What do you do to celebrate when you've just accomplished one of your biggest career challenges, leading the bid for the Illawarra to secure the nation's first women's trauma recovery centre, and watching the doors finally open just a matter of weeks ago?

For many it would be a time to take a well-earned break – but not for the 2023 Wollongong Citizen of the Year, Sally Stevenson AM.

Yes, she did book some leave and head overseas; but this was no holiday.

After previous humanitarian missions working in Africa for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), Sally was recruited as emergency coordinator to guide the organisation’s life-saving work in Gaza.

Sally packed her bags, updated her Will, kissed her beloved sons goodbye and flew into the most dangerous place on the planet on a humanitarian mission.

Having spoken out at rallies in support of the people of Palestine in the Wollongong Mall, questioning why the Australian Government wasn't doing more to prevent the "catastrophic” Israeli response to the Hamas actions in Israel on 7 October last year, Sally felt she needed to do more, and whatever she could do to support the people living "and only just surviving" in war-torn Gaza.

Surrounded by mass destruction

Sally had worked for MSF before, but never in conditions like this: surrounded by mass destruction and with the dangers that go with being based in a part of the world where death and suffering is everywhere, due to relentless military activity against the population, and the extreme living conditions as a consequence of Israel's ongoing siege of Gaza.

Over the years, Sally has experienced more than her share of challenges in her role as Executive Director of the Illawarra Women's Health Centre, but her 35 days in Gaza heading up emergency operations for the medical charity MSF was next-level tough.

Having been "well prepared" by MSF for what was to come, Sally chose to leave the safety, security and beauty of the Illawarra's beaches and escarpment (her favourite place to walk) behind for an assignment in "hell on Earth". 

"As we drove into the Gaza Strip from Israel the landscape was like a wasteland. Then as you near the city of Khan Younis which has been utterly destroyed, there are all of the things that I'd seen on social media; rubble and collapsed buildings that almost look like they've melted, with concrete falling down, bent metal everywhere... this was unprecedented," Sally said.

'These were their homes'

"I suppose I expected to see some of that... but what I wasn't expecting as we moved into the so-called 'humanitarian zone' was the number and density, as far as the eye could see, cheek by jowl, of all the displaced people in rudimentary shelter, made with whatever debris they could find. Torn bits of cloth trying to build privacy, plastic sheeting and bits of cardboard everywhere. These were their homes."

Sally was based in south-western Gaza in the al-Mawasi region, which Israel designated as a ‘safe space’. She was there for the first anniversary of the 7 October Hamas attacks, and at a time when Israel celebrated the killing of the Hamas leader, all potential flash-points in a conflict which is as unpredictable as it is brutal.

According to Sally, no one felt safe in the so-called safe space.

"It's not safe; there're still bombings, artillery fire, drone, quadcopter and UAV strikes in this zone. You have 1.2 million people in a space of 41 square kilometres. Many people were displaced from the north initially. So, you're in this space that used to be vacant land near a beach. There's no running water, no sewerage, no shelter, and then on top of that because of the siege of Israel into Gaza there's very limited food and other supplies, and a deliberately decimated health system."

Struggling to cope

Among her roles, Sally was responsible for security to protect her team, struggling to cope with the sick and injured.

"We had three primary health-care centres and supported Nasser Hospital in the paediatric and maternity wards, which is basically the last hospital standing. We also did water trucking every day, so people had safe water to drink.

"The United Nations had been trying to run convoys through the frontline in the north to supply the population and the hospitals with food, fuel, blood and to evacuate critically injured patients. The convoys were turned back by the Israelis eight, nine, 10 times, so they're basically saying no food for the patients. They've bombed the generators so there's no electricity. ICU patients are dead. It just defies any kind of belief, except it is a daily reality. Once upon a time you wouldn't see a hospital bombed. It's a war crime.

"I was horrified. It's not like anything I've seen before, and other humanitarian workers will tell you exactly the same thing. This is unprecedented, the destruction and the cruelty, and the absolute disregard for any engagement rules of war. War crimes and crimes against humanity are being perpetrated. It is a genocide, and it's being allowed by the international community."

One of Sally's greatest concerns is for the physical and mental health of the humanitarian staff on the ground in Gaza. There are those, like Sally, who come in and out of Gaza on rotation. The assignments are shorter than normal for MSF because of the conditions and the trauma faced every day. The majority of the staff, however, are locals.

Staff are traumatised

"We are working with staff who are traumatised. Seventy percent of the MSF team (280 people) have moved from the north. Everybody's lost somebody. There is no hope for the future. Nobody thought we'd (MSF) be there for more than three months. I don't think the world thought humanitarian assistance would be needed there for more than three months. It's now 12 months and it's a chronic emergency with no end in sight."

