Sama Jaber on her work for AWDA from Belgium. Interview by Viva Salud, March 2026
Based in Belgium, Sama acts as the link between the outside world and the team on the ground — a team that continues to work in extreme conditions. We spoke to her about AWDA’s work, the current situation in Gaza, and what international solidarity means in practical terms.
From volunteer to international spokesperson
Sama first worked for AWDA in 2022, whilst she was still living in Gaza, as a volunteer project co-ordinator and media co-ordinator. When the genocide began, she felt compelled to get involved again, despite the distance. «It’s the least I can do for my people,» she says.
Based in Belgium, she translates AWDA’s materials from Arabic into English: emergency appeals, video messages, project documents. She also acts as a point of contact between Gaza and the outside world, as the team on the ground cannot always publish or communicate for themselves due to a lack of internet and electricity. «Sometimes they just send me a message. Because I have internet here, I can publish what they want.»
She also maintains contact with donors and partner organisations, including Viva Salud, which she has visited. Her role is wide-ranging and ongoing: there is no set timetable when a hospital is attacked at night or when an emergency appeal needs to be issued.
AWDA: much more than just a hospital
For many people in Gaza, AWDA is synonymous with healthcare, but the organisation does far more than that.
Before the genocide, AWDA had two hospitals and thirteen centres — six medical centres and seven community centres. The largest hospital, Nuseirat in the centre of the Gaza Strip, was expanded through the construction of a field hospital, increasing its capacity from 17 to 130 emergency beds, with plans for further expansion to 200.
In the north of Gaza, where all hospitals have been destroyed or are inaccessible, AWDA is trying to fill the gap in medical care through nine primary care and community centres, with plans to expand to twelve. « People are returning to their neighbourhood. Not to their home — their home no longer exists. They pitch a tent on the rubble. They need care, but have to walk kilometres to find it.«
As well as medical care, AWDA also provides psychosocial support for children and women, training for women awaiting minor surgical procedures that are no longer carried out anywhere, so that they can carry them out themselves, education through a project with Relief International which currently serves 400 students, and will soon also provide shelter for children without parents. « They are not just numbers. They are people with a story and with needs. We listen first, then we look for what really helps; sometimes that’s drawing or playing, sometimes it’s a tent or food. »
And then there is the radio project: a new initiative for 2026 through which AWDA aims to provide free medical advice, educational programmes and psychosocial support via radio — so that people can access information and care even from their tents.
The situation today: a ceasefire solves nothing
There is officially a ceasefire, but at AWDA’s hospital, there is little sign of it. Wounded people continue to arrive — people who were shot whilst returning home, people injured in a fresh attack, or people injured when their tent collapsed in the rain and wind.
The famine is still very much a reality. Israel only allows crisps, chocolate and fizzy drinks in — no nutritious food. Children suffering from malnutrition are still being admitted to hospital. People drink water without knowing whether it is safe — it is the only water available. Kidney disease is a growing problem. Women cook over open fires, gather wood from the street, and suffer burns.
Medical equipment and surgical supplies are barely making it through. What does arrive comes in sporadically and only via international organisations such as the WHO. Specialist care for wounds that sometimes require dressing changes up to twelve times a day – for ophthalmology, dermatology and diabetes – is virtually non-existent.
Working under extreme pressure: on trauma and perseverance
How do AWDA’s staff keep going? Sama pauses to think. « As a Palestinian, you know you can’t change the reality you’re facing at that moment. Your nervous system gets used to the pressure. You don’t really realise what’s happening to you, what you’re seeing — as long as you carry on working. »
She talks about a doctor from Valencia who worked in Gaza during the genocide. He hardly ever speaks of it anymore. It is a trauma. But the doctors in Gaza themselves have been working for three years without stopping. Only now, now that there is a lull, are some beginning to realise what they have been through. « Suddenly they start to miss people. They miss home. Their nervous system was, in a way, on standby. But there was no other choice. Many doctors were wounded, killed or arrested. There simply aren’t enough of them left.«
Following the genocide, AWDA’s staff will themselves require psychosocial support and medical teams capable of carrying out specialised procedures that have been postponed for far too long.
What international solidarity means
Sama is clear about what she asks of people outside Gaza. Not in vague terms, but in concrete terms:
- Keep talking about Palestine. In the media, it looks as though it’s all over. It is not over. The people in Gaza are not yet safe, but the rest of the world is in danger of forgetting them.
- Donate. Everything in Gaza costs twice or three times as much as it did before the genocide. AWDA must literally rebuild everything from scratch.
- Be a spokesperson for AWDA. Help spread the stories of people who don’t have a wide audience themselves.
- Boycott. Economic pressure works.
Would you like to support AWDA yourself? You can! Make a donation, order the book and visit the photography exhibition, or organise your own campaign for AWDA.
Sama Jaber on her work for AWDA from Belgium. March 2026.
Based in Belgium, she acts as the link between the outside world and the team on the ground — a team that continues to work under extreme conditions. We spoke to her about AWDA’s work, the current situation in Gaza, and what international solidarity means in practical terms.
