MSF doctor describes a day at last remaining hospital in southern Gaza
Javid Abdelmoneim, medical team leader for Doctors Without Borders (MSF), has described a day at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, saying that having worked in mass casualties around the world failed to prepare him for “the horror” in Gaza.
“Four to five injured people came in: some of them first-aid responders. Amongst them was a boy who wasn’t breathing, so we tried to revive him, but the nurse looked at us and asked, ‘Why are we responding to him, if he can’t breathe? We have to save other lives.’ No one had the heart to call it and move on to the next one. He was someone’s child.
“But we had to move on to the next, and then the next, and this continued for another four and a half hours.
“In the emergency department, there was blood everywhere on the floor and I had to kneel to see the patients on the floor. Patients were sprawled everywhere, because there were no beds left. I could feel my knees getting wet from the blood. At the same time, more and more patients were coming in.”
“I’ve worked in mass casualties around the world and the smell of blood is the same wherever you are. But here in Gaza the horror really hits home.”
Medical team leader @DrJavidA describes a day in Al-Nasser hospital, one of the last in south Gaza.https://t.co/j93KEMNK2b
— MSF International (@MSF) July 22, 2024
Nasser hospital overwhelmed with casualties as Israeli bombardment continues
Health officials at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis have urged residents to donate blood because of the large number of casualties being rushed into the medical facility.
“The situation in the Nasser medical complex is out of control. We have been receiving hundreds of casualties and mortalities within or during three hours. Our situation is very bad. We need to be supported by medical supplies and instruments,” said spokesman Mohammed Sakr.
“Tens of cases are on the floor; we don’t find beds to place patients on, we don’t find enough supplies to give healthcare services to our patients. The situation is very hard,” he added.
“We are swimming in a pool of blood.”
Sakr said that the hospital received more than more than 30 dead bodies and two 200 injuries.
“We ask all countries worldwide to force Israel to open the borders in order to transfer our patients who need urgent operations to neighbouring countries” to get treatment, he said.
A relative of a Palestinian killed in an Israeli strike at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis
