Local health care workers press Illinois lawmakers to act on Gaza humanitarian crisis

On Friday, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification declared a famine in Gaza. The UN-backed reports estimated that 514,000 people in Gaza were currently experiencing famine conditions and warned that hunger would likely spread.

Chicago-based emergency room physician Dr. Thaer Ahmad is one of the dozens of healthcare workers from the area who have traveled to Gaza to provide humanitarian aid since the October 7, 2023 attacks. Ahmad has been in global health his entire career, working with vulnerable populations in places like Syria, Jordan and Greece.

But Dr. Ahmad says what he witnessed in Gaza was unlike anything he had ever seen. Ahmad and his colleagues are sharing their experiences with Illinois lawmakers in an effort to highlight the starvation in Gaza and to stop weapon transfers to Israel.

Reset learns more about how local health care workers are racing against time to reverse the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

GUESTS: Dr. Thaer Ahmad, emergency room physician and board member of the Palestinian American Medical Association

Mariah Woelfel, WBEZ city politics reporter

Ertharin Cousin, former executive director of the United Nations World Food Programme