Al Aqsa Hospital: ‘In The Hush Before the Storm, The Fear of Everything’
Ali Altawil, M.D. is a general practitioner and writer bearing witness to and shedding light on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, capturing lived realities with a poetic voice. He works at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the heart of Gaza, where he and his family endure the same struggles as the people he serves. Through his profession and his words, he resists oppression and holds on to the hope of a better tomorrow. If you’d like to support his work, visit his GoFundMe page at https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-me-save-my-life-and-pursue-my-education.
Inside a hospital in Gaza,
What does the scene look like?
Tear-filled eyes.
Pale faces.
Breaths held…
in trembling chests.
A silence, thick.
But not the peaceful kind,
no…
It’s the silence that screams.
The kind that tightens your lungs,
like the air itself is afraid to breathe.
It’s the hush before the storm.
The fear of everything,
and nothing
all at once.
There,
scattered limbs,
blood-streaked floors,
the stench of gunpowder
sewn into every inhale.
Loss presses down
like the weight of the sky.
Tears fall freely,
as if they’ve forgotten
how to stay in.
By the wall,
a young man holds his face.
Not a sound.
But his body shakes
like grief just stabbed him
in the soul.
Close by,
a mother chants her child’s name,
again,
And again,
And again,
As if her voice
could pull him back
from the grave.
“My baby… my heart…
Where are you?
Say something.
Anything…”
In the corner,
an old man, shattered by time,
sits on the floor.
Prayer beads trembling
in his tired fingers.
He whispers:
“O Allah… grant peace…
I don’t object.
But my heart…
my heart can’t bear this.”
Nearby,
a girl clutching
blood-soaked clothes
like a sacred relic.
She whispers:
“This…
this was the last thing he wore…”
Across the scene,
a doctor
screaming,
Crying,
Pressing his hands
to his face,
his head,
his heart.
Trying to heal others,
while no one,
no one,
heals him.
Here,
blood isn’t just a scene.
It’s a signature,
A collective death certificate,
A testimony,
that the world
has lost
its soul.
The pain is one.
The scenes repeat.
But every tear tells a story.
And every scream
carries a lifetime,
shattered
in a single
Breath.