Sally said she was "appalled by the cruelty" as Israel prevented lifesaving supplies getting through. The humanitarian convoys carrying food, medicines and other essential supplies are either blocked, turned back, or looted.

"Before the war there were 500 trucks a day supplying the local population with essentials. The last truck numbers that came in were 26 trucks in the whole of September. Then there were just nine trucks in the first 21 days of October. They're crushing the community. There are 100,000 metric tonnes of food outside of the Strip, waiting for Israel to allow in, which is two months of food for a million people. 

Looting is rife

"So, they're just keeping this out and when goods do come in, they risk high levels of looting."

Food and products of value are looted and it is becoming increasingly dangerous.

Sally said a bottle of shampoo in Gaza sells for $100 (US) and there's a lucrative black market in tobacco. "Israel has banned tobacco, so you can imagine a population under pressure. People do smoke, and one cigarette is worth $30 US."

She said organised crime is growing and MSF now factors in the loss of up to 50 percent of their supplies to looting on each convoy delivery.

"When you have a kid with an amputation and no pain killers because the paracetamol couldn't get through, this is simply unacceptable. And of course, people are going to get angry. 

"A convoy by the UN of 100 trucks had 75 percent of goods looted. Under international humanitarian laws, Israel as the occupying force has a responsibility to ensure humanitarian aid is delivered the population. Israel provides no protection whatsoever and does nothing to ensure safe delivery of goods."

Given the circumstances they find themselves in, Sally heaped praise on the local staff.

"They're professional, they're highly skilled and they turn up every day, even as they manage their own trauma. For the Palestinians living in the most inhumane conditions imaginable... it's just a daily thing. It's just an existence, and it's a war without end. So, they just have to endure it. These people are just trying to survive. I feel so very sad. Sad for these people who have got no escape."

Getting out of Gaza

A week ago, Sally finished her time in Gaza, farewelling people who were strangers when they were brought together in September under the most difficult circumstances imaginable. The memory of the journey out of the war zone will stay with her.

"Rubble, destruction, displaced people, dust, sand, it was almost monochrome. No colour. No light."

It took 17 hours for Sally's convoy to travel the 160 kilometres back into Israel "because of the checkpoints, obstructions and delays".

Her lasting memory is one final war-time experience, as the convoy made its way out through the devastated city of Khan Younis.

"You're driving through and over the rubble which is literally like a Mad Max scene. A wasteland, crumbling destroyed buildings, bombed cars, twisted bits of metal on the ground and dust everywhere. As we turned a corner there was an incoming convoy being looted. It literally felt like we were on a movie set. People on top of the vehicles with guns, others running alongside grabbing food and other supplies, dust flying everywhere. It was so surreal."

Safely home again

Safely home in Australia late last week and met at the airport by her two sons, Sally's first stop was to visit her mother to reassure that she was okay. A bushwalk on her favourite trail to Brokers Nose with a close friend was important and, as always, reminded Sally of the beauty, safety and privilege of her hometown, and of living in Australia. But the memories of her time in Gaza will never be far away.

Sally will continue to speak out about Palestine. So, what will her message be, having now witnessed "the worst of humanity"?

"My message will be about the Palestinian people and that we need to keep speaking out so they do get a sense that the world is watching and that they're not forgotten.

"My God, as a society they still haven't imploded with all the pressures upon them – people like you and me under daily military attacks, experiencing constant loss and grief, enduring unbearable living conditions, limited food, the worry about the oncoming winter (with no winter clothing) and rains (with no protective shelter), minimal healthcare, no education for their kids, no sewerage systems, limited fresh water – and no ceasefire in sight.

"In such conditions, a society could so easily just collapse, and it still might; but what they've endured for a year now is beyond imagination. That they've done that with a sense of cohesion, compassion and dignity is quite remarkable."

Sally will also continue to call for the Australian Government to do more.

"They need to speak up and call it out for what it is. Call out the war crimes and the crimes against humanity. Stop the export of components that are used in the Israeli weapons. It's simply not enough to say, 'we're gravely concerned'."

On Monday, still slightly jet-lagged, Sally returned to her other job, supporting women who find themselves at the centre of their own suffering through the scourge of domestic violence. Her dedication, commitment and compassion for people in distress is what earned Sally Stevenson our city's highest award and national recognition through the Australian honours system.

Our world needs more compassion ... and it needs more Sally Stevensons.

About the writer

Jeremy Lasek is a friend of Sally Stevenson. He has supported Sally and her team at the Illawarra Women’s Health Centre, and worked closely with her as a member of Wollongong City Council’s Australia Day Committee and in the nomination and selection process for Wollongong’s 2024 Citizen of the Year awards.