Dr. Yipeng Ge, has just returned from a week in Gaza as part of a small medical team of Canadians providing emergency medical services to Palestinians living under Israeli bombardment. He found lots of misery, but he also found love, hope and resilience. Read more and watch my interview with Dr. Ge.

The pain and suffering Dr. Yipeng Ge found in Gaza is hard to believe, he told CTIP shortly after returning to Canada. “And so unavoidable. It isn’t a natural phenomenon, like a flood, or drought or earthquake. It is a man-made catastrophe imposed by Israel and its military on a basically defenseless Palestinian population.”

Dr. Ge linked up with an aid group called Humanity Auxilium and went with a team of doctors to Rafah, which has been ravaged by war and is under threat of an Israeli ground offensive.

“Nothing could have prepared me psychologically for what I saw,” Dr. Ge, formerly a resident physician at the University of Ottawa’s faculty of medicine, told CBC news in an interview. Days before he arrived in Rafah, he was directed to the Nassar hospital, one of the few still functioning. But it had been attacked by Israeli troops only the week before, killing many, so he was redirected to a smaller clinic.

Ge himself was briefly in the news last fall after he was unfairly accused of anti-semitism because of some pro-Palestinian social media posts on his personal account and suspended by the University.

After more than 100,000 people signed an open petition and hundreds signed letters supporting him, the university eventually offered to reinstate Ge but without offering any apology. He has expressed extreme disappointment over the way the University of Ottawa handled the issue and has said he will not return to the University of Ottawa.

CTIP was able to catch up with Dr. Ge to ask about his experiences in Rafah. What he saw, what he learned. And what he thinks Canadians should know.

On February 29, the Palestinian Health Authority announced that the death toll has now exceeded 30,000. And on the same day, Israeli troops fired on desperate and starving Palestinians in the north of Gaza as they swarmed one of the few aid trucks Israel has allowed to enter the strip. Over 100 were killed and as many as 700 injured. Israel denies responsibility though international aid and human rights agencies like Amnesty International are demanding an inquiry.

In his message to the world at the end of 2023, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu declared: “This is a battle of civilization against barbarism.”  We might ask, who are the barbarians here?

Canada Talks Israel Palestine (CTIP) is the weekly newsletter of Peter Larson, Chair of the Ottawa Forum on Israel/Palestine (OFIP). It aims to promote a serious discussion in Canada about Canada’s response to the complicated and emotional Israel/Palestine issue with a focus on the truth, clear analysis and human rights for all. Readers with different points of view are invited to make comment.
Want to learn more about us? Go to Ottawa Forum on Israel/Palestine.ca