Medicine is never neutral. In this episode of Habibti Please, host Nashwa Lina Khan speaks with Dr. Yipeng Ge, a public health physician and activist who has worked in Gaza during the genocide. They speak about the entanglement of healthcare, colonialism, and liberation struggles.

From Six Nations of the Grand River to Gaza, this conversation connects Indigenous resistance, Palestinian liberation, and the responsibilities of healthcare workers who refuse silence in the face of genocide. Dr. Ge shares first-hand experiences working in Rafah, witnessing severe malnutrition and attacks on Gaza’s hospitals, and reflects on the responsibilities of physicians to act politically, not just clinically.

They also discuss the Freedom Flotilla Coalition’s largest-ever mission, the Sumud flotilla, which set sail with over 50 boats from 44 countries to break Israel’s illegal blockade — and the increasing risks activists face as Israel escalates attacks and labels them “terrorists.”

To practice medicine is to confront colonialism, speak out against genocide, and understand care as inseparable from justice. Yipeng reflects on their education at McMaster, where Indigenous leaders like Dawn Martin Hill fought for the creation of Indigenous Studies, shaping a transformative understanding of privilege, responsibility, and solidarity. Drawing on the words of Dr. Nidal Jabbour, the conversation underscores that liberation and freedom — not aid alone — are essential for health and survival in Palestine and beyond.

Solidarity is an act of risk: putting one’s voice and body on the line, following the direction of oppressed communities, and standing in the way of erasure. Propaganda and lobbying in Canada and Western media erases and dehumanizes Palestinians while legitimizing settler state violence. Activism can be a driver of systemic change, from Burnaby declaring itself an apartheid-free city to Italian ports blocking Israeli arms shipments and a recent general strike.

Yipeng shares his experience working in Gaza, describing malnourished children, the destruction of hospitals like Nasser Medical Complex, and the resilience of Palestinian healthcare workers who continue to care for their people under siege. The Global Sumud Flotilla, international intervention from Italy and Spain in deploying naval ships to support the flotilla, 1 million Italians striking and shutting down the country for action, are critical escalation of global solidarity, even as the genocide intensifies.

The history of Western medicine is one that is complicit in slavery, eugenics, and Indigenous genocide. Yipeng reflects on disrupting these structures from within the profession. Hope is not passive, but a discipline — an active practice of persistence and resistance, embodied by Palestinian steadfastness and echoed in abolitionist struggles.

This episode is a call to understand medicine as resistance, solidarity as risk, and hope as a discipline — forged through collective struggle, from Gaza to Turtle Island.

Resources & Links

* Freedom Flotilla Coalition – Global Sumud Flotilla

* Countries part of the global flotilla

* Doctors Against Genocide

* Independent Media mentioned: The Maple, The Grind, Ricochet

* Dr. Ghassan Abu Sitta’s work: https://drghassanabusittah.com/

* Follow Yipeng: Twitter | Instagram

* Subscribe: Habibti Please Substack

Academic / reports / analyses/ advocacy / activist/ coalition / grassroots resources

* A Health Analysis of the Gaza Genocide (Public Health and Human Rights Initiative, PHRI) This report frames much of the health system collapse in Gaza through the lens of genocide law. (רופאים לזכויות אדם)

* Safeguarding healthcare workers in Gaza and throughout conflict zones — Khanji et al., 2025 Focus on legal / ethical imperatives for protecting medical personnel in conflict. (PMC)

* Gaza’s healthocide: medical societies must not stay silent — The Lancet (Editorial) A call to medical institutions to break selective silence and act. (The Lancet)

* “Healthocide and medical neutrality: a call for action and accountability” — (Abi-Rached et al.) BMJ Global Health

* “The Rhetoric of Decolonizing Global Health Fails to Address the Reality of Settler Colonialism: Gaza as a Case in Point” — International Journal of Health Policy and Management

* Doctors Against Genocide — Medical Resources A live, updated resource hub including webinars, profiles of Gaza health workers, and advocacy materials. (Doctors Against Genocide)

* The Sameer Project A Palestinian-led medical / relief operation in Gaza. Their public pages (e.g. Open Collective) explain their work in shelter, medical care, supplies, etc. (Open Collective)

* Librarians & Archivists with Palestine — Readings & Resources A curated and updated reading list and resource guide (nonfiction, fiction, archives, etc.). (Librarians with Palestine)

* Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) statements on Gaza / doctors’ calls to action MSF has publicly described that doctors in Gaza “face the devastating reality that they cannot stop genocide.” (MSF UK)

* “Gaza’s healthcare system is being destroyed by targeted attacks” (The Guardian)

* Doctors who visited Gaza speak of ‘atrocities,’ collapsing healthcare” (Reuters)

* Healthcare collapse and disease spread: a qualitative study of challenges in Gaza strip Abuzerr, S., Zinszer, K., & Mahmoud, H. (2025). BMC Public Health (Open Access) — examines how the collapse of healthcare infrastructure is driving infectious disease spread in Gaza. (BioMed Central)

* Barriers faced by primary healthcare providers in addressing emergencies in the Northern region of Palestine before and during the Gaza war Hamshari, S., Hamadneh, S., Ghneem, M. et al. (2024). BMC Primary Care (Open Access) — focuses on what primary healthcare providers are experiencing, before & during the genocide. (SpringerLink)

* Resilience amid chaos: The role of Gaza medical points — from PMC (Open Access) — looks at “medical points” (mobile / temporary clinics) and how they function under severe shortage, damage, and conflict pressure. (PMC)

* Rebuilding the health sector in Gaza: alternative humanitarian voices Blanchet, K., Najem, M., Shadid, L., et al. (2024). Conflict and Health (Open Access) — perspectives from humanitarian actors on how the health system can be rebuilt and what alternative / grassroots voices are calling for. (BioMed Central)

* Defending the right to health in Gaza: a call to action by health workers Mohammed, F., Elgailani, U.S.A., Ibrahim Ali, S.Y., et al. (2024). Conflict and Health (Open Access) — health workers’ statement about the destruction of the health system, challenges, and what is urgently needed. (SpringerLink)

* The Urgent Struggle for Health Justice in Gaza: A Crisis of Human Rights and Inequity Mansour, W., Theobald, S., Fouad, F.M., et al. (2025). International Journal of Health Planning and Management (Free Access) — an editorial framing Gaza’s situation as part of a broader struggle for health justice. (<a href="https://onlinelibra