Gaza emergency doctor evacuated, reunites with husband Dr Mo in Perth

Six months ago, they found love in the middle of a war.

Nour Dalloul and Mohammed Mustafa met in the emergency rooms of Gaza's hospitals.

Both had been thrust into the chaos — Dr Mo, a trainee Perth doctor volunteering in Gaza, and Dr Nour, a Palestinian intern.

It was during that time that Dr Mo captured the attention of millions worldwide, including world leaders, by sharing his experiences from inside Gaza's hospitals on social media.

"There would be children in tents outside the hospital ... slipping in and out of consciousness with severe injuries, no painkillers," Dr Mo said.

The carnage of the war was Dr Nour's first experience as a medic after starting her internship in February.

"You find yourself in the most chaotic system in the whole world," Dr Nour told the ABC.

The 25-year-old was evacuated from Gaza and arrived in Perth just weeks ago, but remained separated from her husband who was campaigning in the United States for a children's hospital to be built in Gaza.

The UK-raised son of Palestinian refugees, Dr Mo first moved to Australia in 2017 to continue his training as a doctor.

He became an Australian citizen in 2023, and has had two stints volunteering as an emergency doctor in Gaza.

A war-torn love

Now, Dr Nour is waiting excitedly at Perth Airport for her husband's flight to land.

"It was really hard ... I was in Gaza, the situation there was really miserable, it wasn't only us being apart," Dr Nour says.

"These last moments are the hardest, because you've been very patient ... but at this specific moment you're not patient anymore."

Time ticks slowly for Dr Nour as she waits impatiently for her husband to disembark.

At last, she spots a hulking figure coming down on the escalator, and her face bursts into a grin — it's Dr Mo.

For Dr Mo, the long nights of wondering if his wife was still alive has come to an end.

"There'd be times where the house next door was bombed and she was only metres away," Dr Mo said.

"The possibility was that she might get killed."

Risky wedding

The couple married in Gaza just a week before Dr Mo left.

Flashes from exploding bombs can be seen through the window in a wedding video of the couple dancing.

"It was pretty surreal because we had music on, and we were dancing, and you could hear the bombing outside," Dr Mo says.

"We were just enjoying the moment while it lasted, and obviously in the back of my head I'm thinking, we could get bombed."

Dr Nour left the wedding early with her family to make the risky journey from the south of Gaza back to the north, where they lived.

She returned just days later to see Dr Mo, for just a few hours, after he made the decision to leave Gaza.

"I was going viral a lot, and there was a lot of people really worried for my safety. I didn't want a target on her back as well, so the best decision I think was for me to leave ," Dr Mo said.

"She made the journey against my advice to come see me. I'm glad she did. And then it was a very long, hard five-and-a-half months just waiting."

Dr Mo has since been barred by Israel from returning to Gaza.

Survivor's guilt

The pair are still figuring out what their life will look like in Australia.

Dr Nour faces the challenge of coming to terms with her experiences in Gaza and survivor's guilt from leaving her family behind.

"When I was leaving, the first thing I felt is some feeling of betraying your people, betraying your family, that you're being safe and they're in danger," she says.

"Perth is a very beautiful place ... I'm very happy for being here, and it's comforting for me that I'm spending the rest of my life in here."

Meanwhile Dr Mo is continuing his advocacy work while piecing his life back together, having left everything behind to volunteer in Gaza.

There was no guarantee he'd return when he made his last trip — he had made a will, sold his car, and put his belongings in storage.

"My stuff is still in a storage unit, I'm still on the road travelling all the time," he says.

Both at least have the reassurance of each other.

A war-torn love, forged in Gaza, has found its home in Australia.