The hospital where Sabha and Khan were stationed was also under pressure. Although it was designed for 200 people, it housed more than 10,000, according to Sabha.
Many patients suffered serious injuries. Others required amputations. Few had anywhere else to go.
Sabha recalls that there was only one bathroom for 200 to 300 people. Doctors, meanwhile, had to improvise emergency rooms.
“When patients come to the emergency room, they don’t have a bed for them. They see them on the floor,” Sabha said. “In that hospital hallway, you’re always jumping over someone’s leg, over a body.”
Sabha remembers seeing 20 to 30 patients a day, all while fasting during the holy month of Ramadan. A practicing Muslim, he survived on four hours of sleep and about two protein bars a day, he said.
But the number of patients has not only strained the hospital’s limited space; it has also strained resources. Gaza has been under tight siege since October 7, and food, water and medical supplies are scarce.
This meant that Sabha and Khan had to work with limited medicines and instruments.
“We had to be very creative and step out of our comfort zone,” Khan said. He explained that under normal circumstances, “when we repair fractures, we use certain types of screws, certain types of plates, certain types of rods.”
But in Gaza, “we had to use the wrong implant to fix something because that was all that was available.”
The health situation is all the more dire because Gaza’s infrastructure is in ruins. The constant bombing has weakened buildings and made them unstable, and the lack of sanitation facilities is breeding grounds for mosquitoes.
“There is no sewage system at the moment. The garbage is piling up. So this smell is everywhere,” Khan said.
“Imagine you are walking past a landfill. The smell is not pleasant.”