次々と運び込まれる犠牲者の中には親族も…勤務続けるガザの医師

【ハンユニスＡＦＰ＝時事】負傷者であふれるパレスチナ自治区ガザ地区南部ハンユニスの病院で働くマフムド・アスタル医師（３４）は、戦闘開始３日目に姉一家が全員死んだことを知った。（写真はパレスチナ自治区ガザ地区ハンユニスで、イスラエル軍の爆撃を受け崩壊した建物）
　勤務先のナセル病院でＡＦＰの取材に応えたアスタル医師は「遺体安置所に行くと、焼け焦げてばらばらになった姉の遺体があった」と語った。
　共に４０歳の姉とその夫、そして６歳から１３歳の子ども４人は空爆で一緒に亡くなった。
　ガザ地区を実効支配するイスラム組織ハマスは今月７日の越境攻撃で、イスラエル人約１４００人を殺害した。これを受けイスラエルは報復攻撃を開始。ガザ地区ではこれまでに子ども約３０００人を含む７３００人以上が殺されたとされる。
　アスタル医師は「姉が死んでから悪夢が頭を離れない。自分の子どもたちもばらばらになって病院に運び込まれるのではないかと想像してしまう」と話す。
　「子どもたちはいつか旅に行きたいと夢見ている。でも、この戦争を生き延びられるか分からない」
　しかし、悲しみに打ちひしがれながらも「負傷者を救うために働く以外の選択肢はない」と決意を語った。
　ナセル病院の救急部門で働くワラー・アブムスタファ（３３）医師は２７日、病院に搬送されてきた空爆の犠牲者「数十人」の中におば夫婦とその１５歳の息子がいたことを知った。
　おばと子どもは到着時に既に亡くなっていた。おばの夫は負傷が元でその後、病院で死亡した。
　「ばらばらになったいとこの体は布にくるまれた状態で運ばれてきた」「おばは母親のような存在だった」と涙をこらえながら語った。
　「私の責務でもあるし、医者の数も足りていない」。アブムスタファ医師も働き続ける覚悟だ。
　ナセル病院の呼吸器専門のラエド・アスタル医師は２３日、パニック状態の妻から自宅の向かいが爆撃されたとの電話を受け取った。
　負傷者らが運び込まれた救急部門に向かうと、犠牲者の中に親族がいた。
　「おばとその夫、二人の子どもたち、そしていとこの妻も死んだ」と話した。
　「どの町にも、どの通りにも、どの家にも、あらゆるところに死臭が漂っている」【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2023/11/01-15:36）

Mahmud al-Astal is one of many medics providing lifesaving care as casualties flood hospitals in Gaza, only to one day discover his sister and her entire family among the dead.
I went to the morgue and found her charred and in pieces, the 34-year-old doctor told AFP from the main hospital in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip.
On the third day of the war, while I was working at the emergency unit in Nasser Hospital, I discovered my sister had been killed with her husband and children, he said.
Those strikes razed entire buildings, including one where Astal's 40-year-old sister Sadafah died alongside her husband Hussein, also 40, and their children Fadwa, Azar, Ahmad and Suleiman, aged between six and 13.
Israel began striking Gaza Strip following the October 7 Hamas attack that saw gunmen storm across the border, killing 1,400 people, mostly civilians and taking 229 hostages, according to Israeli authorities.
The fierce aerial campaign has so far claimed the lives of more than 7,300 people, including about 3,000 children, in the impoverished enclave, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.
Ever since my sister was killed... the nightmares don't leave me. I imagine that my children will arrive at the hospital in pieces, Astal said.
My children dream of travelling one day. Now I don't know if they will come out of this war alive.
Despite the tragedy, he is determined to continue his vital work.
We have no other choice but to work and serve the injured to save them.
- 'Stench of death' -
Wearing a red medics vest, he examines a young girl bleeding from a head injury who is crying in the emergency room. Don't be scared, he consoles her.
Walaa Abu Mustafa, 33, also works as a doctor in the hospital's emergency unit.
She too was stunned to find her aunt Samira and her husband Tawfik and their 15-year-old son Sharif among dozens of victims of an Israeli strike who arrived at the hospital Friday.
Samira and Sharif were already dead on arrival while Tawfik succumbed to his wounds shortly afterwards, she said.
The torn body of my cousin arrived wrapped up in a sheet, she said.
My aunt was like a mother to me, she continued, struggling to catch her breath. I can't speak, I'm in shock over what happened.
But she too has vowed to continue my work, because it's my duty and there aren't enough doctors.
Her coworker, respiratory physician Raed al-Astal, was at the hospital on Monday when he received a panicked call from his wife saying a strike had hit the building opposite theirs.
He hurried to the emergency unit where the victims had been taken, and found his relatives were among the dead.
My aunt, her husband and their children as well as my cousin's wife were killed, he said.
The stench of death is everywhere, in every neighbourhood, every street and every house.