Wollongong pharmacist Yossra Abouelfadl is “overwhelmed” by the response to a petition from more than 3000 health professionals calling for urgent government action on Gaza.

“The good news is we've achieved our goal,” said Yossra, who created the open letter after hearing doctors' firsthand accounts of volunteering in Gaza at a forum she organised at Project Contemporary Artspace in May.

“Our initial goal was to reach 2000 signatures and now we're at 3800," she said.

“David Shoebridge, the Greens senator, tabled it in parliament yesterday at around 5.30 and we've met with a lot of MPs to talk about the letter and our goals and our demands in the letter.

“It was very, very productive.”

Speaking from Canberra today, Yossra said she was staying on to lobby more MPs.

“I feel relieved and overwhelmed with the response from the community, the health workers, the media – I was on ABC Illawarra radio in the morning, she said.

“I feel like everyone's backing this up. Everyone wants to speak out. We're just hoping that the government listens and takes action soon."

The letter – signed by doctors, nurses, midwives, pharmacists, paramedics, allied health workers, mental health clinicians, dentists, physiotherapists and public health experts – comes as Australia joins 27 countries in an urgent appeal to end the war in Gaza.

“The suffering of civilians in Gaza has reached new depths," reads the recent joint statement on the Occupied Palestinian Territories signed by Foreign Minister Penny Wong. "The Israeli government's aid delivery model is dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity. We condemn the drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians, including children, seeking to meet their most basic needs of water and food."

First-hand testimony inspired open letter

The path to over 3000 signatures started with a single conversation.

Yossra's “dear friend”, Illawarra emergency consultant Dr Ayman Elattar, had volunteered in Gaza with the Palestinian Australian New Zealand Medical Association (PANZMA). He told her “horrific stories” about “unbelievably dehumanising” conditions.

“One of the stories that actually affected me personally, and kind of started this whole action off, was the starvation – the fact that he lost about 10 to 15 kilograms in four weeks [in Gaza],” Yossra said.

“It broke my heart when I saw him. He was diagnosed with pneumonia too. And this is a doctor that is protected by the Australian organisation, PANZMA. So you can only imagine what the population, what the Palestinians are going through at that time."

Yossra felt driven to act. She connected with emergency physician Dr Mohammed (Mo) Mustafa on social media and, knowing he’d also volunteered in Gaza, approached him with her idea: to bring people together in a safe space to talk about the humanitarian crisis.

“He encouraged it,” Yossra said. “Being a health professional myself, and having this background of ethics and humanitarian values, and with the recent escalation of the genocide that we're all watching on live stream, I just felt like it's the right thing to do in this community.”

“So it started from this small idea, and it just became bigger and bigger, until I had to close the registration.”

More than 200 people crammed into Artspace on the night of May 28 to hear from Dr Elattar and Dr Mustafa, as well as Palestinian activist Assala Sayara, orthopaedic surgeon Dr Aziz Bhimani and Illawarra Women’s Health Centre’s executive director, Sally Stevenson AM.

“I was overwhelmed by the support of the community,” Yossra said. “It just makes you realise how much it's affecting people here in Australia, and how much people want to know more about it. Events like that shed a light on this injustice.”

The groundswell of support inspired Yossra to take her advocacy a step further.

With the help of other local activists, she put together the open letter, which states: “As medical professionals dedicated to preserving life and health, we cannot remain silent in the face of the ongoing blockade that is preventing vital medical supplies, food, and humanitarian assistance from reaching over two million people in desperate need.”

Thanks to a supportive community

While her open letter reached its target of signatures in less than two months, Yossra said she has been advocating on the issue for “a very long time”.

Originally from Egypt, she moved to Australia more than two decades ago and to Wollongong 18 months ago, where she said she was “instantly inspired" by the community.

“They come together in a lot of humanitarian causes,” she said. “I fell in love straight away with the community here.”

Yossra works at pharmacies in Bellambi and Thirroul, where she said customers often initiate conversations with her about Gaza. She is a member of Friends of Palestine and attends the regular rallies in Crown St Mall, where her daughter, Labiba Abdellatif, acts as the MC.

“We're a group of students, mothers, daughters, just members from the community,” Yossra said.

“Educating people, telling the truth, is very important. Even though this is miles away from us, it's still affecting the people here in Australia, because Australia is built on immigrants.

“Things are changing … but without us working on it as a community and pressuring the government to do something about it, nothing’s going to happen.

“It has to come from the people's voices.”