Gaza Surgeon Killed After Refusing to Leave Hospital Despite Russian Citizenship

Palestinian Surgeon with Russian Citizenship Martyred After Refusing to Leave Gaza

Shiite News: During the attacks and siege by the usurping Israeli regime in Gaza, Palestinian surgeon Dr. Rizq Ahmed Abu Shaira, who held Russian citizenship, prioritized serving the oppressed people over saving his own life, and was ultimately martyred in the same hospital where he had spent years saving people’s lives.

The 52-year-old Dr. Abu Shaira was the head of the General Surgery Department at Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis. He could have left Gaza using his Russian citizenship if he had wished, but he did not leave the hospital throughout the war and continued treating the wounded despite a severe shortage of medicines and medical equipment during a siege of about three months.

On the morning of Thursday, 12 November, Israeli warplanes targeted the Yaseen building of Nasser Medical Complex with two missiles, one of which fell on the floors where the ICU and operating theatre were located. Dr. Abu Shaira had completed operations on patients just hours before the attack.

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In this attack, 6 Palestinians were martyred, including Dr. Abu Shaira, among them patients and their attendants, while more than 20 people were injured. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, after his martyrdom the number of medical personnel martyred in Gaza has risen to 1,724.