nurse recounts chaos in Gaza after Israeli army operation to free hostages

According to figures communicated by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the rescue of the four Israeli hostages caused the death of 210 Gazans and injured more than 400. The NGO Doctors Without Borders was on the front line. She has a team of around twenty people in Al-Aqsa hospital, which is the largest structure closest to the site of Saturday’s Israeli intervention in Deir El Balah.

In the videos posted on social networks by Palestinians, we see the chaos in the emergency department of Al-Aqsa hospital where Karin Huster went for MSF, early Saturday afternoon : “A hundred patients were on the floor. Women, children, lots of children. I was stepping over the bodies all the time. I had to push and pull the patients to have 30 centimeters between two patients. was just that, everywhere.”

Karin Huster works for MSF Belgium. It is based near Al-Aqsa Hospital. On Saturday, she brought equipment for treatment. But the flow of wounded was too great: “We made do with the means at hand. We stabilized those we could stabilize. But the system was completely overwhelmed.” Al-Aqsa is the last fully standing hospital in central Gaza. Some of the victims were directed to smaller structures. With injuries of any kind, says Karin Huster : “I saw patients who had gunshot wounds, who were burned, injuries caused by collapses. Everything that is typical of war injuries.”

This testimony does not validate Hamas’ figures, but it allows us to measure the intensity of the Israeli operation which visibly affected a very large number of civilians.