First Health Loss- Dr. Saaed Maher Darabieh

12 Mart 2025

The ongoing genocide in Gaza left ten months behind. The Palestinian authority declares the number of people who were killed in Gaza genocide is 40,450. However, a group of doctors and nurses who took part in charity work in Gaza wrote in their letter to The USA president Joe Biden, his wife and vice president that the number of deaths was a lot more than 40,000 [1]which was what the Palestinian authorities declared. Doctors, according to their experiences and observations of Gaza and the field, stated that the number of deaths was at least 90,000.[2] Another group of doctors pointed out that the death count in the Gaza genocide might be over than 186,000.[3]

The bloodiest genocide of the modern period, Gaza genocide is transparently distinguished from the ongoing wars and civil wars such as in Syria, Yemen, Sudan and Ukraine with the political and military tactics conducted by state of Israel. Different from the aforenamed war fields, Israel backed by the almost infinite support of western states and the USA as the super government of the world literally pogroms 2.3 million civilian people which it jammed to a narrow strip. It is obvious that, from the start, the main purpose of the attacks targeted towards the civilian infrastructure is to paralyze life and kill as many civilians as possible. Thus, in these attacks -75.000 tons of bombs (30 kg per person) used- 380 thousand houses, 412 schools and universities, 32 hospitals, 53 community health centers, 556 mosques and 3 churches were destroyed or became unusable. The Palestinian government stated that this destruction caused 30 billion dollars worth of economical loss.[4]

One of the tens of thousands of people massacred in the genocide being carried out by Israel against the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank is Dr. Saaed Maher Abdel Hadi Darabieh, a 28-year-old young doctor. Saaed was born in 1995 in the Jabalia refugee camp as the first child of a father who worked as a nurse in patient care. A year later, Saaed's father purchased a house in the Beit Lahia area in the northern Gaza Strip, and the family moved from the refugee camp to their own house. Saaed grew up in their home in Beit Lahia in a loving family environment. As the eldest of five brothers and two sisters, Saaed was the hero and role model for all his siblings. Completing his primary and secondary education at UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) schools, Saaed graduated with honors as one of the brightest students at his high school.

Dr. Saaed Maher Darabieh

His parents, both working in the healthcare sector, dreamed of Dr. Saaed becoming a respected doctor and a leader for his siblings and family. Growing with these ideals, Dr. Saaed earned a place at the Faculty of Medicine at Zagazig University in Egypt in 2013. After six intense and successful years of medical training, he returned to Gaza in 2019 to serve his people as a doctor. Dr. Saaed began his career amidst a series of crises and tragedies, including the Corona crisis and the bloody Ramadan attacks of 2021 aimed at Gaza which the state of Israel calls “grass mowing”[5], during which he worked at Ministry of Health hospitals and later at UNRWA clinics. He lastly started his urology specialization at Gaza's Al-Shifa Hospital, where he remained until he was martyred in the ongoing conflict.

Everyone who knew Dr. Saaed foresaw a bright future for him. His dedication to his work, compassionate communication with patients, commitment to professional development, and academic aspirations earned him special respect within the medical community and his family circle. In an interview, his brother mentioned that Dr. Saaed declined a good job opportunity abroad, stating that his people needed him and that serving them in their difficult times was a duty he undertook hoping for Allah's pleasure.

Beyond medicine, Dr. Saaed dedicated time to reading in various fields. An avid swimmer and amateur diver, he was an energetic and cheerful member of youth clubs in Gaza. He also engaged in various sports, particularly football, believing in the discipline it provided both mentally and physically. Those who knew him appreciated his easy-going nature and compassionate interactions with patients. On social media, he would humorously highlight the foundation and not the results in arguments about the challenges Gaza’s medical community had faced before October 7 particularly insufficient sources and income restriction of doctors, urging his peers to work for the people and make sacrifices for Allah's sake.

In 2021, Dr. Saaed married Dr. Haneen Abu Safia who was also a doctor. The couple, who built a harmonious and happy home, welcomed their first child, Ayman, in 2022. Shortly after Saaed's martyrdom, their second child, Ahmed, was born into the world as an orphan under Israeli attacks.

