Volunteer surgeons publish eye-witness account of civilian carnage in Gaza

Editor's Note

A July 19 story from Politico offers a raw, unfiltered view of the realities of the Israel-Hamas war through the eyes of two American surgeons.

Authors Mark Pearlmutter, an orthopedic and hand surgeon who practices in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, and Feroze Sidwha, a trauma and critical care surgeon who practices in Northern California, volunteered this spring at the Gaza European Hospital. As experienced humanitarian surgeons, “we’re used to working in disaster and war zones, of being on intimate terms with death and carnage and despair,” they wrote. However, “none of that prepared us for what we saw in Gaza.”

The subsequent account of their experience details how they navigated the overcrowded, under-resourced hospital, surrounded by the constant threat of violence and destruction. From mass casualty events to stories of wounded children, the article provides a stark, moving account of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, the resilience of caretakers, and stories that cast doubt on official Israeli Defense Force (IDF) statements about mitigating civilian harm.  

The surgeons were part of a larger team of 12 other healthcare professionals, all of whom volunteered to work with the World Health Organization through the Palestinian American Medical Association.

Gaza European Hospital was abandoned (and looted) after a July 2 evacuation order from IDF, Politico reports. At the beginning of the war, Gaza had 3,412 acute care hospital beds, a number that has since dropped to approximately 1,400. During the same timeframe, more than 88,000 of the region’s 2.2 million people have been seriously injured by military weaponry. “With the medical resources left in Gaza, treating the 88,000 Rafifs and Rafiqs and Juris and Israas would take decades,” the authors conclude.