Camps for displaced Gazans in the coastal area of ​​Al-Mawasi, northwest of Palestinian Rafah (Al-Jazeera)

With the continuing tragic humanitarian tragedies in the Gaza Strip due to the ongoing Israeli aggression for nearly 6 months, and Israel’s targeting of journalists and media outlets, the testimonies of those returning from the Strip are of special importance.

Despite the worsening humanitarian crisis and the killing, abuse, displacement and starvation that the Palestinians besieged in the Gaza Strip are experiencing, only a small amount of their voices and the details of their suffering reach the world as monitored by the cameras whose owners are still laying down their lives to convey part of what is happening.

Part of the suffering is also conveyed to us by eyewitnesses who visit and return from Gaza to narrate the atrocities committed by the occupation in the absence of any oversight, and the tragedies of the Palestinians who have been besieged by the Israeli occupation and showered with tons of bombs since the seventh of last October.

Among the witnesses to this unprecedented tragedy in the region is British doctor Berson Gaskell, an anesthesiologist, who visited Gaza during the current war and worked there for more than two weeks before returning to her country.

Gaskell entered the Gaza Strip with a team of doctors from Doctors Without Borders, and joined the medical staff working in the city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, and worked there between February 4 and 21.

The British doctor participated in treating patients and injured people in Rafah despite the scarcity of resources and the city’s overcrowding with residents and displaced people, as the number of people there is estimated at about 1.5 million people, many of whom are displaced.

Displaced Palestinian children gather to receive food at a government school in the Gaza Strip (French)

Children under bombardment

Gaskell recounts her observations in Rafah to Anadolu Agency, and explains that she decided to go to the Gaza Strip to contribute to healing people's wounds, even if only to a small extent, after what she saw of killing, disability, and injuries among civilians.

She says that she collapsed and felt deep sadness when she entered the Gaza Strip, especially with the continuous sounds of bombing that did not stop around the clock, and with the bombing the screams of terrified and injured children did not stop.

Regarding the prevailing atmosphere in Rafah after her entry, the British doctor explained that every civilian or health sector worker she met had terrifying stories about what he had experienced, about a relative or friend he had lost, and many painful stories that revealed aspects of the tragic situation under which people were living.

But what shocked her most during her stay in Rafah was the feelings of fear and panic among the children, and when she left Gaza, she was accompanied by a feeling of concern for the lives of the civilians she met and observed their daily suffering up close, and she now does not know their fate, a situation that she confirms is not easy for any person to face, especially for the doctors.

Gaskell says, "When I left the Gaza Strip, I felt like I was abandoning them, and I felt guilty at the time. I had the option to leave the area, but they did not have that option, so they could not leave yet."

Gaza is no longer fit for life

The British doctor talks about the health conditions in the Gaza Strip, and confirms that civilians - especially children - suffer from complex injuries, which require treatment by specialist doctors. She confirms that those with complex and serious injuries do not receive sufficient treatment in light of the scarcity of medical capabilities and weak health services.

As for the humanitarian and service conditions in general, remember that all daily life facilities have completely collapsed in the sector, which she described as “no longer suitable for people to live in.”

She says, "Gaza has truly turned into hell on earth, and it is no longer livable in light of the deprivation of the most basic requirements of life, such as water, electricity, education, and health, in parallel with a state of chaos due to the possibility of anything happening in the Strip."

Gaskell explains that she and her fellow doctors, who entered Gaza for a limited period, did their best to treat people's wounds medically, but despite this, their efforts fell short of what was required given the extent of the damage and the severity of the injuries.

She points out that she has entered many war and conflict zones in Yemen, Iraq, South Sudan and Nigeria, but she believes that the most difficult mission for her was in the Gaza Strip.

The doctor justifies her opinion by saying that the cases of injury and trauma they were facing among civilians inside the Gaza Strip were very large in number, as well as extremely dangerous.

The British doctor concluded her speech by saying, "What is happening in Gaza is a humanitarian catastrophe in every sense of the word, and there is no justification for all this pain and suffering." She called on the international community to put an end to the war on Gaza.

Source: Al Jazeera + Anatolia