“Hospitals must never be treated as battlefields,” the Watermelon Pictures documentary team says of Dr. Rizk Abu Shaaira reported airstrike death
Watermelon Pictures “unequivocally condemned” an Israeli attack on a Gaza hospital Wednesday, which killed one of the subjects of the acclaimed documentary “American Doctor,” Dr. Rizk Abu Shaaira.
The Wednesday airstrike on Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis killed six people, including the surgeon, according to Reuters . Dr. Mohammed Odainy, another Palestinian surgeon featured in the film, was critically injured in the attack.
In its statement, the production company said deliberate attacks against protected medical facilities and personnel are prohibited under international humanitarian law and may constitute war crimes.
“Dr. Abu Shaaira was among the extraordinary medical professionals whose courage and humanity we sought to honor through ‘American Doctor.’ His death is devastating and a painful reminder that the crisis documented in our film continues,” Poh Si Teng, the director of the documentary, wrote. “Those who dedicate their lives to saving others deserve protection, not violence.”
“Hospitals are places of healing, not targets of war,” added Hamza Ali, co-founder of Watermelon Pictures. “This is yet another devastating example of the continued violence against Gaza’s medical community.”
“American Doctor” led the 20th annual Cinema Eye Honors nominations earlier Thursday, including a nomination for Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking.
The film follows three American physicians Dr. Thaer Ahmad, Dr. Mark Perlmutter and Dr. Feroze Sidhwa, who travel to Gaza to provide care and return home to share their encounters with the devastation they experienced.
Dr. Sidhwa, who worked closely with Dr. Shaaira in the film, mourned his death, calling the attack “an unforgivable crime.”
“Operating with another surgeon is an intimate partnership. You learn their cadence, their strengths and weaknesses, and even glimpse their confidences and fears,” Dr. Sidhwa wrote. “Dr. Rizk Abu Shaaira and I performed a complex surgery on a man with shrapnel injuries, while Dr. Mohammed Odainy and I operated on a teenager after an American-made bomb tore a hole in his abdominal aorta … These two men were my friends, colleagues and an inspiration. Now Dr. Rizk is dead and Dr. Mohammed is fighting for his life.”
Medics and witnesses said two missiles crashed through the roof of the five-storey medical building, causing extensive damage, according to Reuters.
President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace called on Israel and Hamas to honor the ceasefire agreement in response to the attack.
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