TAMPA, Fla. — A Central Florida emergency medicine physician who was detained by Israeli forces while attempting to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza described horrific conditions he witnessed during a previous medical mission and the abuse he endured during five days in Israeli custody.
Dr. Dia'a Daoud, an American citizen and Daytona Beach resident, spoke at a press conference on Wednesday organized by the Council on American-Islamic Relations Florida. He was among more than 150 activists and aid workers intercepted by Israeli forces on October 8 while participating in the Freedom Flotilla Coalition's mission to deliver medical supplies and humanitarian aid to Gaza.
"I remember seeing kids in front of me and cherry picking which one to live and which one to die, something that you would never want to do in your life," Daoud said, describing his 2024 medical mission to Gaza.
WATCH: Florida doctor describes harrowing detention after Israeli forces intercept Gaza aid flotilla
Daoud recounted treating a 10-year-old child who was gasping for air, but medical staff told him not to attempt resuscitation because there were no beds or ventilators available.
"While I'm doing CPR, they told me, please do not do CPR. He is going to die anyways. We do not have beds. We do not have ventilators to rescue him," Daoud said. "Unfortunately, that child was 10 years of age have died."
He also described finding a 6-month-old baby with a "mushed head" left alone on a counter during a mass casualty event.
"I just held his hand and I looked at him, what did this child do to the humanity? What did he do to deserve that?" Daoud said.
The flotilla departed from Otranto, Italy, on September 30 with healthcare workers, activists, journalists, and members of parliament from multiple countries. Daoud said the group carried approximately 2,000 pounds of medical supplies, including anesthetics like lidocaine and mepivacaine.
Israeli forces intercepted the vessel in international waters using helicopters and armed soldiers, according to Daoud's account. The activists were taken to Ashdod port and later to Ketziot prison in the Negev desert.
"They had us sit on our knees and toes for almost two hours with our heads down to humiliate us," Daoud said. "They'll bring a little band, arrest band that they cut off from one of my comrades that is written on it, free Palestine, and they put it in front of me, and they told me, do you want this?"
Daoud said guards forced him to remove his white medical jacket and subjected him to verbal abuse. When he asked why he was being treated differently than other detainees, he said an officer told him it was "because you're not white and they're white."
The detention conditions included extreme cold temperatures during transport, inadequate food and water, and what Daoud described as mental torture through sleep deprivation and loud sounds.
"The amount of torture that we had is nothing compared to what the Palestinians are enduring every single day," Daoud said.
Wilfredo Ruiz, communications director for CAIR Florida, said the flotilla's mission highlighted the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where he said 70,000 people have been killed, including 20,000 children, more than 200 journalists and more than 200 humanitarian aid workers.
"All hospitals have been bombed or shot at, all refugee camps have been bombed or shot at, Christian churches bombed," Ruiz said.
The organization also called attention to the case of Mohammed Ibrahim, a 16-year-old American citizen from Florida who has been held in Israeli custody for eight months without charges.
Hiba Rahim, deputy executive director of CAIR Florida, said another flotilla participant, Tampa Bay resident Egan Louise Moore, was unable to attend the press conference due to trauma from her detention experience.
"She endured five days in Israeli prison. She was also kidnapped from international waters by Israeli forces," Rahim said.
Daoud said he hopes to return to Gaza despite the risks, emphasizing that the current ceasefire does not address the underlying humanitarian needs of Gaza's 2 million residents.
"Every single day that we have over there passes, people die," Daoud said. "With the ceasefire, there's still the entire area is besieged, and there's some humanitarian efforts that are coming. But again, they're not enough for a population of 2 million."
We've listened to people on both sides of the war, as they have detailed the horrors they have witnessed.
Jonathan Dekel-Chen, a Sarasota resident and father of a hostage freed in February, spoke candidly about his family’s ordeal. His son Sagui, an Israeli-American, was held in Gaza for nearly five months before being released in February.
“We’re unspeakably grateful that Sagui came back to us after nearly 500 days of captivity in Hamas hellholes in Gaza,” Dekel-Chen said. “He came back wounded, certainly in body, but he’s doing as well as a person can under the circumstances.”
You can revisit our conversation with Jonathan Dekel-Chen.
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