A still image from video of the aftermath of the blast recorded by Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah, placed within our 3D reconstruction of al-Ahli Hospital. (Forensic Architecture, 2024)

Film screening and lecture on Forensic Architecture practices by Natalia Sliwińska (researcher, designer and filmmaker from Forensic Architecture).

‘When it Stopped Being a War…’: The Situated Testimony of Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah
Video, 2024, 24:59 minutes. Original language: english, polish subtitles.

On 17 October 2023, a devastating explosion took place in the car park of al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City. The Gaza Health Ministry reported that 471 people were killed and 342 injured.

In the hours after the explosion, doctors held a press conference at nearby al-Shifa Hospital, among the bodies of some of those killed in the blast. British Palestinian doctor and distinguished reconstructive surgeon Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah told the cameras: ‘We were performing surgery at the Baptist hospital when a strong explosion occurred, and the ceiling fell on the operating room… This is a massacre.’

Just two days after the events of 7 October 2023, Dr Abu-Sittah travelled to Gaza to volunteer as a surgeon. He remained in Gaza for 43 days, stationed primarily at al-Ahli and al-Shifa Hospitals.

In Gaza, doctors are witnesses in three ways: first, they relay the experiences of civilians who come to shelter in their hospitals, bringing information about conditions elsewhere in the Strip. Second, they are themselves survivors. And third, they provide expert testimony, reading evidence of an attack in the wounds inflicted.

In April 2024, FA began working with Dr Abu-Sittah to reconstruct the events of the night of 17 October as he experienced them. Utilizing a technique called ‘situated testimony,’ FA researchers conducted an interview with Dr Abu-Sittah aided by a 3D reconstruction of the hospital compound. As researchers navigated the model, Dr Abu-Sittah retraced his steps, recounting the sequence of events and situating both his memories and a combination of personal and externally sourced video recordings of the hospital within the 3D reconstruction.