“`html
Tehran Residents Describe a city Under Siege as Israeli Airstrikes Intensify
Civilians are caught in the crossfire as attacks disrupt medical care and force mass evacuations.
By Anya Sharma | TEHRAN – 2025/06/20 22:48:24
Activists News Agency,a Washington-based Iranian human rights group,reports that at least 639 individuals have died due to Israeli strikes within Iran.
Human rights organizations are imploring both Israeli and Iranian authorities to prioritize the protection of civilians amidst escalating conflict.
Kyinzom Dhongdue, advocacy manager at Amnesty International Australia, stated, “What we are seeing in both of these countries is a pattern of indiscriminate and unlawful attacks,” to SBS News. She added, “These are not just morally unconscionable, these are a direct breach of human rights law.”
Iran’s capital, TEHRAN, has endured repeated attacks from Israel over the past week.
Smoke rises after an explosion in downtown Tehran.Iran’s capital has been one of the main targets of Israel’s attacks in the past week. Source: ABACA / Middle East Images/ABACA/PA
‘Sound of the city has disappeared’
Eyewitness accounts from TEHRAN reveal a mass exodus from the city in recent days.
“Many people have left the city to save their lives. The city is almost empty. Most shops are closed. Right now, life in Tehran is not in a good state,” one resident shared.
Another person from TEHRAN noted that “the usual sound of the city has disappeared”.
Living with constant uncertainty, residents of TEHRAN express deep concern for their city, which has been transformed in a matter of days.
One resident stated, “I’m seeing my city just from the window,” adding, “On one hand, I want to go and see up close what’s happening. I want to see it with my own eyes. But I can’t, because I’m scared.”
“What we are seeing in both of these countries is a pattern of indiscriminate and unlawful attacks…a direct breach of human rights law.”
‘Shortage of nurses and doctors’
The evacuation of TEHRAN has had severe consequences for many.
Iranian Australian Ramak Bamzar is deeply worried about her father in Iran, who was recently diagnosed with colon cancer and undergoing urgent treatment at a hospital in the capital.
Bamzar explained that her father was forced to leave TEHRAN due to strikes near the hospital, which halted his chemotherapy. “They shot the spot near the hospital,not exactly the hospital,but the shock was really massive,” she told SBS News.
“He was on the bed in the hospital to start the chemo[therapy] and the nurses,they fainted.”
Ramak Bamzar says that her father decided to stop his cancer treatment at this stage and “go somewhere to be safe”. Credit: SBS
Bamzar said her father is now living in limbo.
“We don’t know when he can start doing treatment, and it could be very dangerous for him if he doesn’t do it as soon as possible.”
“It’s really serious – having cancer and war, it’s just like which one is more important?”
Amir Ali Savadkoohi, an ICU doctor in TEHRAN, told SBS News about the dwindling medical support in the city. “Many people have left Tehran, and we’re facing a shortage of nurses and doctors,” he stated. “We’ve mostly tried to merge departments to make the most of the limited medical staff we have.”
While Bamzar has been unable to contact her father for the past two days due to internet blackouts, the distance between them is acutely felt.”If I was there, maybe I could do something.Here, you are just desperate. You feel like you have no power to do anything to help,” she said.
With the internet blackouts in Iran, many Iranian Australians like Ramak Bamzar have not been able to talk with their loved ones. Credit: Jennifer Scherer
