Nurse Lana: Bearing Witness in Gaza | Sumud Podcast

🎙️In this episode of the Sumud Podcast, Palestinian-American nurse and humanitarian volunteer Nurse Lana shares her firsthand experiences working inside Gaza during the war. Through powerful testimony, she recounts what she witnessed in hospitals overwhelmed with casualties, and reflects on the emotional weight of hearing the stories of those who survived unimaginable violence, torture, and displacement. She also discusses the personal toll of returning home after witnessing war, the responsibility she believes healthcare workers have to “bear witness,” and how those experiences led her to help create Peace Med, a network of medical professionals advocating for humanitarian aid and a ceasefire. DISCLAIMER: This episode contains traumatic eyewitness testimony from Gaza, including descriptions of war, medical emergencies, violence and abuse and may be difficult for some viewers. Viewer discretion is advised. 🌍In February of 2024 and again in 2025, Nurse Lana entered Gaza not just as a nurse, but as a witness to humanity’s breaking point. She worked in hospitals running on more hope than supplies. Each moment carved a scar into her heart, each life lost became a weight she still carries. In nursing, they say “if it wasn’t documented, it wasn’t done”. And with a heart forever scarred by genocide, she documented the cries, the chaos, and the courage, not in medical charts, but in a book. Her recently released book, "Healing Under Fire" is her testimony to what it felt like to work at the bedside of a genocide as a privileged American nurse. 🔑 In this conversation, we explore → The moment Nurse Lana decided to volunteer in Gaza → Preparing for the possibility of death before leaving home → Entering Gaza and witnessing the reality of life under siege → Treating patients in hospitals with almost no supplies → The emotional weight of losing patients who could have survived elsewhere → The resilience, generosity, and humanity of Palestinians in Gaza → Witnessing the release of Palestinian detainees and signs of torture → The psychological toll of returning home and learning how to cope ⏱ Chapters 00:00 Opening message 01:00 Introducing Nurse Lana 03:00 The decision to volunteer in Gaza 06:00 Preparing for the possibility of death 10:30 Entering Gaza and first impressions 18:00 Working inside Gaza’s overwhelmed hospitals 32:00 Living and working under bombardment 43:00 Witnessing the release of Palestinian detainees 56:00 Returning home and coping with trauma Sponsored by The Karate Attorney (@karateattorney) fighting for justice inside and outside the courtroom. Visit KarateAttorney.com 🎬 Full episode on https://sumudpod.com 📲 Follow @dredhasan | @sumudpod | @Nurse_Lana Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices