Bombs, Disease, Starvation: Canadian Doctor Describes the Desperate Situation Inside Gaza

this is democracy Now democracynow.org The War and Peace report I'm Amy Goodman with Juan Gonzalez we turn now to Gaza to Israel threatening to launch a ground invasion of Rafa where over a million displaced Palestinians have sought refuge on Monday President Biden hosted King Abdullah of Jordan at the White House during public remarks Biden initially described Israel's operation Rafa as quote our operation yesterday our military operation of Rafa their the major military operation raaa should not proceed without a credible plan a credible plan for ensuring the safety and support of more than 1 million people Sheltering him Jordan's King Abdullah condemned Israel's plan to attack Rafa and called for a ceasefire in the creation of a Palestinian State we cannot afford an Israeli attack on Rafa it is certain to produce another humanitarian catastrophe the situation is already unbearable for over a million people who have been pushed into RAF since the war started we cannot stand by and let this continue we need a lasting ceasefire now this war must end seven decades of occupation death and destruction have proven Beyond any doubt that there can be no peace without a political Horizon military and security soltion are not the answer they can never bring peace civilians on both sides continue to pay for this protracted conflict with our lives we go now to Toronto where we're joined by Dr yasar Khan he's a Canadian opthalmologist an ey surgeon who recently returned from a humanitarian surgical Mission at the European Hospital in Kan Yunis in Gaza uh Dr Khan welcome to democracy now if you can describe what you saw there in Khan Unice the level of the injuries how crowded the European hospital was the threats people were facing there thank you very much for having me well you know I I look at the impending um invasion of Rafa and the attacks of Raa and I know because I've seen it I know what's going to happen I know the casualties and I know how much worse it's going to get when I was in Khan Unice a few weeks ago I've I've been to over 40 different countries um you know doing humanitarian work uh anywhere from in Africa Asia and South America and there what I saw in conun were the most horrific scenes in my entire life and and I hope I never see them again it was it was just you know the bombings were going on every few hours at that point in time the Israeli forces were about a kilometer away and the mass casualties kept on coming in and it was mostly I mean the major majority of of the patients that I treated were children anywhere from the age of 2 to 17 I mean I saw horrific eye in facial injuries that I've never seen before uh I shattered in two six-year-old uh children with uh with sharpnel that I had to take out eyes with with sharpnel stuck inside uh facial injuries I saw Orthopedic injuries where you know limbs just cut off and dangling I saw abdominal injuries that which is horrific and it was just mass chaos there's children on the floor unended to uh with hat trauma uh people suturing patients without anesthesia on the ground it was just mass chaos and really horrific horrific scenes and I know that now with the bombing going on in Rafa and scenes of children hanging exploded and you know half their bodies cut off and hanging on on a wall because they've been exploded I mean those are scenes going on now so I know exactly what my colleagues are going through right now in in Raa and in in Gaza basically and and doctor you you were working shifts of 12 to 13 hour days can you talk about the conditions of the medical staff and the doctors you worked alongside with where did you uh where did you sleep H how were you able to eat can you talk about those conditions you faced yeah well the doctors were amazing I mean the palestin doctors were amazing their dedication and their will to to resist dying and staying alive was amazing they're very talented but they have nothing there was no antibiotics uh there was no painkillers on the last day I was leaving we ran out of morphine which is very important in a lot of Orthopedic injuries so patients were I me the whole whole European Gaza hospital was at the time now it's everything I'm seeing and everything I saw is much worse now but basically it was overcrowded it about 3 400% overc capacity there's patients and bodies lying all over the hospital floor inside and outside they had Orthopedic devices coming from their from their legs and or their arms um they're getting infected they're in pain because they're on the floor so the conditions weren't very sterile and if they survived amputation the first time the infection would get them because then they they'd have to be amputated after a lot of the kids that I saw and and more than 60% of the patients I saw were children they're thin um they had no fat on them they're starving because as you know Israel has had a um has had a food blockade since this war on Gaza started and so they're all thin with no fat starving and they're coming in and um you know it was it was just and