Colorado pediatrician helping children in Gaza, "the most dangerous place in the world to be a child"
Dr. Mohamed Kuziez is a pediatrician at Children's Hospital Colorado, but recently he put his own safety aside to fly across the globe to help children in Gaza.
"Gaza is the most dangerous place in the world to be a child," Kuziez said, echoing a report by UNICEF.
When the war started, and he saw the devastation in Gaza he knew he had to go over there to help.
"Just knowing what was going on and the severity, of the situation and the degree of need motivated me to want to go there," Kuziez told CBS News Colorado.
After seeing how many kids were being injured, he thought his skills could be put to good use in Gaza, so he volunteered to treat patients with Rahma Worldwide.
Most estimates from health officials in Gaza, as well as independent monitors, place the death toll in Gaza around 46,000 but a new study suggests it could be much higher.
The Lancet -- a medical journal -- estimates in a peer-reviewed study based on data from a wide variety of sources that more than 64,000 people have been killed. And the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, citing data from the Gaza Ministry of Health, reports 13,319 children are confirmed to be among the dead. That's in addition to over 16,000 men, 7,000 women, and 3,000 elderly as of Jan. 8.
"I don't have an answer to everything going on, but I know that these kids deserve a chance," Kuziez said.
He arrived nine days before the ceasefire agreement was reached between Israel and Hamas. He says those nine days were the toughest days he's ever experienced as a doctor.
"In the evening, you would know how bad it was going to be based off of how bad the bombing was that we were hearing," Kuziez said. "In the morning, I would see patients who had survived and, just the long-term prognosis of these kids was just it is difficult it's sad."
He says since the ceasefire began, things have improved but there is still a lot of need in Gaza.
"The long-term issues, these kids are going to have to deal with are going to become present now that we have a ceasefire. And so having pediatric specialists and having even just adult specialists in this area, I think it's still necessary," Kuziez said.
He thinks the whole situation is a catastrophe: "I just want people to understand that in war, there are no victors."