San Carlos doctor returns home after being trapped in Gaza

A doctor from San Carlos has returned home after spending several weeks trapped in Gaza. Haleh Sheikholeslami had gone on a medical mission, which was extended indefinitely after the border closed.

SAN CARLOS, Calif. - A doctor from San Carlos has returned home after spending several weeks trapped in Gaza. Haleh Sheikholeslami had gone on a medical mission, which was extended indefinitely after the border closed.

"Which meant for us not only not being able to come out, but it meant no aid coming in," says Sheikholeslami.

Suddenly, an already meager supply of medicine in Rafah dwindled.

There was Tylenol and not much else. Often Sheikholeslami could diagnose her patients, but had no way to treat them.

"We try to help patients as much as we can. It's hard when you don't have the tools to help patients or patients who you know should be hospitalized but can't be because there's just no room for them," she says.

Back home, the doctor's family feared for her safety and tried desperately to get her out. Finally, on May 24th, after three and a half weeks in Gaza, an armored convoy escorted her through to Jordan.
It was not a moment too soon. She says there were airstrikes right near her clinic.

"Actually, I was watching a video yesterday. It was the exact area that I worked. I saw the bodies being laid right there and the white sheet coverings they had in the room that I usually worked at," she says.

Sheikholeslami says she's grateful she made it home, but that she'll never forget what she saw in Gaza.

"It's hard and a very bittersweet moment when I realized I could go, I'm leaving this day, but the others could not," she says.

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