Humans of Gaza: Osama Abu Safia, MBBS student at Gaza’s Al-Azhar University

By Humaira Ahad

Osama Abu Safia’s LinkedIn profile mentions 2025 as the year of the completion of his medical degree but he didn’t live to see that day, to see his dream of becoming a doctor come true.

The life of the promising 23-year-old Gaza-based medical student, who was already in the fifth year of his MBBS degree, was brutally cut short by an Israeli airstrike earlier this week.

Safia and the rest of his extended family members were all killed in the bombing in northern Gaza.

A student at Al-Azhar University in Gaza, Safia was enthusiastic about medicine and dreamed of becoming a doctor and serving his people in the besieged territory.

A 5th-year medical student, he was voluntarily involved with many NGOs in Gaza and worked as a training facilitator with one of the NGOs in the northern part of the city.

He would often volunteer at workshops conducted on emergency health care in local mosques and community centers and was passionate about promoting health education in Gaza.

A brilliant student, Safia qualified USMLE (United States Medical Licensing Examination) in March of this year. This was a step towards fulfilling his dream of specializing in cardiology.

He was working hard to become a cardiologist. The budding medic had pinned his USMLE marks sheet on all his social media accounts, showing the level of excitement he had.

Those who knew Safia say he had a real zest for life. Being active on social media platforms, he would often post pictures from his medical school affiliated with the Al Azhar University in Gaza.

The university has been bombarded twice in the past four weeks, destroying its whole infrastructure.

Since the Al Aqsa Storm Operation on October 7, Safia’s tweets mainly conveyed his unrelenting faith and conviction. He would quote verses from the Holy Quran showing his belief in divine justice.

Hundreds of doctors and paramedics have been killed in the Israeli genocidal campaign in the besieged strip since October 7, with warplanes even targeting hospitals and universities.

On the day Safia’s dream was shattered forever, six other healthcare workers were also killed, including Dr. Hamam El-Deeb, an orthopedic surgery resident at Shifa Hospital; Yaseen Al-Akhras, a medical student; Dr. Jameel Tarazi, a dentist; Nafeth Al-Natour, a paramedic.

According to the figures released by the health ministry in Gaza, at least 150 Palestinian medics have been killed and many more injured in Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip.

Most of these killings took place at hospitals. The health ministry in Gaza in a statement on Tuesday said Israel is “waging a frenzied war” on hospitals in the besieged territory.

World Health Organization (WHO) also condemned the relentless attacks on hospitals and reiterated the urgent need to protect all health workers, patients, ambulances, and health facilities.

The first hospital to be attacked was Al-Ahli Arab Hospital on October 17, which was followed by strikes on or near other hospitals including Al-Shifa Hospital, Al-Quds Hospital, Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital, Indonesian Hospital, and Al-Wafaa Hospital.

The death toll from the Israeli aggression on Gaza in the last month has already risen above 11,000, most of them children and women. Tens of thousands of others have also been displaced by the war.

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