Volunteer doctors who worked in the Palestinian Gaza Strip – which has been subjected to an Israeli war of extermination for more than a year – recounted the scenes of horror they saw in a number of hospitals in the Strip.
According to the New York Times, doctors confirmed that they saw children with gunshot wounds to the head or chest almost every day.
The newspaper quoted statements by American doctor Muhammad Rasoul Abu Nawar in which he said that he treated many children in the emergency room of the hospital where he worked.
Abu Nawar added that within 4 hours one night, I saw 6 children between the ages of 5 and 12 with gunshot wounds to the skull.
For his part, Dr. Mark Perlmutter, an orthopedic specialist, told the same newspaper that he had seen several children who had been shot in the head and chest.
In turn, doctor Irfan Galaria said that he was treating a number of children between the ages of 5 and 8 who had been shot in the head, and that they had all died.
Also, Dr. Rania Afaneh said that she saw a child with a gunshot wound to his jaw, and no other part of his body was affected. He was completely awake and aware of what was happening. While I was trying to draw blood using a broken suction unit, he was looking at me choking on his own blood.
Hole in the head
As for Dr. Khawaja Ikram, she explained the horror she witnessed, saying, “One day when I was in the emergency room, I saw two children, 3 and 5 years old, with bullet holes in their heads.”
She added that she learned that the two children were told that Israel had withdrawn from Khan Yunis (southern Gaza Strip), and accordingly they returned to their home, but Israeli snipers opened fire on them.
Anesthesia and intensive care physician Ahlia Qattan said that she saw an 18-month-old baby with a gunshot wound to the head, while her colleague, doctor Nidal Farah, explained that children are usually injured by a bullet in the head, and that most of them cannot be treated.
With American support, the Israeli war on Gaza a year ago left more than 140,000 Palestinian martyrs and wounded, and more than 10,000 missing, amid massive destruction and famine that killed dozens of children and the elderly.
The Israeli occupation army continues its massacres, ignoring the UN Security Council resolution to end them immediately and the orders of the International Court of Justice to take measures to prevent acts of genocide and improve the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza.