For Mohammed “Adeel” Khaleel, MD, leaving the comforts of suburban Dallas for war-ravaged Gaza has always been an easy decision.
The hard part is coming home.
“When you leave, you have this overwhelming sense of guilt, because you know that a number of these folks are not going to be here on the next trip around,” Khaleel told MedPage Today in a video call from Gaza.
Khaleel — the director of orthopedic spine surgery at Medical City Frisco Hospital in Frisco, Texas — is winding down his third medical mission to Gaza in 16 months. He and two other Dallas-area doctors are at Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City, doing work he describes as more of a calling than a choice.
“There is a draw here to do your best to help,” Khaleel said. “The physicians that you’re working with are truly an inspiration in the way that they’re working, despite the worst of conditions, without pay.”
Most of Khaleel’s cases involve orthopedic trauma, from blast injuries to amputations, he explained. Patients who need spinal surgery often must be transferred elsewhere because of “incredibly limited” equipment and a “destroyed” healthcare infrastructure, he said. An April explosion at Al-Ahli killed at least 21 people, including children.
“It’s a life-changing experience to see people with these levels of injuries,” Khaleel said. “It honestly made me reconnect back with orthopedic trauma to some degree. … It makes me want to make sure that those skills stay fresh, because I have every intention of continuing these medical mission trips.”
Khaleel first traveled to Gaza in April 2024, practicing at Gaza European Hospital near Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip. He returned that November and began working at Al-Ahli.
“There’s a lot of situations where you may be the only orthopedic surgeon in the hospital, or the only surgeon in the hospital, and so it makes you want to expand your ability to handle these types of injuries,” he said. “And honestly, it just makes you appreciate everything that we have available in the U.S. I mean, we are incredibly privileged. The situation here makes you realize how much we have to be thankful for.”
Since the war began in October 2023, more than 62,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 156,000 wounded, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, part of the Hamas-run government but considered by the U.S. and many independent experts to be the most reliable source on casualties. Israel disputes its toll but has not provided its own.
“There’s been so much death and destruction over the past almost 2 years, and there’s really no one that you talk to that hasn’t lost a significant chunk of their family, lost their home,” Khaleel said. “It truly inspires you. It’s kind of the reason you went into medicine — to help people — and the folks here really serve as an inspiration.”
These missions, he added, have broadened his perspective and deepened his appreciation for things often taken for granted. He also hopes other physicians can learn from the experience.
“I wish that you guys … could come in and see what we’re seeing here,” Khaleel said. “The level of destruction … it’s almost a cruel level of injury to a very, very young population. And I think we just have to reconnect with our humanity.”
