Please note this conversation was recorded before the Al-Ahli Arab Baptist Hospital bombing
With Gaza under Israeli bombardment, MEMO speaks to one of the world’s foremost experts on the besieged enclave, Dr Mads Gilbert.
Mads Gilbert is a Norwegian physician, humanitarian, activist and politician and a Professor of emergency medicine at the University of Tromsø.
Gilbert has a broad range of experience from international humanitarian work. Since the 1970s, he has been actively involved with solidarity work concerning Palestinians, and he has served as a doctor for several periods in the occupied Palestinian territories and Lebanon. He has volunteered at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza during Israel’s previous bombing campaigns and saw first hand the difficulties of providing health care not only while under siege, but also while bombs are raining down around you. He has since been banned from returning to Gaza by Israel as a result of his ongoing humanitarian work.
His efforts have been central to leading the city of Tromsø, since 2001 a twin town of Gaza, and one which claims to be the city that has sent more health workers to the Palestinian territories than any other in the world.
He has several books on Gaza, including, Eyes on Gaza, which has been translated into several languages. Gilbert has been lauded as a “hero” in Norwegian media for his work in Gaza.
READ: Rights watchdog: Israel kills 100 children every day in Gaza