From the Introduction:

“I felt I had to show up and help with my clinical experience. It was an audacious, almost crazy thought. Me, a mom from Chicago, going to a war zone? But the thought wouldn’t go away. … What I was seeing on western media was not what people on the ground in Gaza were showing the world. I simply could not ignore it. As the endless stream of children’s faces haunted my nights, I saw in my husband’s eyes not just his own breaking heart, but the quiet, unspoken question: When was I going to tell him that I was going to Gaza? …

“Interspersed throughout these accounts are the diary entries of Dr. Helen Hwaihi, a Palestinian medical doctor who worked alongside me as a student during both of my medical missions. These entries were captured in the form of direct conversations, voice notes, and her written recollections. Her entries are indicated in italics throughout the book in various chapters. I am honored to have her as a co-author.

“She was my translator. I was meant to be her mentor, but in the end she was the one who saved me. She would be my translator, my confidant, and my rock. She encouraged me to do what I knew best as an emergency doctor, even in the face of ever-present futility.”

Proceeds from sales of The Blood on My Hands will benefit the continuing clinical education of Dr. Helen Hwaihi, with whom Dr. Mimi Syed worked closely in Gaza.