Dr. Rizk Abu Sheira
‘Israel’ kills Palestinian surgeon featured in ‘American Doctor’ documentary
Note: AI technology was used to generate this article’s audio.
- Palestinian surgeon Dr. Rizk Abu Sheira, 52, featured in American Doctor, was killed in an Israeli strike on Nasser Medical Complex.
- Dr. Thaer Ahmad, another physician featured in the documentary, mourned his colleague, saying he died while operating and serving Palestinians.
- Six people were killed and at least 28 wounded, according to the hospital director.
Six people, including Palestinian surgeon Dr. Rizk Abu Sheira, were killed in an ‘Israeli’ attack on Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, on Thursday, according to the hospital’s director, Dr. Ahmed al-Fara.
Abu Sheira, 52, was featured in the documentary American Doctor, which follows US physicians volunteering at the hospital and treating Palestinians wounded during ‘Israel’s’ assault on Gaza.
His death was mourned by Dr. Thaer Ahmad, a Palestinian-American physician who also appears in the documentary and worked alongside him at Nasser Medical Complex.
“Dr. Rizk was in the American Doctor documentary operating and serving his people. He lost his life doing that, he lost his life because he was doing that,” Ahmad wrote in a social media post expressing devastation over his colleague’s killing.
The other victims included another surgeon and a patient who had undergone surgery, while at least 28 people were wounded, according to al-Fara.
The bombing damaged the hospital’s surgery department and several floors, disrupting radiology, laboratory, surgical and inpatient services, the director said.
Directed by filmmaker Poh Si Teng, American Doctor follows Ahmad, Dr. Mark Perlmutter and Dr. Feroze Sidhwa, three American physicians who volunteered at Nasser Medical Complex. The documentary chronicles their efforts to treat wounded Palestinians amid repeated attacks, severe shortages and the deterioration of Gaza’s healthcare system.
Abu Sheira’s killing adds to the toll on Gaza’s medical workforce, which has continued to provide care despite repeated attacks on healthcare facilities and increasingly dangerous working conditions.
Nasser Medical Complex, one of the main hospitals serving southern Gaza, has faced repeated attacks and disruptions throughout the war, further limiting access to essential medical care.
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