and we don't have we didn't have enough supplies enough gauze enough antibiotics enough instruments even the instruments are are resting to kind of you know deal with with with the mass trauma Dr in the hospital yeah Dr aan this is Democratic senator Chris Van Holland of Maryland speaking Monday ahead of a vote on the 95 billion Aid package to Israel Ukraine and Taiwan Madam president I want that to sink in kids in Gaza are now dying from the deliberate withholding of food in addition to the horror of that news one other thing is true that is a war crime it is a textbook War crime and that makes those who orchestrate it war criminals that's Democratic senator Chris Van Holland on the floor of the US Senate Dr KH you're talking about the thinness of the children of the whole population yeah well you know Amy it's you know from from what I saw and what I experienced with when I when when when I was on the ground speaking to officials uh speaking to the doctors there and this whole um you know one of the whole aspect of this war in Gaza you know the the genocidal intent of Israeli politicians um the Israeli Army has been clear what is really bizarre is they haven't hit it they have openly called for it they've openly called for epidemics and and so a as a as a health care professional the attack on the Health Care system has been unprecedented I mean I mean the viciousness of it the killing machine that Israel has Unleashed on on the Healthcare System I think is is unprecedented hospitals have been bombed uh when when when the doctors have Tri to repopulate them they've been you know sniper fire with drones has has prevented them from going in they've attacked the sewage system the water system so the the sewage mixes with the drinking water um and and you get dial diseases bacterial diseases you know CA typhoid is not not far away hepatitis A is epidemic there now they're living in cramp spaces they have killed over 300 or 400 healthcare workers uh doctors nurses paramedics ambulances have been bombed this has all been a systematic sort of you know um you know um by destroying the Health Care System you're contributing to the genocide uh what's going on is now there's 15 10 to 15,000 bodies that are decomposing so it's raining season right now in Gaza so all the rainwater uh mixes with the decomposing bodies and that bacteria mixes with the drinking water supply and you get further disease they have kidnapped about 40 45 doctors that have been specifically targeted they've targeted specifically Specialists who are you know oneof so like the one nephologist in the Gaza Strip was targeted um the pathologist Hospital Chiefs and and directors have all been targeted through drones or or targeted missile strikes and you know so the whole thing is that if the bombings are not going to get you then disease will surely get you because they're all malnourished so as you know if you're malnurished your immune system is weaker so you're more susceptible to disease but there's no antibiotics you know the the amount of amputations I saw um you know in children for example uh both arms one arm one leg both eyes gone you know both eyes amputated basically out of their um eye socket you know it's it's it's amazing I mean it takes about you know if if this was done properly in a non-war scenario uh you know one amputation in a child a child will need about 9 to 12 surgeries by the time they're an adult you know for prosthetic fitting and whatnot now in this case first of all it's a situation they've not been done properly fair enough because you have to rush it but secondly who's going to take care of these children um most them mostly children because their parents are gone their uncles are dead their um grandfathers and grandmothers are are dead and so you know the Israeli killing machine has been vicious I mean they've used drones when I was there I I was speaking to doctors who were there and told me that they've used drones like the Hellfire drone that that is an explosive drone it fires off these discs once it implodes or explodes and these discs are very unique and they cause unique amputations most amputations occur at the weak points like you know like the elbow or the knee but they cause you know mid thigh mid arm amputations which are much more complicated and they fire off the shpil and you know from from what the doctors are telling me that you know what I believe is is that they're using weapons on the civilian population that that have never been used before because from from what I heard based on my experience you know Israel has a very strong defense industry and buyers like weapons that are battle tested so if you can put a label to a new weapon that's battle tested that increases the value of it and they're experimenting with these weapons from from what I've heard and from what I saw um in a civilian dense population so it's just um it's it's been vicious really really vicious

Channel: Democracy Now!

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Id: 9TbSRxVNOpE

Length: 11min 40sec (700 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 13 2024