After returning from Gaza, Kurdish physician says Hamas leaders take shelter at hospitals

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A Kurdish physician who spent weeks treating the wounded in two different hospitals in the war-battered Gaza said on Tuesday that people are plagued by hunger and terribly in need of "a sip of water," adding that Hamas leaders are taking shelter inside hospitals.

Speaking to Rudaw's Sangar Abdulrahman on Tuesday from Denmark, Dr. Baxtiyar Baram said that the people of Gaza are "exhausted" and in dire need of humanitarian aid and support, with many of them ending up in the hands of what he called "mafias".

Dr. Baram said he is an eyewitness that Hamas leaders take shelters at hospitals and he has personally spoken with one of the founders of the group inside one of the hospitals.  

"Hamas, as a political and military organization, needed to exploit everywhere to shelter them in their strategic positions... I have seen it with my eyes that the hospitals have been used for hiding Hamas leaders," Baram said. "Yes, yes, we saw them and even spoke with them including one of the founders of Hamas, Mr. Munir Albursh."

Dr. Baram works with the Norwegian NORWAC Association. He had gone to Gaza along with from April 28 to May 22. He had served at the Kamal Adwan Hospital and Al-Awda Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip. As a surgeon, his role was to treat wounded children.

He said Hamas does not enjoy support among the people of Gaza, believing only 10 percent of the population follows them.

In parts of his speech, the Kurdish physician said mafia groups exist in Gaza that steal aid and assistance sent to them from abroad and then they sell them for high prices in the black market.

The Kurdish physician added that they entered Gaza upon the approval of Israel and that during the four-week-long program, they had taken shelter at the two hospitals.

"Hamas and all Gazans hate Kurds. The problem was my name was Kurdish," said the physician, adding that the hatred partly sourced from Gazans' love for Saddam Hussein, late Iraqi dictator accused of massacring thousands of Kurds decades ago. 

In an interview with Rudaw in 2022, Khalid Mashal, former leader of Hamas, refused to call Kurdistan an occupied land. 

"I cannot accept this subject as it is. Because Kurdistan is a country whose one piece is part of Iraq, another piece is part of the state of Iran, another piece is part of Turkey and the rest is part of Syria, should I call this occupation? This is geopolitics and has been formed in the last hundreds of years. Certainly, it is the right of the Kurds to aspire to independence, it is their right to say so, but on the other side there are other political entities who tell a different story and have their own view. How can we incorporate the wishes of the Kurds, their right to achieving freedom and their wishes, expressing their personality and identities into the current political system which is already in place? I wish it happens the way I described," he said. 

"But our situation is different, and Palestine has never been a part of any other state, and throughout history has been at the very centre of the Arab and Islamic world. That is why we are not in disagreement against an Arab or Islamic partner. We are different from them in terms of ethnicity and religion. An occupation enemy has come across the oceans from a long distance and has occupied our territory for a religious purpose," he added. 

On Sunday, the Israeli army launched a massive offensive against the southern Gaza city of Rafah, killing 45 displaced people including 23 women and children and the elderly.

The Israeli army said in a statement that an Israeli aircraft attacked "a Hamas community containing Hamas activities."

The UN, Spain, Italy, Norway, and Ireland, along with several other western countries condemned the Israeli attack.