Dr. Essi, who has been teaching neurology, algiology and palliative care for about 15 years, chose to stay in Gaza despite offers from various parts of the world. Married with 7 children, Dr. Essi, like all Palestinians in Gaza, have been displaced many times.
Explaining her migration adventure, Essi stated that they lived in the Tel al-Heva Neighborhood of Gaza City before the war and that they migrated to different neighborhoods as a result of the bombing of the houses around the place they lived. She explained that during their migration on July 7, they migrated after her son, who was on duty at the hospital, warned them to leave the region after Israel warned them to leave.
Dr. Essi received great attention on social media when she shared a photo she took during the migration. She stated that the photo symbolized the migration story of Palestinians and that she shared it to stop forced migration. She expressed her surprise after learning that the photo had been shared 20,000 times.
Dr. Essi, who received her Bachelor of Science degree in Medical Rehabilitation at the University of Southampton in England in 2003, her Palliative Care degree at the German Jordanian University in Jordan in 2014, and her Evidence-Based Health Services (CEBM) degree from the University of Oxford in 2018, emphasized that she received offers to work in Gaza within or outside international institutions, but decided to serve the Palestinians.
Dr. Essi said, “I, like my other colleagues, decided to stay in Gaza and serve the Palestinians. Hopefully, our decision is right and we will gain some reward from it.”
