UK doctor: 80% of Gaza victims I treated were children
Dr Victoria Rose has just returned to the United Kingdom after working in Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. She says children are increasingly suffering life-altering wounds in Israeli attacks compared with her stint in Gaza in March.
“What shocked me the most is that about 80 percent of everyone I treated was under the age of 16,” Rose told Al Jazeera.
“All of the injuries were explosive-related and burns. I saw a lot of limb trauma, children losing their legs and arms. A lot of facial injuries. I had a seven-year-old child that had most of his nose blown off.”
Asked if she’s ever seen anything like the situation in Gaza, the doctor responded: “No, never.”
Fear of infection leads to amputations for Gaza’s wounded: Doctor
The wounds of victims of Israeli attacks in Gaza are becoming infected because of a lack of clean shelter and medical supplies and burgeoning malnutrition, a British doctor who recently worked there says.
"A lot of the children are so young, I don’t think they understand the significance of the injuries they’ve sustained,” Dr Victoria Rose told Al Jazeera.
“There were a lot of situations where we amputated because we didn’t have the ability to do the reconstruction. We knew if we didn’t do the amputation, the risk of infection and then death from sepsis was a possibility.”
‘Beyond catastrophic’: UN demands Israel allow access for aid work
The UN has pressed the Israeli government “as the occupying power in Gaza” to ensure humanitarian organisations can carry out their crucial work.
At a news conference, spokesman Stephane Dujarric emphasised the critical role of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, as the “backbone, heart, lungs and arms” of humanitarian aid in Gaza.
“We are in constant contact with Israeli counterparts, notably COGAT [the Israeli military’s Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories] on how to improve the system,” Dujarric said.
“[The] humanitarian situation in Gaza remains beyond catastrophic.”
The comments came after Gaza’s Health Ministry accused Israel of blocking polio vaccination teams from entering the territory.
Dujarric noted that more than one million people in central and southern Gaza did not receive any food rations in August. An ongoing blockade of the enclave has led to severe shortages of food, clean water and medicines.
Rush to vaccinate children as polio drive continues
At tent camps for the displaced, schools-turned-shelters and health centres, parents have brought babies, toddlers and teenagers for polio vaccines provided by UN agencies.
“I live in a tent next to a sewage pond with significant disease and epidemic issues, and mosquitoes and worms have affected us,” said Amani Ashur, 37, who brought his one-year-old son, Abdul Rahman, to be vaccinated.
Like most Palestinians, Ashur has been displaced at least once, finding shelter in the al-Amal neighbourhood of southern Khan Younis. His child, like many others, has fallen ill from sickness spreading through the unsanitary makeshift shelters.
“I was worried about my child, so I brought him to be vaccinated,” said Safaa al-Balbisi, 34, about her two-year-old son, Yahya. “The war, lack of cleanliness and living in tents and on streets along with the widespread sewage issues have all contributed to the spread of disease.”
Palestinians face the risk of epidemics from uncollected garbage and accumulated sewage
