ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
The Israeli attack that killed five journalists in Gaza also killed four medical staff and a rescue worker at the Nasser Hospital. The unprecedented killing of local journalists and Israel barring almost all foreign journalists from Gaza has left doctors and nurses among the most important witnesses to the war's catastrophic toll on civilians. But now, as Jane Arraf reports, Israel is increasingly rejecting foreign doctors applying to volunteer in Gaza - many of them Americans. And a note - this piece contains descriptions of death, violence and children harmed in war.
JANE ARRAF, BYLINE: Dr. Yassar Arain is a pediatrician from Texas whose specialty is treating the sickest of sick babies - preterm infants or those with birth defects. He volunteered last year in Gaza. He says it was terrible and traumatic, and he couldn't get it out of his mind. Arain, who's 40, decided to go back. He was accepted by a medical aid organization, had his credentials approved by the U.N. Health Organization, took leave from his practice and bought a ticket to Jordan. And then?
YASSAR ARAIN: So I got that approval. I had been obviously planning for months on end. And on my way to Amman, I get a text message saying that I was denied.
ARRAF: An arm of the Israeli military sent a message to his organization with a red line through his name. A Jordanian doctor due to go in with him was also denied. There was no explanation. Back in the U.S., Arain had been vocal about his experience, including his first patient in Gaza - a 9-day-old baby.
ARAIN: On April 12, he's breastfeeding with his mother in their tent in Nuseirat (ph) refugee camp when a quadcopter came down and started shooting. And a bullet went in through one side of his skull and outside of the other.
ARRAF: Medical aid organizations say the rejections are part of a pattern by Israel. The head of the Palestinian American Medical Association, Dr. Mustafa Musleh, says rejections have increased over the last three months.
MUSTAFA MUSLEH: I would say more than 50% of the doctors that we send end up being denied.
ARRAF: Although the applications are sent to the U.N. weeks in advance, the unexplained Israeli denials are relayed just hours before the mission starts.
MUSLEH: So this doctor takes four weeks of time off, and then, literally, like, four to six hours before the entry, we get the confirmation of approval or denial.
ARRAF: That means that security convoys taking medical staff to Gaza often leave half empty.
MUSLEH: Those are specialties that are highly needed, and if those doctors did not get in, those patients will not get treated. You know, it's as simple as that.
ARRAF: He said the day before, an oncologist was among two doctors scheduled to go into Gaza with PAMA, as his organization is known. Both were denied. The increasing rejections are in addition to previous Israeli restrictions, including banning medical volunteers with Palestinian heritage and preventing teams from taking in any medical supplies, according to aid groups. Israel, in response to NPR questions, said only that the entry process is subject to prior security screening. Until May of last year, PAMA used to send in 15 to 20 doctors at a time, with up to 400 suitcases with medication and equipment.
MUSLEH: Of course, it was not even enough. But, like, you know, it was something, you know - that we at least were facilitating their work when they get in.
ARRAF: With so many Gaza journalists killed and Israel barring almost all foreign reporters, doctors and nurses have been among the last remaining witnesses to what's happening in Gaza. In a hotel room in Amman, Dr. Mimi Syed, an American emergency room physician, has just been told two hours ago that Israel rejected her for her third trip in. Syed has also been vocal about the medical catastrophe in Gaza, speaking publicly with officials, including the U.N. secretary general.
MIMI SYED: Just seems like, you know, this is a targeting of certain people who are going to be exposing the truth of what's happening in Gaza - another way to prevent that.
ARRAF: She and a French doctor had already landed in Jordan - a requirement for being considered for the missions - before both were told they were rejected. On her previous missions to Gaza, Syed befriended a sixth-year medical student.
SYED: I'm very close with, and I speak to her daily. She's like my sister. And when I had to tell her the news that I was denied, you know, the message she sent me is shattering.
ARRAF: The student did not want to be identified because of fear of retaliation by Israel. The message she sent - the sound of drones in the background - seemed like a goodbye.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED MEDICAL STUDENT: I no longer have any hope. Everything feels over. Mimi, I don't want anything from life except death 'cause I truly believe I will find peace on it. I wish there another chance to see you, my dear - hug you. But I know I won't make it.
ARRAF: The message left Syed in tears.
SYED: And I can't tell you what that makes me feel like. It's devastating (crying), and I feel hopeless that I can't provide anything for her.
ARRAF: Despite the increased danger, she's desperate to go back. She says it's because she has small children, and she feels like all of Gaza's children are her children.
Jane Arraf, NPR News, Amman. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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