Letter to the editor:

A group of 99 US medical professionals who volunteered in war-torn Gaza have sent an open letter to President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.  One of the signatories is Dr. Laura Swoboda of Milwaukee, who is the Nurse Practitioner/Wound Care Coordinator for the Community Health Division of Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin.  

This is what they have witnessed:  

Almost everyone in Gaza is sick or injured.

Virtually every child under five with whom they worked had both a cough and diarrhea.

Malnutrition in mothers is resulting in spontaneous abortions and underweight newborns.

Babies are starving to death daily because the mothers are too malnourished to breastfeed and there is a lack of formula and clean water.

Horrific injuries on a massive scale with insufficient medical resources.  

Every signatory saw children who had violence intentionally inflicted upon them, routinely treating pre-teen children who were shot in the head or chest.

Immense traumatization of their Palestinian healthcare colleagues.

No evidence of Palestinian militant activity was observed in any of Gaza’s healthcare facilities.

Here is the letter’s closing statement:

“We are not politicians.  We do not claim to have all the answers. We are simply healing professionals who cannot remain silent about what we saw in Gaza.  Every day that we continue supplying weapons and munitions to Israel is another day that women are shredded by our bombs and children are murdered with our bullets.

President Biden and Vice President Harris, we urge you: end this madness now!”

Terry Hansen

Milwaukee