Personal Info
- Country of residence: Palestine
Information
Mohammed Mohammed Abdel Halim Abu Salmiya was born in Al-Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City, on October 18, 1973, to a Palestinian refugee family originally from the depopulated village of Al-Joura in the occupied Gaza district. He is married and has four children. He completed his primary education in schools in Al-Shati camp and his secondary education at Al-Karmel Secondary School for Boys in Gaza City, graduating in 1991. He earned a Bachelor of Medicine degree from Bogomolets National Medical University in Ukraine in 1998 and received his Palestinian Board certification in Pediatrics in 2013.
He worked as a pediatrician at the Gaza European Hospital in Khan Yunis between (2000-2004), became the medical director of Al-Nasr Children’s Hospital in Gaza City between (2007-2013), assumed the presidency of the oncology department at Dr. Abdul Aziz Al-Rantisi Hospital in 2013, became the director of Dr. Abdul Aziz Al-Rantisi Children’s Hospital in Gaza City in 2015, and the general manager of Al-Shifa Medical Complex since 2019, and worked as a lecturer at Al-Azhar and Islamic Universities in Gaza City.
He organized pediatric conferences within the Gaza Strip and participated in medical conferences abroad, including one held by the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Cairo in 2023. He oversaw development projects for the health sector in the Gaza Strip, including the modernization of medical equipment and the renovation of old buildings, such as the old maternity ward, at Al-Shifa Medical Complex. He also inaugurated the new emergency department on July 10, 2023, which included 62 beds. Abu Salmiya liaised with Arab and international organizations to explain the suffering of the Palestinian health sector under the suffocating Israeli siege and its ongoing wars on the Gaza Strip, and he contributed to the entry of medical aid from abroad into the Strip.
During his administration of Al-Shifa Hospital, the COVID-19 pandemic (Corona) spread in late 2019, and the occupation escalated its raids on the Gaza Strip on more than one occasion, in addition to the outbreak of the Jerusalem Sword War in May 2021, and then the Al-Aqsa Flood on October 7, 2023, when the occupation launched a devastating war on the Gaza Strip, which lasted for a long period, and the hospital was subjected to great pressure at that time, as the number of injuries exceeded its capacity to accommodate, as it was receiving a thousand wounded people daily, and in one case it received a thousand martyrs in one hour and two thousand injured people.
Abu Salmiya oversaw the expansion of facilities within the complex during the war, increasing the number of intensive care rooms from eighteen to sixty, and the number of operating rooms from eighteen to thirty, in addition to equipping medical tents to receive the wounded. The complex was subjected to siege and deliberate bombing by the occupation forces, resulting in the martyrdom of all patients in intensive care and the martyrdom of six premature babies. As a result of the deteriorating conditions, Abu Salmiya made a decision to evacuate the hospital and transfer patients to hospitals in southern Gaza in coordination with the World Health Organization. Then the occupation stormed the complex for the first time in November 2023.
Abu Salmiya was awarded the Arab Doctor Award in December 2024 at a meeting of Arab health ministers, in recognition of his efforts in managing the Al-Shifa Medical Complex during the Al-Aqsa flood, and his refusal to be swayed by the occupation’s claims regarding the use of the complex for military purposes.
Abu Salmiya was chosen as deputy head of the doctors' union in the Gaza Strip, and he headed the Al-Sadaqa Sports Club.
Abu Salmiya calls for national unity and concerted efforts to achieve comprehensive development for the Palestinian people. He believes that developing the health sector is not only a humanitarian necessity but also a fundamental aspect of national resilience, and he is convinced that improving health services and infrastructure can contribute to strengthening the Palestinian people's ability to confront daily challenges.
Abu Salmiya stresses the importance of supporting the rights of Palestinian refugees and strengthening Arab solidarity with the Palestinian health sector, and emphasizes that the health sector is a trust that must be preserved no matter what the challenges may be.
Abu Salmiya suffered under the occupation. His relative, Jawad Abu Salmiya, a student at Birzeit University, was killed in 1986. He was arrested by Israeli occupation forces during a raid on Al-Shifa Medical Complex on November 23, 2023, while transporting sixty-five patients from the hospital on Salah al-Din Street. Occupation forces stopped him at a military checkpoint for seven hours before arresting him along with several medical personnel.
He was interrogated by Israeli intelligence at the Netzarim interrogation center in the Gaza Strip, then transferred to the Shikma interrogation center in Ashkelon, and subsequently to Ofer Prison near Ramallah. He endured severe physical and psychological torture throughout his detention and remained imprisoned until his release on July 1, 2024. After his release, Abu Salmiya spoke about the tragic conditions of Palestinian prisoners, accusing the occupation of torture and pointing to the severe shortages of food and water and the daily physical abuse they suffer. However, the occupation targets everyone, including medical personnel, some of whom were martyred under torture.
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Achievements and Awards
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