British doctor's bitter tale of the miserable conditions in Gaza

This British doctor wrote in an article for the Guardian newspaper: "Never in my career as a surgeon in London's largest hospital, I have seen such scenes as I witnessed in Gaza. One day during the war in Gaza, I had to save an 8-year-old child from certain death due to bleeding, but the nurses told me that there was no more sterile gas available. At Nasser Hospital in Gaza, when I was working as a volunteer doctor for the "Medical Aid for Palestine" organization, I had to press my hand on the child's wound to stop the bleeding. I felt that the child would not survive, but fortunately he survived, but his mother did not have this chance.
I had retired from the UK Department of Health, so I decided to go to Gaza because I knew there was a great need for surgical help there and I had the skills. As a transplant surgeon in London, I had the skills to do very difficult surgeries. But being in Gaza and helping the war victims was a different experience.
We entered the Gaza Strip in a fully armoured UN vehicle and the driver, a Swedish man, told us: “Just try to survive. Don’t get killed. Life is a very strange and Western experience of adversity.”
At that moment the Israeli army fired on our car. Gaza is the most dangerous place in the world to work and since the war began more than 300 aid workers and 1,000 health workers have been killed.”
The British doctor wrote: “The distance we were driving south of Gaza was more like the images of Hiroshima, Japan after the atomic bomb. All the buildings were completely levelled for several miles and there was no one.
Upon entering Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, we were met with an unimaginable scene of chaos. It was as if we were in the Middle Ages.
The hospital wards were overcrowded with wounded people, with bodies and beds jammed together in the rooms and corridors, making it impossible to pass through. Beds had even been pulled out onto the balconies to accommodate more people. Many were sleeping on dirty, filthy sheets on the floor, with family members helping the nurses.
The sanitary conditions were dire. Soap, shampoo and cleaning gel were not allowed into Gaza, and medical supplies were limited.
Every day we witnessed the hospital being bombed. Other hospitals were also targeted, as in the February 2024 bombing, several aid workers and patients were killed. Every day we witnessed Israeli bombings and attacks, and the hospital wards were filled with bodies and children who had lost family members. We usually had 10 to 15 dead and 20 to 40 wounded.
Every hour of the day and night, we had wounded and dead people who had to be admitted, and sometimes the operations took more than 24 hours.
Most of the wounded and dead were children and women, and the children had similar injuries; a shot to the head that was clearly from a sniper.
Meanwhile, 30 British doctors and nurses who were working in Gaza during the war in the Strip last year wrote to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in August, saying they were witnessing the deliberate targeting of children in Gaza every day. 99 American aid workers also made the same point in a similar letter to then-US President Joe Biden in October 2024.
The surgeon added: “I have been in several war zones but I have never seen such widespread destruction and civilian casualties. This war in Gaza was unlike any other.
When we returned last September, I felt guilty that I could go back to my quiet life while millions of people lay hungry on their beds and worried that their homes and places of residence would be bombed at night.
I also feel a sense of shame and embarrassment that the British government, the Labour government that I supported, did not condemn Israel for war crimes in Gaza and continues to arm the regime.
Political power may require compromise and behind-the-scenes trade-offs, but there are some moral red lines that should never be crossed, regardless of the political cost. In my view, the genocide in Gaza is the ultimate test of the moral courage of leaders in the 21st century, and so far, our leaders have failed. The bombing may have stopped for now, but the need to hold those who committed the crimes accountable is imperative.”