Sireen Al Attar (Sirīn al-‘Aṭṭār) (سيرين العطار), 39, dedicated her life to promoting the well-being of mothers and infants, working in a health sector severely strained by Israel’s blockade, with chronic shortages of essential medical supplies and inadequate physical infrastructure. 

Dr. Al Attar was one of a cadre of specialists trained abroad to uplift the quality and quantity of health care in Gaza. In 2021, a senior health official described this concerted governmental effort as a “health renaissance.” A Reuters report found that between 2006 and 2022, the number of general practitioners more than doubled to 1,913, as did specialists, to 1,565.

In 2008, Dr. Al Attar graduated from the medical school of al-Quds University with top marks, and won Gaza’s only scholarship for specialty training in obstetrics and gynecology in Amman, Jordan. In April 2010, after difficulties securing a permit to travel, she finally made it to Jordan, less than 24 hours before giving birth to her first daughter, Reema. She returned six years later to work for the Gaza Health Ministry, joining a project to lower maternal mortality rates. She was also on the teaching staff of the medical schools at the Islamic University of Gaza and al-Azhar University.

Dr. Al Attar worked to improve hospital practices to lower infant mortality rates, in part by addressing the extremely stressful work environment of under-resourced, overworked hospital staff. A Lancet article she coauthored with colleagues reported the significant effects of clinical coaching for hospital staff. 

Eventually, Dr. Al Attar chafed at the Ministry’s bureaucracy and public hospitals’ inadequate communication with pregnant women. In 2019, she established her own practice, the Yafa (Jaffa) Clinic for Obstetrics and Infertility in al-Burayj, and produced a public outreach video for expectant mothers on how to distinguish between true and false labor.

In 2020, Dr. Al Attar began working for UNRWA, where she was one of just three obstetric specialists across the agency’s 22 health centers. Of her prodigious capacity for work, Dr. Al Attar’s medical school classmate and UNRWA colleague Sana Najjar recalled, “She said, ‘Hell with the protocol, hell with the schedule, refer to me any case,” staying late to see up to 50 patients daily, double her assignment. She also worked to bring doctors from abroad to help with training. One of these, Dr. Deborah Harrington, a British obstetrician, said, “Sireen was making the care of women better. And she had gotten other people on board.” 

When Israel’s assault began, Dr. Al Attar left her home in Gaza City to stay at her parents’ home in al-Burayj, hoping it would be safer. On 11 October 2023, Israel bombed the house. Dr. Al Attar was killed, along with one daughter. A cupboard fell on her eldest, Reema, 13, but she survived, along with her severely injured 6-year-old sister.

Speaking to a reporter, Reema explained how her mother viewed her work as a duty, with no expectation of reward. “That was one of the lessons I heard her mention lots of times. I want Allah to give my reward.”

Dr. Al Attar’s UNRWA colleagues also paid tribute to her work ethic: “She was renowned for her generosity, deep love for her work and the care and affection she extended to her patients, offering unwavering support to them.”

In 2025, al-Istiqlal Hospital in Jordan announced the Sireen Al Attar Fellowship to train five doctors from Gaza in various specialties.

Photo Credit: Reuters