At the Irving City Council meeting on Thursday, August 28, several residents urged city leaders to take a moral stand on the war in Gaza by supporting a ceasefire resolution.
One of the most impactful speakers was Dr. Muhammad Ali Anwar, an Irving resident since 2015 and an Infectious Disease Consultant with Baylor Scott & White Health. Dr. Anwar, who studied medicine at Dow Medical College in Karachi, Pakistan, and later trained at The Ohio State University, spoke with deep emotion as he described the human suffering in Gaza.
Dr. Anwar said that earlier the same day he treated a trauma patient in Irving who required advanced medical support, including a continuous fentanyl drip and external fixators for shattered bones. He contrasted that care with conditions in Gaza, where doctors are forced to perform amputations on children and adults without anesthesia due to shortages.
He then shared accounts documented by a vascular surgeon from Irving who had recently returned from Gaza. Among the examples:
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A 14-month-old girl carried into Al-Aqsa Hospital by her mother after a blast. The infant’s body had fused with her mother’s arm due to the severity of the burns. The only way to separate them was to amputate the mother’s limb; mother and child were later buried together.
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A 12-year-old boy who lost a leg in an explosion. Lacking surgical supplies, doctors were forced to use a Foley catheter as a tourniquet to stop the bleeding.
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Hospitals overrun to the point where the grounds of Shifa Hospital had become makeshift graveyards, with medical workers burying patients and colleagues on site.
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More than 1,400 healthcare workers killed, leaving remaining doctors to operate under constant bombardment.
“These are not stories of war,” Dr. Anwar told the council. “They are stories of annihilation. Children undergoing amputations without pain relief, families buried together in mass graves, and healthcare workers slaughtered. These are my colleagues. These are people just like us.”
Dr. Anwar acknowledged that foreign policy is beyond the City Council’s authority, but argued that local resolutions carry moral weight when forwarded to state and federal leaders. He also noted that over 800 Irving residents have signed a petition calling on the council to reinstate the ceasefire resolution.
Two additional residents also spoke in favor of the measure. The City Council did not indicate whether it would revisit the issue.
The push for a local resolution comes against the backdrop of a war that began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas fighters launched coordinated attacks in southern Israel killing about 1,200 people — including 40 American citizens — and taking 251 hostages. The attack occurred during the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah. Israel launched a full-scale military campaign in Gaza with the stated goal of destroying Hamas. Since then, more than 63,000 Palestinians have been reported killed, with women and children making up a large share of the casualties.
A petition in support of the measure, “Irving Residents Call on City Council to Support a Gaza Ceasefire Resolution”, remains active on Change.org.
