Paramedics struggle to save lives under harrowing conditions in Israel-Hamas war

Geoff Bennett:

The Israel-Hamas war has put first responders, like ambulance drivers and paramedics, on the front lines of that conflict.

"NewsHour" special correspondent Martin Himel has this look at the lives of medics in both Gaza and Israel, who do all they can to help save lives.

Martin Himel:

Fadi Afana is a senior medic. He's seen three wars in Gaza, but this is like no other. The casualties are many times higher in this conflict. And most of the hospitals have been shut down.

There are nowhere near enough facilities to treat the wounded. Working for now out of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Khan Yunis, Southern Gaza, he is racing toward the scene of an Israeli airstrike. Trying to save the wounded and gathering the dead is a daily, even hourly job for Fadi.

Women (through interpreter):

My leg, my leg.

Man (through interpreter):

I will count. One, two, three.

Women (through interpreter):

Oh God.

Martin Himel:

Fadi and more than a 1.5 million other Gazans have been forced to leave their homes and find refuge in the south.

Fadi Afana, Senior Medic (through interpreter):

We lived very close to the sea. The entire neighborhood was shelled. The house no longer exists. Since the start of the war, we have been scattered. I haven't returned at all. I haven't seen my children, except on the street. I haven't seen my wife at all.

I saw my mother for the first 15 days, and, until now, I haven't seen her at all, my sisters as well, because each of us are in a different place.

Martin Himel:

In Israel, American Israeli medic Moishe Paskesz and his colleague Yehuda are heading to Kfar Aza, a kibbutz on the border with Gaza, to come to terms with what they experienced here during the Hamas attacks.

Moishe and Yehuda are volunteer medics in the United Hatzalah EMS. On October 7, Moishe risked his life as part of a medical team trying to save the lives of others as Hamas slaughtered men, women, and children here. Yehuda came to the embattled Israeli border towns shortly after.

Moishe Paskesz, Medic:

People's personal lives just sprawled everywhere, upended, the wheel of a bicycle, somebody's broomstick, you know, like they say, the worst massacre of Jewish people have experienced since the Holocaust.

This is another house of what was apparently a musician. We went inside, we saw a drum set and guitars, keyboard, sound system, possessions waiting for their owners to come back and use them.

We set up sort of a field hospital, a triage center, if you will. This one is not so urgent. He can go in a car. This guy is more urgent. He needs an ambulance. This one is so urgent, he needs a helicopter.

Martin Himel:

The flood of dead and wounded was overwhelming for the first responders.

Moishe Paskesz:

Dozens of patients, literally, without exaggeration, dozens of patients came through. Ambulance number 71 is on its way to you, with four severely injured patients, one shot in the head, two shot in their limbs and one shot in the abdomen.

Martin Himel:

Back in Gaza, Fadi drives for a rare rendezvous with his children.

Apart from the dangers of being killed in combat or by airstrikes, there is also the risk now of being arrested by Israeli forces. Hamas is alleged to have used ambulances to move its men and materiel around. Now all medics are suspect. Fadi and his brother Mohammed were picking up wounded when the Israeli military stopped them and arrested Mohammed, who is also a medic.

Fadi Afana (through interpreter):

So, what more can I tell you? They stripped my brother in front of me, abused him, covered his eyes, and took him to the tank. For 13 days, I have no information about him.

Martin Himel:

Fadi Afana and Moishe Paskesz are on opposite sides of this conflict, but they share a common motivation to save lives in the war. They also share a common trauma from what they have been witnessing in the fighting.

Moishe lives in Jerusalem. He often serves as an ambu-bike medic. Moishe usually gets to the scene up to 10 minutes before an ambulance and gives a lifesaving first response.

Moishe Paskesz:

We at United Hatzalah, we try our best to be at serious calls within 90 seconds of being dispatched, as much as possible.

There was a soldier who was attacked by a terrorist. You are talking about someone who is losing blood, so every second counts. The sooner you get there, the sooner you can put on a tourniquet, the sooner you can save someone's life.

Martin Himel:

This is the nerve center of United Hatzalah EMS.

Moishe Paskesz:

So, it's running three different calls at the same time.

Martin Himel:

Moishe often volunteers as a dispatcher. He recalled the horrors of October 7.

Moishe Paskesz:

On that screen over there, we have a thing that alerts us to every single red alert in the entire country, the rocket sirens.

A volunteer responded to a rocket attack that basically went right down the core of the building and landed on the roof and went right down the stairwell, and it killed three people and it wounded easily more than 10 other people. When I say wounded, I mean like dismembered limbs and stuff.

My first clue that things were going to be really bad was when I overheard them discussing how many victims they could fit into one ambulance, and one of the most senior guys was saying, "I think eight."

And I said; "You're going to put eight wounded people into an ambulance?"

And he said: "Not eight wounded people, eight dead bodies," just people getting mowed down one after another in cold blood, just for the sole crime of being Jewish.

Martin Himel:

In Gaza, three ambulances emerge in the darkness from the north. Fadi checks out the staff and the patients. He discovers all the drivers are civilians. The Israelis told them to drive the ambulances because they arrested the medic drivers.

Fadi Afana (through interpreter):

They arrested everyone, our four colleagues, Mohammad al-Kurd, Ala Moammar, Mohammad Nahhal, and Sharif Bayouk. We brought all their cars to use them. We will bring our cars and move with the European hospital cars.

Martin Himel:

There is no time to get frustrated over the arrests. These wounded need to be transported.

Fadi is taking them to the Europa Hospital. It is, of course, totally inundated with the sick, the wounded, and the dying. Arriving at the hospital, the parking lot has been transformed into an emergency ward. So, for now, they are turning the adjacent school into a makeshift hospital. But there are no beds and there are dwindling supplies of medicine and equipment.

Woman (through interpreter):

What's your name? What's your name? Your full name?

Fadi Afana (through interpreter):

I hope the war stops and the bloodshed we are experiencing comes to an end.

I also hope the displaced people can return to their homes because, honestly, we are living in camps and in other places. The situation of the displaced is tragic, and we don't know where they will go once the war is over.

Martin Himel:

There is great uncertainty how and when this war will end. In the meantime, both Fadi and Moishe brace themselves for more casualties as the fighting rages on.

For the "PBS NewsHour," this is Martin Himel on the Israel-Gaza border.