foreigners in the hospital. The next thing they ask is, “How long will they be here? When are they leaving again?”. Israel has nevertheless attacked hospitals several times since the war started. In November, for example, the Israeli army (IDF) entered the Al Shifa hospital, the largest in Gaza. The World Health Organization (WHO) has registered 497 attacks against the health care system in the Palestinian area from the start of the war on 7 October to mid-December. The overview does not say anything more about where the attack took place or who is behind it. “Stand on” Throughout his stay in Gaza, Thor-Erling takes with him a memory of the family waiting for him at home. One daughter actually made a bracelet for him before departure. Photo: Private Thor-Erling does as the bracelet says, he stands by it. So do the colleagues he travels with. One of them speaks Arabic, and can therefore go straight into an operation when they arrive. The others begin to prepare. But even if these are experienced doctors who know what they are doing, this is not a normal situation. Hospitals in Gaza lack both equipment, medicines and clean water. The operating theaters at the hospital in Gaza are simple and slightly less well equipped than at home in Norway. It is still the lack of clean equipment that is the biggest problem. Photo: Thor-Erling Engemyr Into the bubble Thor-Erling describes the operations as if he were entering a bubble. – The focus is on the patient and the injury, not necessarily that there has been a bomb and that we are in the middle of a war zone. Nevertheless, it is impossible to forget the war completely, because the hospital lacks so much of the equipment he usually has. The team barely has time to sit down or relax. There are constantly new patients who need help. This is how he keeps busy. It helps. When Engemyr operates he enters a bubble. Photo: Privat / news – I can hear the drone, but as long as I’m operating, I manage to block out the sounds. But as soon as I move out of the operating theatre, I hear the sound of drones flying over the hospital; the crackle of machine guns not far away. It’s worst at night. Then he lies still and listens to the bombs falling. – I am not very afraid of being hit, I feel safe in the hospital. But I think a lot about who the bombs hit and whether I have to operate on them the next day. Hope for the future After about two weeks and around 70 operations, the team returned home. A new team of foreign doctors and nurses will replace them. Thor-Erling is happy to be able to travel home to his family. – But it is also very brutal to have to leave so many people here, in so much distress. They get out of Gaza, unscathed. At home, life had gone on as usual, but Thor-Erling was left with a new perspective. How small the problems at home are, compared to what the people in Gaza experience. – The grief and terror they feel every single day in Gaza, it is completely impossible to take in. Back in Lillesand, the problems are minor. Engemyr hopes to be able to travel back to Gaza again. Photo: Victoria Marie Nordahl / news He is already clear that he wants to return to Gaza, because the need there is so great. – The hope is that they will not need me and other foreign doctors, and that the war will end. Because he will, I just don’t know when. – Then I look forward to being involved in building up hospitals in Gaza again.
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The Norwegian doctor Thor-Erling Engemyr from Lillesand traveled down to Gaza to help in a hospital – Special
