Doctor sounds alarm about ‘complete breakdown’ of Gaza’s medical system
We’ve spoken to Mohammed Tahir, a trauma and nerve surgeon at FAJR Scientific who returned to London from Gaza on Saturday and who has been there on a number of medical missions, about the medical needs in the territory.
He said the patients that need to urgently be evacuated include those who have been directly affected by the war, suffering from bullet and shrapnel wounds, as well as more chronic cases, such as cancer patients.
“Those patients will die unless they are allowed to be evacuated,” Tahir warned, noting that there is a “complete breakdown” of the healthcare system and a lack of appropriate tools and diagnostics.
At the same time, Tahir said, there is a need to redevelop Gaza’s medical system in order to treat the hundreds of thousands of people requiring treatment.
“We need to rebuild the local system, allow the import of critical equipment and expertise, and at the same time allow those with the most urgent needs evacuated so that they have their healthcare needs addressed,” he added.
Tahir also said that from the moment the ceasefire took effect on January 19 until February 2, when he left Gaza, there was “no appreciable change in terms of medical care” as the urgent healthcare needs had not been met.
Israeli system blocks life-saving medical evacuations out of Gaza: Physician
Up to 14,000 people in Gaza currently require medical evacuation that will save their lives, said James Smith, a London-based emergency physician who has worked in Gaza.
“A substantial proportion of those patients could have been treated inside Gaza were it not for the fact that the Israeli occupation forces have systematically destroyed and dismantled the health system in Gaza. We’re talking about children with congenital heart defects and other complex multiorgan issues, children with cancer and adults as well,” he told Al Jazeera.
The doctor said at the current rate that Israel is permitting evacuations, it would take at least 378 days to evacuate everyone requiring treatment abroad.
“I myself have treated children and adults in Gaza who died as a result of their medical and surgical conditions who otherwise could have been saved if we could have evacuated them outside of Gaza in a timely fashion,” Smith said.
“This is a most bureaucratically perverse system, and the situation was also similar prior to October 7, 2023. These are the conditions of occupation that Israel has imposed on people living in Gaza and occupied Palestine.”
Israeli army destroys sewage plant, more infrastructure in south Lebanon
Israeli forces have carried out a “large-scale demolition operation” in a sewage treatment plant located in the Marjayoun plains towards Kfar Kila, near the border with Israel, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA).
Also in Marjayoun, Israeli forces have been reportedly bulldozing trees and agricultural lands, as well as burning homes in the eastern side of the town of Hula.
Meanwhile, Israeli fighter jets have been carrying out mock raids in the skies of Nabatieh and Iqlim Tuffah in southern Lebanon at medium altitude, while drones fired two sound bombs in the skies of the two of al-Jabeen.
The Lebanese army has begun deploying in the town of Taybeh, according to NNA, which said the army will also be detonating unexploded ordnance in the Qalaa fields in Marjayoun and in the Akka area.
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