by E. W. “Chip” MacEnulty II
This is a follow-up story to the original piece published in December 2025 on the author’s Substack. This version is a combination of the first version of the first piece and an interview he conducted with Dr. Hasan in April 2026.
Had to pronounce a toddler dead. No one was with him. I named him like he was
diary of dr david hasan
my own son and held him and wept for him.
We live in a global attention economy. News, media, and journalism compete for views and clicks. Too often, mainstream journalism tends towards attention-grabbing headlines and surface events for brief news cycles. Non-traditional media, such as social media, depend on short, attention-grabbing posts aimed at likes and views, not context or nuance.
At aidóni, we believe that journalists must go beyond the sensational to provide context to our audience. This requires seeking an understanding of all players at all levels. We aim to provide readers with new (perhaps even surprising) perspectives beyond headlines and attention-grabbing posts.
Hope amidst heartache
We’ve all heard the adage: “It takes a village to raise a child.” Sometimes you must build the village yourself.
In June of 2024, Dr David Hasan, a neurosurgeon at Duke University, had a vision. Working in war-torn Gaza on two medical trips, Dr Hasan was deeply impacted by the many orphans he encountered, now fending for themselves and often tending to their own siblings. He envisioned large academies focused on these children.
Today, the Gaza Children Village hosts 10,800 orphans across five academies with food, clothing, shelter, education, and therapy in the midst of heartache and devastation caused by war.
Dr. David Hasan is a Palestinian-American neurosurgeon and professor at Duke University.. His parents were raised in Tammun, the West Bank, and emigrated to Kuwait after the Six-Day War in 1967. They married in Kuwait and soon welcomed three boys and two girls into the family. When Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, the family moved to Jordan, living there for eleven months before emigrating to Dallas, Texas, USA. Working several jobs, assisted by several scholarships, he graduated from Texas Tech Medical School before completing his surgery residency at the University of Iowa. He would work at UI for twelve years before accepting his current position at Duke University in 2022.
After the attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023, where over 1,200 Israelis were killed with 251 taken hostage in Gaza, launching a full-scale military response by Israel, Dr Hasan was among the first doctors to enter Gaza in December of that year. He performed surgeries non-stop, he says, living off little sleep in the midst of chaos.
During a second visit, he encountered a gravely injured Gazan child. “I remember a boy about 2 years old who was seriously hurt. He arrived together with many
other children who had been in the same house,” Dr Hasan shared. ” The moment I saw him, I knew we would not be able to save him, so I had to give the only available oxygen canister to another wounded child who had a better chance of surviving. He was alone, with no one by his side. As he was dying … I decided that this child would not die without someone noticing and crying over him, and I realised that it would have to be me. … I had to let some [children] die, and the ghosts
continue to haunt me.”
It Started with Flour
Dr Hasan found 500 orphans needing food. He reached out to José Andrés with World Central Kitchen and asking for flour. Andrés provided more than flour; he provided meals. Dr Hasan built a one-tent shelter as a starting point. It would soon host 500 orphans. It became the first of five, called “Academy of Hope,” in the city of Deir al-Balah in the Gaza Strip.
Haaretz reporter Hilo Glazer describes:
“The Deir al-Balah village, which is already being expanded, consists of five large tents that serve as classrooms. The walls of the tents are covered with colourful paintings, in which the Smurfs feature prominently. The children, who range from preschoolers to ninth-graders, arrive every morning from the nearby refugee camp, which is within walking distance. The children who were wounded or those in wheelchairs are escorted by members of the staff. Classes are a major part of life in the village. The children are taught math, Arabic, art and science. The school day ends at about 3 P.M., but most of the children prefer to stay on the grounds until sundown. So, at the end of the day, the children return to the homes of family members in the refugee camp. On some days, they return home with a little bread.”
Fast forward to today: What began with one orphan in April of 2024 is now five academies serving 10,800 orphans. Currently, 500 Gazans volunteer their time as teachers and other positions. Twelve other volunteers work outside Gaza supporting this large undertaking: Palestinians (3), Israelis (3), American-Jewish (5) and European (1). These academies provide more than just food but medical care, healing, and community in the midst of war and a fragile ceasefire.
Among Dr Hasan’s first hires were a doctor and two nurses addressing malnutrition, injuries, and skin diseases (caused by not bathing). They also provide menstruation products for the young girls’ monthly periods (“dignity backpacks”). The academies provide healing through psychosocial support, including the arts, using drawing, singing and play. They also teach interfaith education, and Gazan children have painted posters celebrating Hanukkah and Rosh Hashanah, sending them to Israeli children. Kids are starting to play again, says Dr Hasan.
During the upcoming summer months, between June and September, the academies will transition into summer camps focusing on trauma and group therapy, all while keeping the healing and communal spirit of the academies.
Humans Not Characters
As of April 2025, 90 per cent of the 1,600 donors are Israelis. Given the heartbreak during war, stories like these matter to highlight the complexities in societies caught in long-running, multiple-decade conflicts. Given the current international climate, it is easy to be quick to sort people into pre-assigned narratives, creating victims and villains.
Mainstream journalistic headlines and social media reels or short posts often fail to show the nuance. aidóni, working in peace journalism, strives to understand the larger sociological complexities of actors involved in conflicts, whether they’ve reached the point of violence or not.
In the fog of war, emotions run high, and it can be easy to assume others’ positions and motives even as we tend to isolate ourselves in feedback siloes, thus not engaging with all players (and points of view) in a conflict.
What’s amazing about this story is that more than 1,000 Israelis have already donated to the village via crowdfunding, with the average donation standing at $140 per person. The larger donations are also coming from Israeli-American philanthropists… I think that many Israelis feel helpless in the face of the situation. A ‘general’ donation to Gaza is perceived as dangerous and as possibly ending
Professor Amit Goldenberg of Harvard Business School, and the self-appointed
up in the hands of Hamas. A village for orphans that’s managed by an American nonprofit looks like a safe goal and gives Israelis assurance that they’re putting their money into something that really is doing a little good in the world.
US fundraising director
Working with an American non-profit has proven to be the very effective way for donors, generally, and Israelis specifically, to contribute to Gaza Children Village for the simple reason that Israeli law forbids direct contact with Gazans.
The Little Engine That Could
This story is the vision and will of one individual. As a global community, we celebrate the organisations that work in these difficult arenas, risking life and limb doing so, providing resources where needs are great. Of course, we all know the big ones: The International Red Cross, Mercy Corps, Doctors Without Borders, or The Carter Centre, to name a few.
They have grown into world-recognised, trustworthy organisations doing great humanitarian work; they are a trusted source for donations. As a result, these well-known “brands” tend to garner the most attention.
Dr Hasan is not a ‘global brand’; he is one man with drive and a mission. It’s interesting to pay attention to these smaller organisations, especially when they are founded on lived experiences such as Dr Hasan’s work in Gaza.
By engaging in nuanced understanding, engaging all players, aidóni hopes for journalism that begins with the end result in mind: Peace where conflict once held dominance. In conflict, we tend to retreat away from engagement; by engaging, aidóni seeks understanding and nuance. As journalists, elevating understanding and complex narratives allows us to find the humanity in all of us.
Conflict de-humanises; engagement, understanding and connection humanise.
Additional Source
Combatants for Peace, David Hasan, and Mai Shahin. “For Gaza’s Children: Repairing Lives on the Ground with Dr Hasan.” Online Webinar. December 15, 2025.
Additional editing by Méline Laffabry and Zahra Salah Uddin
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