West Bloomfield doctor evacuated from Gaza details harrowing journey
The Michigan doctor trapped in Gaza earlier this week — when the border to Egypt was blocked amid escalating fighting between Hamas and Israeli forces — has been evacuated safely to Jerusalem and is expected to return to the United States on Saturday.
"We felt in big danger," Dr. Ammar Ghanem, a critical care and pulmonary specialist from West Bloomfield, said in messages to the Free Press detailing the journey he and more than a dozen other U.S. humanitarian medical workers faced Friday morning as they tried to flee Gaza.
Their evacuation was confirmed by the U.S. State Department.
“Some of the U.S. citizen doctors who had been stuck in Gaza have now safely departed and made their way to safety with assistance from the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem," a State Department spokesperson told the Free Press in an email message Friday. "We have been in close contact with the groups that these U.S. doctors are part of, and we have been in contact with the families of these U.S. citizens.”
The harrowing 4½-hour trip from the European Hospital in Al-Fukhari, near Khan Yunis, was made in a convoy of three vehicles — a bus and two smaller cars — using a roundabout route to cross the border at Kerem Shalom, Ghanem said.
"There was fighting around us," he said. "When we first reached the border at ... the Kerem Shalom crossing, the tank was moving and it directly blocked off (the route). That was a scary moment in the convoy.
"And then every time we moved, we had to get permission, and we had to wait many times at different stations to get permission to move so we didn't get hit by the Israeli army if we didn't follow the recommendations that they sent to us."
Ghanem said a team of U.S. Embassy workers escorted him and the other medical volunteers from the border at Kerem Shalom to Jerusalem, where they'll rest until they can make travel arrangements to return to the U.S.
"I'm feeling relieved, big time," Ghanem said, adding that he hopes to be reunited Saturday afternoon with his wife, three children, friends and supporters.
Ghanem is vice president of the Syrian American Medical Society, a nonprofit medical relief organization, and has traveled around the world on multiple missions throughout his career.
"It was an amazing experience and we learned a lot from it," he said of his work in Gaza. Despite the risks, he added: "We should continue to push to help people in need anywhere at any time."
3 Americans stay behind: 'We're not leaving until they leave'
Though Ghanem and more than a dozen other U.S. medical workers serving on humanitarian aid missions at the European Hospital in Gaza left the territory Friday, some members of his medical team stayed behind — either because they are citizens of other countries or because they wanted to support those who cannot be evacuated to safety.
"I got additional information that Americans from another team and three British nationals also were evacuated," said Dr. Mufaddal Hamadeh, president of the Syrian American Medical Society. Others — a volunteer from Australia and several from Jordan and three American citizen doctors — remained.
"Three Americans said no, 'We're not leaving until they leave,' " he said.
Hamadeh said the U.S. State Department formed a special task force to work the evacuation of the American medical workers. "We know they made it the No. 1 priority for them," Hamadeh said.
Still, he told the Free Press he has mixed feelings about the dire situation for patients at the European Hospital and others in Gaza who feel more vulnerable now that international humanitarian aid workers are leaving.
"I am glad Ammar is going home safely. ... I'm very happy for him, but I'm extremely sad about the situation there, and particularly at the hospitals," Hamadeh said.
"Many people were hoping that the presence of Americans and the foreigners in the hospital will prevent the Israelis from bombing the hospital," Hamadeh said. "Now they are afraid. I'm also worried about the patients there. ... What's going to happen to this hospital, where there are so little resources left? With these skilled doctors and volunteers leaving, what is going to happen to the patients?
"I wish we could have a way to guarantee the safety of the people in the hospitals and the patients there."
Worried wife says, 'This was the worst time in my life'
Before they got the news that Ghanem had made it across the border and was headed to Jerusalem, his wife, Amnah Allboani Ghanem, and their children, Yaser, Zied, and Haneen, were filled with worry.
"I didn't sleep last night," Allboani Ghanem said Friday morning, as visions of what could happen to her husband as he made the trip to Jerusalem played in her mind.
More: West Bloomfield doctor part of relief group stranded in Gaza
"Both sides might have gotten him," she said, "And for no reason. It's a war zone, you know? So I was freaking out until they arrived.
"I told my son, the oldest, and he was crying, and he said, 'Are you sure momma? Are you sure?' " when he learned his father was finally on his way home.
"This was the worst time in my life. It really was a difficult time for all of my family."
Now, the Ghanem family is making plans to celebrate his return.
A group of friends are to greet Ghanem at the airport Saturday afternoon, and then go with him to his West Bloomfield home, where he'll be reunited with his wife and kids at a big reception.
"A lot of the community members, they supported us very, very, very strongly," his wife said, "and I would love to have all of them in my house" to thank them for that kindness.
After he returns, Ghanem said, he hopes to organize more humanitarian assistance for the Palestinians who are still suffering in Gaza.
"I promised not to leave them alone," he said, "and I want to keep my promise. I want to continue working for this, so I probably will start to advocate with my organization ... to go to Washington, D.C., and meet with officials and talk about the situation."
Contact Kristen Shamus: kshamus@freepress.com. Subscribe to the Free Press.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan doctor, 19 others, evacuated from Gaza to Jerusalem
