Bleeding and crying, Dr. Hani Bseso’s teenage niece Ahed called out for him as she slipped in and out of consciousness. A shell had ripped into their home, which had been surrounded by Israeli troops as fighting raged outside that December day. It was too dangerous to make the five-minute drive to Al-Shifa Hospital, where Dr. Bseso, 52, worked in orthopedics. So he grabbed a kitchen knife, scissors and sewing string — then amputated Ahed’s leg on the kitchen table, where her mother had just made bread. With “no tools, no anesthetic, nothing,” he explained, “I had to find a way to save her life.”

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Persons: Hani Bseso’s, Ahed, Bseso, ”, “ Organizations: Shifa Locations: orthopedics