From rubble to light: The story of Izzeddin Lulu, a student doctor in Gaza

A young medic known in his community as the “smile-painter” for his ability to make people burst with joy from the portraits he would sketch of them, has come up with another initiative to help his people.

Izzeddin Lulu, 22, has set up a free teaching tool, to assist fellow medical students continue their education, in the midst of an ongoing genocidal war in his homeland.

Since October 7, Israeli attacks have killed at least 500 healthcare professionals in the Palestinian enclave, according to Gaza’s health ministry, with another 300 still being held in Israel’s shadowy detention facilities which have been embroiled in scandals of torture and abuse.

He believes it’s now more important than ever to have “a comprehensive healthcare system in Gaza” that functionally responds to the urgency of common cases resulting from Israeli attacks, with healthcare workers trained not only as doctors, but as leaders who can “respond effectively in times of crisis”.

War ends studies

Lulu was propelled by his own experiences, having his classroom medical education halted with the outbreak of a raging war, and had instead been forced to focus on treating and saving his people in the hospital wards who had tragically become victims of this same war.

It was in November, a month into the war, when Lulu assisted in his first surgery under the guidance of the late Dr Adnan Al Bursh, the head of Al Shifa’s orthopedic surgery department. Dressed in scrubs, Lulu witnessed wounds that up until then had never been seen in Gaza by even the most senior surgeons on the deck.

While trying to treat a young man whose foot was almost amputated from an Israeli attack, outside Israeli tanks had begun to encircle the hospital that struggled to function without fuel, clean water and limited medical supplies, due to a crackdown by Israeli forces in preventing basic provisions into Gaza.

The fifth year medical student quickly became adept in trying to treat the 700 patients in Al-Shifa.

By now Oxygen concentrators had started to shut down, which caused the deaths of eight patients in the ICU, Lulu told TRT World, recalling the onset of the Israeli siege.

He’d been sharing videos on his instagram since the beginning of the siege, documenting the catastrophic conditions inside the hospital which has now been reduced to ashes by Israel.

“Snipers were targeting people in the halls of the hospital. Doctors were not able to move towards them to save them,” the young man recalled.

“We were forced to watch people bleed out to death before our eyes,” he added, recounting only the beginning of what he described as his life turning 180 degrees.

“On that day, everyone thought that something bad would happen to me as the Israeli army was going to invade Al Shifa,” Lulu said. “But no. I was in Al Shifa, not knowing anything about the outside world as we were without communication until 9 o'clock at night.”

Dreams from under the rubble

What happened next would change Lulu’s life forever, spearing him on further to create his medical learning programme.

On November 13, he received a call informing him about the killing of 20 members of his family, including his father and brother, in a targeted Israeli strike at his family house on the edge of Gaza City.

“At that moment, the world fell on me. I couldn't believe what they were telling me,” Lulu said, recalling what was “the greatest tragedy” of his life.

His mother, critically injured, was the sole survivor of the Israeli attack.

The young doctor later learned from the Red Crescent workers, who were the first responders at the scene of his shattered house, that cries of help from his family were heard from under the rubble in the aftermath of the strike.

“If they had the equipment that had been destroyed by the occupation, I probably would have at least a few more surviving family members,” Lulu said.

“But alhamdulillah (all praise be to God), I lost the 20 beloved family members,” he continued, in a resilient, dignified tone.

The Samir Foundation, named after his late father, was set up to fulfill fathers’ dreams of seeing their children become successful qualified doctors.

The programme, launched in May, offers medical students financial aid that Lulu has collected through online donations.

International donors, including Human Concern International, allow Lulu to offer training workshops, including those on emergency response, patient care, and advanced medical techniques, all conducted under the constant threat of Israeli incursion.

The slogan of the non-profit became “from under the rubble to a brighter Palestinian healthcare system,” as seen on its website –a testimony to the impossibilities it was born out of.

With local help, Lulu was able to extract some of the equipment from under the rubble of a collapsed medical facility located far away from where he was.

Healing trauma

“Sometimes I was compelled to postpone the lectures and even the final meetings due to the massive airstrikes and the ground invasion,” Lulu explained.

He made contact with fellow medics, like Dr Fadel Naim, the man who had told him about his father's passing in a phone call.

Dr Naim, the head of orthopedic surgery at Al Ahli Arab Hospital, provided classroom space, equipment and teaching materials needed for Lulu’s first lesson to go well.

On June 21, the Basic Trauma Life Support (BTLS) course was conducted, marking the fifth session of the training programme.

Two doctors, Dr Hani Al-Qadi and Dr Osama Hamed travelled from Jordan on a humanitarian mission to lead the sessions, as part of a team of experts, trainers and emergency specialists Lulu had reached out to get on board.

The BTLS course was crafted to equip medical students with essential first aid skills required to effectively respond to emergency situations, particularly those involving traumatic injuries, including third-degree burns as well as those requiring amputations, all daily occurrences in the ongoing war.

Lulu currently works as an assistant at the Public Aid Hospital in Northern Gaza, his days spent in the operating room, from 9 AM until 2 AM, with only brief breaks amid the unending tide of urgent cases.

Although his initiative is helping fellow Palestinians to become life savers, he the medic once known as the smile-maker, aware that his family still remains trapped under the rubble, says for him “finding a reason to smile has become a huge challenge”.