Each morning since February, Israeli-Arab doctor Khitam Hussein has woken up before dawn to rush to a job on the front line of the country's fight against the novel coronavirus.

Hussein, 44, has emerged as a prominent member of Israel's often marginalised Arab community which is now playing an essential role in confronting an unprecedented health crisis.

She heads the outbreak response at the Rambam Hospital near Haifa, the largest hospital in northern Israel, and has been working 12-hour days for months.

"It is incredibly difficult work, no day is like another," she told AFP. "Our lives have been turned upside down."

Read more here.