Intense escalation in Gaza bombardment leaves medical teams facing impossible choices

Interviews

English - December 26, 2023 16:37 - 9 minutes - 16 MB - ★★★★ - 4 ratings
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Previous Episode: UNRWA: Supporting the civilians of Gaza caught up in a ‘brutal war’

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UN humanitarians carried out an emergency fact-finding mission to central Gaza’s Al-Aqsa Hospital on Christmas Day, in response to fears of mass casualties after reports that three refugee camps were hit by Israeli airstrikes.

Doctors at the hospital, which was already at full capacity, reported seeing “100-plus patients” brought in with serious injuries in just the first 30 minutes, with around the same number of dead bodies.

With ever decreasing space in the Strip to treat men, women and children needing urgent lifesaving care, many more will die, warned Sean Casey from the World Health Organization (WHO).

Mr. Casey is the UN health agency’s Emergency Medical Teams coordinator who took part in that mission to central Gaza. Here he is now talking to UN News’s Daniel Johnson.