His death was announced on social networks on Monday. Several Internet users then claimed that Ahmed Almaqadma, a plastic surgeon who worked at Al-Chifa hospital in Gaza, died within the care center during the Israeli army offensive which targeted the hospital complex on two last weeks of March.
The doctor’s death was confirmed Tuesday by several sources, including the English Royal College of Surgery. “We are deeply saddened to learn of the death of surgeon Dr Ahmed Almaqadma, reacted Tim Mitchell, the president of the professional organization. Our thoughts are with his family and his dedicated medical colleagues who treat those injured during the conflict and try to maintain services in such terrible circumstances. »
The same day, Ahmed El Mokhallalati, head of the plastic surgery department at Al-Chifa, also confirmed the death of his colleague. On March 26, he indicated that he had not heard from him: “Four days ago, we lost contact with my colleague, Dr Ahmed Al-Maqadma, a dedicated plastic surgeon who worked at Al-Maqadma Hospital. Chifa and who tirelessly treated patients throughout the war. Despite Israeli airstrikes that destroyed his home, he continued to serve Gaza hospitals. »
He would have disappeared in an area where Israeli soldiers would have been
Ahmed Almaqadma would have disappeared not while he was at his workplace, but in the Ansar area, about a kilometer from the hospital complex, an area where Israeli soldiers would also have been, explained his department head. on X. Ahmed Almaqadma’s mother, Yosra, also lost her life. According to testimonies from relatives spotted by 20 minutesboth would have died near a crossroads on Al-Quds road, two kilometers south of the hospital.
The Royal College of Surgery has not communicated on the circumstances of the doctor’s death and has not responded to our requests on the subject. Contacted by 20 minutesthe NGO Médecins sans frontières told us that it had no information on this subject.
When asked, representatives of the Israeli army told us that they could study our request for information only if we were first able to provide identity documents for Ahmed Al-Maqadma, documents which are not in our possession. .
In October, the doctor had confided to the Indian newspaper The Print that his house had been bombed. Married and a father, he had received a scholarship from the British Royal College of Surgery. The college reiterated its support for “the World Health Organization’s call for the protection of health facilities, health personnel, patients and civilians, in accordance with international humanitarian law.”
The Israeli army, which accuses Hamas of hiding in the hospital, claimed to have killed “more than 200 terrorists and arrested more than 900 people who surrendered” during its operation in the area of the hospital complex. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general of the WHO, indicated on March 31 that 21 patients had died since the siege of the health center began.