Krieg im Gazastreifen: Kugel im Kopf - Deutsche Ärzte behandeln Patienten aus Gaza

Ahmed al-Chair, a 21-year-old Palestinian from Gaza, lies in a hospital bed in Cairo with a bullet wound to his head. The operation to remove the bullet is considered too risky, and the young man's right leg and arm are paralyzed. The area around his head is covered with a thick white bandage. German doctors from the Malteser International aid organization have operated on 34 patients with injuries from the Gaza Strip conflict.

Internist Oliver Mohr from Freiburg says, "It's not much, but we can at least do something." Mohr has been participating in aid missions for about ten years, but this was his first time treating civilians affected by war. The doctors report on burn injuries, amputations, and shrapnel, grenade, bullet, and explosion wounds, as well as infections due to poor hygiene, delayed medical treatment, malnutrition, and weakened immune systems.

Ahmed was hit by a bullet fired from a machine gun on an Israeli tank while on his way to buy food from a US-supplied distribution center in June 2025. Israel claims its attacks in Gaza targeted Hamas and other militant groups, stating it tries to avoid civilian casualties and regrets the death of innocents. Transporting patients within Gaza is extremely difficult, and the situation is dynamic, according to Peter Dischler from the Berlin aid organization Cadus.

Dischler coordinates the mission, which also helps evacuate severely ill patients to Egypt. "A liter of motor oil costs about 1,000 US dollars," he says. Vehicles and medical equipment were lacking spare parts. UN organizations repeatedly pointed out the dramatic humanitarian situation for thousands in Gaza and supply shortages due to Israeli restrictions and administrative hurdles.

The Israeli authority responsible for Palestinian affairs, Cogat, denies this. Since the beginning of the ceasefire in October 2025, more than 24,000 tons of medical equipment and medicines have reached Gaza, including motor oil for ambulances, which is regularly supplied to Gaza. Some goods must be inspected during import to prevent misuse by the terrorist organization Hamas, it is reported.

The war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas and other extremist organizations killed around 1,200 people in Israel and took over 250 as hostages. Israel responded with massive bombings in Gaza, killing over 74,500 Palestinians and injuring over 175,000. Aid organizations suffer from cuts to funding, and Ahmed's rehabilitation after being treated in Cairo is dependent on further donations, as is his case.

In the coming weeks, only the infection around Ahmed's head will be treated in Egypt due to cuts in German and US government humanitarian aid. The doctors, including Mohr, volunteered for the project. "The Western world does not do enough for this crisis, and neither does Germany," says the 61-year-old. Ahmed once danced on stages in Gaza, and when he watches videos of his past, he smiles.

Palestinian folk dances were his greatest passion, but now he sits in a wheelchair and barely speaks. Despite his desperate condition when he leaves the hospital bed, his father tries to maintain optimism. His five other children and wife live in a tent in Gaza, and winter is approaching. "We hope the war ends and peace returns when we return to Gaza so we can resume our normal lives," Ahmed's father says.

Before the war, he owned a café and confectionery shop in Rafah, a city in the southern part of the Gaza Strip. "But everything is destroyed."