Film “American Doctor” tells the tragedy of war in Gaza from the perspective of American doctors.

From left to right: Individuals during the premiere of the film ‘American Doctor’ at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival at the Ray Theatre, Utah.

The documentary ‘American Doctor,’ which premiered on Friday at the Sundance Festival, presents testimonies from American doctors who worked in Gaza hospitals during the war, calling for the exposure of the conflict’s impact on civilians and healthcare workers.

The film includes accounts from an American Jewish doctor and two other American doctors, one of whom is Palestinian-American, as they attempt to treat the physical and psychological wounds of civilians in Gaza resulting from the aggression that began on October 7, 2023. This followed an unprecedented attack on southern Israel, which, according to a tally based on official Israeli figures, resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people.

At the beginning of the film, the director refuses to film scenes of dead Palestinian children shown to her by a doctor, fearing she would have to blur the horrific images to preserve the children’s dignity.

The war in Gaza has resulted in the deaths of more than 70,000 people, most of them civilians, according to data from the Gaza Health Ministry, which the United Nations considers reliable.

In addition to treating amputated limbs and open wounds alongside their Palestinian colleagues, the three doctors, as shown in the film, try to defend the victims within the corridors of decision-making centers in Washington and through Israeli and American media.

One doctor says: “You will only honor them if you allow their memory and their bodies to tell the story of this tragedy, this genocide. You are not doing them a service by not showing them.”

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He continues: “These are the results of the taxes I paid, that you paid, that my neighbors paid. They have the right to know the truth,” adding, “You, like me, have a responsibility to tell the truth. Blurring scenes is considered a breach of journalistic ethics.”

‘A Chance to Know What’s Happening’
Palestinians and international organizations accuse Israel of acts that may amount to war crimes in the Gaza Strip, but Israel rejects this, saying it targeted militants who use hospitals and other civilian facilities as command centers, and stated that Hamas elements are fortified in tunnels beneath these hospitals.

In the film, one of the three doctors repeats that he did not see any tunnels, and that the presence of wounded fighters in a hospital does not make it a legitimate target.

The documentary shows the field difficulties faced by the doctors, from smuggling surgical clothing and antibiotics across borders to circumvent the Israeli blockade, to last-minute refusals by Israeli authorities to allow them entry.

It also highlights the courage of men volunteering to work in hospitals subjected to repeated bombardment by the Israeli army.

One doctor said on the sidelines of the Sundance Film Festival where the film was shown: “Americans deserve a chance to know what is happening, how their money is being spent, and to decide for themselves if they really want this to happen?”

He adds: “I am absolutely sure the answer is no. I just want to keep speaking out and telling people they don’t have to be partners in killing children. But we all are at the moment.”

This doctor’s testimony is particularly significant as he was present with the other two doctors during what became known as the ‘double strike’ that targeted Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip in August 2025.

Rescue workers and journalists who rushed to the hospital after it was hit by a first raid were killed when a second raid was launched on the same site.

UN investigators have accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, which Israel has denied and described as “false” or “antisemitic.”

The film’s producers say it is dedicated to the souls of approximately 1,700 healthcare workers killed since the war began.

Despite a truce in effect since October