Palestinian doctor Hani Bseiso faced a harrowing decision when his teenage niece was injured by Israeli shelling in her Gaza City home: whether to amputate her leg or leave her to bleed to death. Unable to reach a nearby hospital, and armed with only a pair of scissors and some gauze from his medical bag, Dr. Hani Bseiso took a bold and courageous decision.
Bseiso decided to perform surgery on his niece A'Hed Bseiso's kitchen table and successfully managed to remove the lower part of her right leg without the use of any anesthesia to alleviate the pain. A video of the surgery has since gone viral on the internet.
Taking His Life's Biggest Challenge
The grainy video footage, which has gone viral on Instagram, shows Bseiso wiping the bloody stump of her right leg as she lay on the table. In the video, one of her brothers steadied her in position, while another held up two mobile phones to provide better lighting for the emergency procedure.
Although the house was only 1.1 miles (1.8 km) from Gaza's Al-Shifa hospital, typically reachable by a six-minute drive or a 25-minute walk, Bseiso explained that the heavy Israeli fire in the area made it too perilous to attempt the journey to the hospital.
In an interview with Reuters this week, Dr. Bseiso shared the difficult circumstances, saying, "Unfortunately, I did not have any other choice. The choice was that I either let the girl die or I try to the best of my abilities." The amputation took place on December 19 in the room where he performed the procedure.
Reuters was unable to independently confirm what targeted A'Hed Bseiso's home, the reasons behind the attack, or the events leading up to the incident.
"Could I get her to the hospital? Of course not," Bseiso said as he also described the area as 'under siege'. "The tanks were at the entrance of the house."
Israeli authorities have maintained that they work to minimize harm to civilians in their military operations.
Israel's Response
In response to inquiries about the events on December 19, the Israeli military did not specifically address the incident at A'Hed Bseiso's home. However, they did claim that Hamas uses hospital complexes as cover, an accusation the militant group denies.
"A central feature of Hamas' strategy is the exploitation of civilian structures for terror purposes," the military stated.
"Specifically, it has been well documented that Hamas uses hospitals and medical centers for its terror activities by building military networks within and beneath hospitals, launching attacks and storing weapons within the confines of hospitals, and using hospital infrastructure and staff for terror activities."
"Regrettably, Hamas continues to put Gaza's most vulnerable citizens in serious danger by cynically using hospitals for terror," it said.
A'hed Bseiso, 18, is among the several young amputees emerging from the conflict in Gaza since the attack by Hamas militants on Israel starting October 7. According to Israeli tallies, the conflict resulted in about 1,200 deaths and 253 hostages. Many lives in Gaza might have been saved, doctors say, if timely access to hospitals had been possible.
Recalling the incident, A'hed said she saw an Israeli tank near her house when she went outside around 10:30 a.m. to get a signal for a call to her father abroad.
Her sister closed the blinds in anticipation of a potential shelling.
Shortly afterward, the building was attacked, and A'hed was wounded, realizing she had no feeling in her leg when her family tried to remove pieces of shrapnel.
"They placed me on the dining table. There was no medical equipment. My uncle saw the sponge that we clean the dishes with, a wire, washing-up liquid and chlorine (disinfectan"),' she said.
"He took them and he started scrubbing my leg. He amputated my leg without anesthetics and without anything at home."
When asked how she endured the pain, A'hed Bseiso said, "I was just saying 'Thanks to God' and reading the Koran. Thanks to God, I did not feel much but of course there was pain, and the scene and the shock." Subsequently, she underwent additional operations in the hospital to address the injuries she sustained.
According to Palestinian officials, more than 24,000 Palestinians have lost their lives since Israel initiated its military campaign in Gaza in response to the October 7 attack.
