(NewsNation) — An American surgeon who chose to remain behind in Gaza with his medical team as the White House facilitated evacuations last week has safely exited to Jordan with his group.
Dr. Adam Hamawy, a New Jersey-based plastic surgeon, was one of more than a dozen American doctors and other health care workers who went to Gaza as part of medical missions on May 1. Hamawy was with the Palestinian American Medical Association (PAMA).
The group was scheduled to leave Rafah on May 13 so another mission could take over the aid work but was told there was no safe route to exit the besieged strip after Israeli troops seized control of Gaza’s Rafah border crossing.
The Biden administration was able to facilitate evacuations after several days and said that 17 American medical workers left Gaza on Friday.
Members of the medical envoy who were not American were not allowed to leave, one of the doctors who evacuated told NewsNation.
Hamawy was one of three American doctors who chose to stay back alongside his remaining team.
“As a doctor, I cannot abandon the remaining members of my team, and as a former soldier, I cannot abandon my fellow Americans,” Hamawy said about his decision in a statement on X yesterday.
“When the call came to evacuate, I was asked to choose to either evacuate and leave my team behind or stay with them. I could not in good conscience leave my team behind. That was not what I was taught. That is not the Soldiers Creed. We don’t leave Americans behind. This is against our values as Americans.”
On Tuesday, all 14 remaining members of Hamawy’s group were given safe passage into Jordan with the help of Jordan’s King Abdullah and his staff, the group said in a statement.
Earlier, Hamawy had said that the medical envoy that was supposed to relieve his group in Gaza was denied entry, leaving medical aid in the region in further danger.
NewsNation did not immediately hear back from the Israel Defense Forces when asked for comment about the relief teams.
“Both PAMA and JAPA are fully prepared to dispatch additional medical aid and personnel to Gaza. We will continue working in close collaboration with the WHO and UN, as soon as the situation allows,” PAMA said.
Last week, Hamawy told NewsNation that the situation unfolding in Gaza is a “complete eradication of everything.”
In response, the IDF said, “There is no IDF doctrine that aims causing maximal damage to civilian infrastructure regardless of military necessity. IDF actions are based on military necessity and with accordance to international law.”
Prior to volunteering in Gaza, Hamawy was an Army surgeon assigned to a combat support hospital in Iraq in 2004.
There, he treated now-Sen. Tammy Duckworth — who was an Army helicopter pilot at the time — after her Black Hawk helicopter was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. She lost her legs and partial use of her arms in the attack.
Duckworth, a Democrat from Illinois, credits him for helping save her life.
The Rafah crossing into Egypt has been closed since Israeli troops seized it more than a week ago. Israel gained full control over the entry and exit of people and goods.
No food has reportedly entered the two main border crossings in southern Gaza for the past week, the New York Times reported. It is a region that had been sheltering 1.3 million Palestinians, many of whom have fled since Israel took control of the crossing.