Western doctors decry 'appalling atrocities' committed by Israel in Gaza
Healthcare system in Gaza has 'essentially collapsed', with children suffering severe burns to the point where their facial bones are visible, medical professionals who visited besieged enclave tell UN.
Wounded Palestinians, including traumatised children, are brought to Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital for medical treatment, following Israeli attacks on a house belonging to the al Habbash family in the Nuseirat Camp in Deir al Balah, Gaza on March 19, 2024. / Photo: AFP
The healthcare system in Gaza has essentially collapsed, Western doctors who visited the Palestinian enclave in recent months have told an event at the United Nations, speaking of "appalling atrocities" from Israel's bloody onslaught.
The four doctors from the United States, United Kingdom and France have been working with teams in Gaza to support its healthcare system, which has been reeling since Israel began its military assault there last October.
The Israeli offensive has displaced nearly 2.3 million people, caused a starvation crisis, flattened most of the besieged enclave, killing over 31,800 people and wounding nearly 74,000.
Nick Maynard, a surgeon who was last in Gaza in January with British charity Medical Aid for Palestinians, recalled seeing a child who had been burned so badly that he could see her facial bones.
"We knew there was no chance of her surviving that but there was no morphine to give her," Maynard, a cancer surgeon, told the event at the UN headquarters in New York. "So not only was she inevitably going to die but she would die in agony."
"Rafah invasion will be apocalyptic"
An other seven-year-old child, Hiyam Abu Khdeir, arrived at the Gaza European Hospital with third-degree burns on her body, after an Israeli airstrike on her home killed her father and brother and injured her mother, said Zaher Sahloul, a critical care specialist with humanitarian group MedGlobal.
After weeks of delay, she was evacuated to Egypt for treatment but died two days later, Sahloul said.
International experts have warne d that Israel’s assault constitutes a genocide, accusations that the World Court is probing.
Israel denies accusations of genocide and has maintained that it is targeting Hamas, not civilians.
The doctors also warned of a large death toll if Israel proceeds with its plan to invade the southern Gazan city of Rafah.
"If there's a grand invasion of Rafah, it will be apocalyptic, the number of deaths we're going to see," said Maynard.
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