UK surgeon recounts harrowing crisis of Gaza healthcare system

Roya News

3 days ago

Professor Nick Maynard, a distinguished British consultant gastrointestinal surgeon, has returned from a volunteer mission at Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza, delivering a stark and harrowing account of what he describes as a systematic humanitarian catastrophe.
His testimony highlights "indescribably bad" levels of malnutrition, targeted attacks on civilians seeking aid, and a healthcare system in complete collapse.
Professor Maynard, who has volunteered in Gaza for 15 years, noted a drastic deterioration in conditions since the conflict began in October 2023.
He reported that malnutrition is "much, much worse now than a year ago," leading to preventable deaths among patients whose injuries cannot heal due to lack of food.
He witnessed four recent infant deaths in the neonatal unit due to malnutrition, describing a seven-month-old who "looked like a newborn". Attempts by other international doctors to bring in formula feed were reportedly confiscated by 'Israeli' authorities.
The surgeon also treated a "relentless" influx of trauma casualties, including "multiple gunshot wounds every day". These injuries, he observed, primarily occurred at "militarised distribution points, where starving civilians are going to try and get food but then report getting targeted by 'Israeli' soldiers or quadcopters".
Professor Maynard frequently operated on "teenage boys with gunshot wounds, often twelve or thirteen years old," who had been shot while seeking food for their families, recounting the death of a 12-year-old shot through the chest on his operating table. Medical teams noted a "clear pattern of people being shot in certain body parts on different days, such as the head, legs or genitals, which seems to indicate deliberate targeting".
He cited instances of "four young teenagers come in, in the space of one hour, with gunshot wounds to their testicles," which he deemed "beyond coincidence".
Gaza's health system is in a state of "complete collapse," with severe shortages of basic supplies like morphine, antibiotics, and even running water for hygiene. Beyond trauma, a "silent catastrophe" is unfolding, with normal care for chronic diseases like heart disease, kidney disease, and cancer "not being treated at all," potentially leading to tens of thousands more deaths.
Professor Maynard believes he is witnessing a "systematic effort by 'Israel' to dismantle Gaza's civilian infrastructure," extending to the destruction of laboratories, dialysis machines, agricultural systems, and water sanitation plants.
He stated, "I think what we're witnessing is a very deliberate plan to erase the Gaza population from this land. I do not believe for a minute this is just about destroying Hamas... with the very clear aim of ethnic cleansing and getting the whole population out of this land".
In a powerful plea, Professor Maynard concluded that "the enforced malnutrition and attacks on civilians we are witnessing will kill many more thousands of people if not stopped".
He called the "deliberate starvation of the Palestinian population in Gaza... utterly unconscionable" and urged that "something must be done to stop this collective punishment of the population of Gaza".
Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP), with whom he volunteered, echoes these calls, demanding an immediate lifting of the blockade, unrestricted humanitarian access, and the dismantling of militarized distribution sites.