“We sew even babies for profit”: a Russian doctor described the situation in Gaza hospitals

Doctors in the Gaza Strip are sounding the alarm: anesthesia has run out, there are no painkillers. The humanitarian aid that was allowed into the enclave on Saturday is not enough. Journalists who work in Gaza post videos from hospitals on social networks. No comments. Just a video sequence. The footage shows many wounded, children in hysterics. And dozens of corpses on the street, wrapped in white sheets…

A Russian-speaking pulmonologist who works at the Shahada Al Aqsa Hospital spoke about what was happening.

I kept in touch with the doctor through a Russian friend, Kristina, who lives in the Gaza Strip. “He has Russian citizenship, he will tell you what he sees with his own eyes,” Christina warned me.

Later, she sent a voice message from the doctor: “They brought us a child who was bombed. The house was destroyed, his family died. He was left alone. Spent two days under the rubble, rescued…”

Next is a video from a pulmonologist: injured children from 5 to 8 years old are taken to the hospital. They are covered in dust. They scream. The doctor comments: “These are just children… Ordinary children, there are too many of them… They didn’t do anything…”.

— The doctor told me that the medications were running out. The white sheets used to wrap the dead have run out. Some bodies were buried in blankets,” says Christina. — Recently they showed a boy with a children’s backpack. They asked him: why do you need a backpack? He replied: there is part of my brother’s body…

It is impossible to contact a doctor by phone. I sent the pulmonologist questions. A day later I received answers.

— There are almost no medicines left in hospitals. There is a particular shortage of painkillers and sedatives,” the doctor lists. — Consider there is no anesthesia. We sew victims for profit, even babies. Blood banks are empty. There is no one to donate blood, and there are many wounded.

According to the man, all elective surgeries in Gaza have been cancelled.

— Only emergency operations are carried out. There are not enough beds. People are lying in the corridors, on the floor. The intensive care units are overcrowded. We have to choose who to save first. It’s scary to make a choice, but there is no way out. Between two victims, preference is given to the one who is more likely to survive, rather than the one who suffered more.

— Are there many amputees?

“Yes,” the pulmonologist answers without unnecessary details.

The worst fear of doctors is to lose electricity: “Then the end will come. Equipment and intensive care will fail. Children who are on life support will die.”

— Are there many injured children?

— 70 percent of admitted patients are children. Many are shocked. Some were left orphans, they are hysterical, crying, calling for their mother… But there are no psychologists to calm them down.

Journalists working in Gaza have many videos of the dead on social networks. The footage shows bodies wrapped in sheets lying on the ground. Some sheets have pieces of paper attached to them with names on them. But there are many who have not been identified.

“There are a lot of deaths,” the pulmonologist continues. — There is nowhere to store the bodies. Refrigerators don’t work. There are many unidentified corpses and remains. We don’t know who these people are…

Ordinary residents of Gaza cannot get to the hospital even in urgent need. People have to rely on their own strength.

“Pharmacies have been destroyed, many are closed—pharmacists don’t risk working in such explosions, and there’s nothing to sell anyway,” the source adds. — When there is an emergency, people still go to the hospital, but most treat themselves: getting to the hospital is difficult and scary.

Refugees from the northern part of the enclave continue to arrive at the hospital.

“People have nowhere else to go.” It is believed that hospitals and schools are safe and will not be bombed. But at the moment, attacks are also being made on schools, hospitals, churches, mosques and residential buildings. There is no longer any place to escape. The hospitals are overcrowded, there are thousands of people here. People built tents around the hospital and live in them. Journalists also settled in tents to convey information directly.

— Now the worst thing for a doctor is to lose all his medications?

“The worst thing for a doctor is powerlessness and the inability to save everyone.

I am again opening the pages on the social network of journalists who are on duty at the hospital around the clock.

I am watching a video. A boy and a girl are sitting on the same couch. They look no more than 4 years old. The boy holds his stomach and howls. The girl, looking at him, also begins to whine.

The next shot is of a newborn baby. He’s covered in dust. They wipe his face.

I notice that older children, about ten years old, hold on. A 10-year-old girl with an adult look has zero emotions. She looks at one point.

In hospitals, operating rooms were located in the lobby. One operating room is separated from another by partitions with curtains.

There are a lot of people on the hospital grounds. Here is a man shaking, howling, punching the doctor in the chest. Apparently someone died. He is forcibly taken aside.

A man and a woman are sitting on a bench. They show the operator a phone with a photo of the deceased daughter.

Ambulances arrive at the hospital one after another…