Medical Workers Also Coming Under Fire
GAZA/LONDON, JULY 21, 2014 -- Since the beginning of Operation Protective Edge, the majority of the dead and wounded in Gaza have been civilians, and medical workers are also coming under fire, Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders/ (MSF) said today.
On Sunday (20 July) morning, following heavy shelling in the city’s Ash Shuja’iyeh neighborhood, the majority of the people coming to the emergency room in Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, where MSF is working, were women and children. MSF personnel witnessed hundreds of people fleeing the Ash Shuja’iyeh neighborhood.
MSF calls on Israel to stop bombing civilians trapped in the sealed-off Gaza strip, and to respect the safety of medical workers and health facilities.
“Shelling and air strikes are not only intense but are also unpredictable, which makes it very difficult for MSF and other medical workers to move and to provide much needed emergency care,” said Nicolas Palarus, MSF field coordinator in Gaza.
Two brothers, eight and four, were among the hundreds of civilians wounded overnight in Ash Shuja’iyeh. They lay side by side in Al Shifa’s intensive care burns unit, suffering severe burns from a missile strike on their house.
It was only at dawn that people began to flee the area by foot or in packed vehicles, and were able to reach the hospital either by ambulance or on their own.
“In the emergency resuscitation room, half of the severe cases died within minutes, and half required emergency surgery,” said Audrey Landmann, MSF medical coordinator in Gaza.
At the hospital, MSF also witnessed two paramedics who had died and two others who were injured while trying to retrieve wounded from Ash Shuja’iyeh. Separately, a clearly identified MSF vehicle escaped an air strike by just 300 meters. Israeli authorities had earlier guaranteed secure movements for MSF from the Erez border crossing to Gaza City, to pick up an incoming surgical team.
“Medical workers and facilities must be respected, and shooting should not occur at or near ambulances and hospitals,” said Palarus.
Since Israel launched its ground offensive the number of victims is increasing exponentially.
“While official claims that the objective of the ground offensive is to destroy tunnels into Israel, what we see on the ground is that bombing is indiscriminate and that those who die are civilians,” said Palarus.
Three families of MSF staff members are sheltering at MSF’s post-operative clinic in Gaza City. “They have nowhere else to go and crossing the border does not seem to be a realistic option,” said Palarus. “United Nations shelters are now overcrowded and hygiene conditions are extremely worrying.”
In response to the emergency, MSF is supporting Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City with a full surgical team, medical equipment and emergency supplies, and has donated two emergency stocks to the Central Drug Store in the south and north of Gaza. The MSF post-operative clinic in Gaza City is running at 10 to 30 percent of its capacity because the intensity of the bombing impedes patients from accessing the facility. Regular MSF activities in Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis have been interrupted by the conflict. MSF has been working in Gaza for more than 10 years, providing medical, surgical and psychological services. It also responded to the 2009 and 2012 emergencies in Gaza.