‘Walls were shaking’: Calgary doctor’s humanitarian mission to Gaza truncated by looming danger

An Alberta doctor who has been volunteering in Rafah for the past week has been told to leave because the situation is too dangerous.

As international concerns remain about a potential Israeli offensive in the city of Rafah, Gaza, a Calgary doctor who has been volunteering in the border city this month has been told to leave because the situation is too dangerous.

Dr. Fozia Alvi says she was part of the first foreign primary care team to assist the sick and injured in Rafah. The team was able to deliver medication for epilepsy and broad spectrum antibiotics, as well as pain medication.

She arrived in the city about a week ago with a small team that included her 20-year-old son who serves as a translator.

Alvi, who grew up in Pakistan and now practices medicine in Airdrie and Calgary, founded the humanitarian aid group Humanity Auxilium.

She was planning to stay in Rafah for two more weeks but the situation has grown worse.

“Since Friday, we were waking up many times at night because the room where we are staying inside the hospital, the walls are shaking. And on my last day I’m so sad to see that and hear that everybody is scared, and these noises are getting louder and louder,” Alvi said in an interview from Rafah on Saturday.

Dr. Yipeng Ge, a resident physician at the University of Ottawa who was suspended in November for his pro-Palestinian social media posts, is also on the humanitarian mission.

“I felt like it was the right thing to do,” Ge said. “It felt like it was a duty and an obligation because I have the skills and training in family medicine, having also trained in emergency rooms in different parts of Canada, also having worked in under resourced settings, including in Nunavut.”