Father of martyred Dr. Saaed and his child Ayman

When the health administration in Gaza declared a state of emergency on October 9, 2023, and an emergency plan for all the hospital staff was started. Dr. Saaed, as the emergency plan started, understood that he was going to be apart from his family for a while. Dr. Saaed bid farewell to his family, entrusting his pregnant wife and son to his mother, and began working in the emergency department of Al-Shifa Hospital. Fate had other plans for Dr. Saaed. On that day, his phone malfunctioned, and he went to repair it at the Jabalia camp market before heading to the hospital. While in the central area of the camp (Jabalia camp), Israeli aircraft bombed the camp and the market, accomplishing one of the first horrific massacres of the Gaza genocide.[6] The bombing place was one of the Palestine’s and maybe the world’s most crowded camps’ central market. The Gaza Health Ministry, according to the first data, announced that 50 civilians were martyred, and hundreds were injured in the attack. Dr. Saaed’s family couldn’t reach him for hours. After hours of searching among the wounded and martyrs, his family could detect that Dr. Saaed was among those killed hardly a day after. That way Dr. Saaed became the first doctor martyred in the Gaza genocide, though unfortunately not the last.

I have spoken to his wife, Dr. Haneen, now living in a tent with thousands of displaced civilians in Khan Younis. Dr. Haneen spoke of her late husband with love and longing: "My dear husband left me with two orphaned children. In their innocent and beautiful faces, I see our happy memories. I feel deep sorrow for the pain they have been exposed to at such a young age, what was stolen from them is the love of a father. What sin did these innocents commit to deserve this? There are over forty thousand martyrs in Gaza and tens of thousands wounded. The number of orphans and widows is many times more. The martyrs of Gaza, -including my dear husband who was the father of my two orphans- the losses who don’t even have a grave, the widows, the orphans of it are not just cold, lifeless numbers mentioned in news bulletins. Each has a heart-wrenching drama."

The next day, colleagues and coworkers, including Deputy Health Minister Dr. Yousef Abu Al-Rish, bid farewell to Dr. Saaed in a ceremony held in the courtyard of Al-Shifa Hospital. His fellow doctors gathered before his body, expressing their grief and delivering important messages to the world about the plight of civilians and the targeting of hospitals and healthcare workers, who are supposed to be protected under international agreements. Dr. Abu Al-Rish emphasized that Dr. Saaed's sacrifices in the service of humanity would not be forgotten and that his legacy would live on in our hearts and memories. He called on international institutions and powers to protect healthcare personnel and facilities from the systematic targeting by Israeli occupation forces. "The Ministry of Health is determined to provide steady and continuous healthcare to our people, who are being subjected to genocide by the occupier Israel, which disregards international laws. We bid farewell to our martyr with this determination.[7]" said Abu Al-Rish.

Yet, sadly, nothing has changed. The world watches as the healthcare sector continues to lose its brave and bright members. May Allah have mercy on them.

In the picture -standing before Dr.Saaed's body- his father, Palestine Deputy Health Minister, Dr. Adnan Al-Bursh who later arrested and killed, Dr. Muhammad Abu Salmia who was subjected to heavy torture, Dr. Abdul Latif Al-Hajj whose family was directly targeted and killed and other colleagues of the martyr.

I would like to thank Dr. Hasan Al-Sagga, journalist-author Mustafa Ekici and medical student Sudenaz Coskun for their contributions.

[1] https://tr.euronews.com/2024/07/20/gazzede-hayatini-kaybeden-sivillerin-sayisi-40-bine-yaklasti

[2] https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/07/26/american-physicians-and-nurses-observations-from-the-gaza-strip-since-october-7-2023/

[3] https://serbestiyet.com/featured/gazzede-soykirimin-boyutlari-zannedildiginden-de-fazla-lancet-olu-sayisinin-186-binden-fazla-oldugunu-aciklarken-rakamlarin-194-binden-514-bine-kadar-yukselmesi-muhtemel-173693/

[4] https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2024/4/23/photos-200-days-of-israels-war-on-gaza

[5] https://harici.com.tr/fp-israil-gazze-muharebesini-kazansa-bile-savasi-kaybedebilir/

[6] https://turkish.aawsat.com/arap-d%C3%BCnyasi/4641766-i%CC%87nsanlar%C4%B1n-bar%C4%B1%C5%9F-zaman%C4%B1-s%C4%B1k%C4%B1nt%C4%B1lar-%C3%A7ekti%C4%9Fi-sava%C5%9Fta-ise-katliamlara-u%C4%9Frad%C4%B1%C4%9F%C4%B1

[7] https://www.facebook.com/SHIFAGaza/

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