MB: <\/strong>Yes, despite there still being some bombing. But now it\u2019s been a while and I haven\u2019t heard anything.<\/p>\nWhen rumors emerged last night that a cease-fire will come, we started to hear some happy shooting. This is a way to celebrate, which is probably not completely appropriate, but it shows the happiness of the people. Then, of course, with our staff, we could notice that they were happy and full of hope.<\/p>\n
FP: <\/strong>You recently had to evacuate from Gaza City. What are some of the biggest challenges you\u2019ve faced in conducting your work during the Israeli offensive and after evacuating?<\/p>\nMB:<\/strong> The main challenge in Gaza City was the security. That\u2019s why, in the end, we had to evacuate, because there was shelling all the time, everywhere.<\/p>\nThe trigger for our departure was the arrival of the tanks inside the city next to our clinic\u2014about 700 meters from our clinic. That was considered a red line for us and we had to leave.<\/p>\n
Security was the main challenge. But then of course there\u2019s a challenge with materials, medication. Shortage of supplies\u2014that\u2019s a really big challenge, and that\u2019s all over the [Gaza] Strip.<\/p>\n
FP: <\/strong>What are the biggest areas of need in terms of equipment and materials?<\/p>\nMB: <\/strong>Sterile gauze. That\u2019s the first thing I would say. Also, medication. It\u2019s mainly basic items. It is mainly dressing material, bandages, all those very crucial items.<\/p>\nFP:<\/strong> And are the shortages largely just due to continued Israeli restrictions on aid coming into Gaza and movement of aid within Gaza as well?<\/p>\nMB: <\/strong>Yes, of course, that\u2019s completely linked with those restrictions. The complexity of having a channel of supply is definitely a huge challenge for all the health workers here. That\u2019s clear.<\/p>\nFP: <\/strong>Are you hopeful that this Israel-Hamas agreement will make it easier to get supplies and help people?<\/p>\nMB:<\/strong> Hopeful? Yes. But I don\u2019t know whether this issue of supplies will still be used as a way to constrain the strip.<\/p>\nWe do have some hope. There are tons of materials that are waiting outside of the border. I think yesterday we succeeded in bringing in our materials. But it\u2019s not only about MSF, it\u2019s about the WHO [World Health Organization] and all the other actors. So, I don\u2019t know exactly how this cease-fire will be in terms of the flow of humanitarian aid. And it\u2019s, of course, not only about what is necessary to operate the health sector but also the food.<\/p>\n
FP:<\/strong> Can you talk more about what it was like to evacuate from Gaza City?<\/p>\nMB:<\/strong> I\u2019ve been in Gaza for about a month. I spent only three or four days in Gaza City. I was supposed to replace one of my colleagues there. We were doing our handover when our headquarters said, \u201cOK guys, now it\u2019s getting too serious, and we cannot stay.\u201d So, we had to evacuate the staff and move all our things in order not to lose them.<\/p>\nAnd, of course, the same day we had to see all the patients who were waiting. More than 150 patients were waiting. We had to give them instructions, a little bit of supplies, and explain to them how to continue to apply their bandages when we are not here anymore. This clinic was basically for wound care. But extremely complex wounds\u2014very often infected, and people of all ages. There were also wounded patients facing malnutrition. This category of patients have these chronic wounds that are often infected. Malnutrition is a comorbidity that is not in favor of proper healing.<\/p>\n
The situation regarding access to food, when I was there in Gaza City, was very precarious. When you go to the south, you see in the market a little bit more food, but it\u2019s still extremely expensive. There are kids who are malnourished.<\/p>\n
FP:<\/strong> How does the situation in Gaza compare to other conflict zones you\u2019ve worked in?<\/p>\nMB:<\/strong> Last year, I was in Sudan, in Darfur, which is also a traumatic situation with a great volume of displaced persons, extreme violence, malnutrition, epidemics, etc. So, for me, it\u2019s a bit difficult to compare.<\/p>\nBut what is unique here, amid the carpet bombing that the people are suffering, is that they cannot escape. They cannot escape, and this makes it quite unique. And the level of technology that is used to harass and to kill\u2014in my experience of 20 years with MSF\u2014is quite unique also. Everything that is used to target, to destroy, is massive. When you enter Gaza City, you\u2019re speechless in your car for minutes because you\u2019re like, \u201cI can\u2019t believe it.\u201d Even if you saw photographs before.<\/p>\n
FP:<\/strong> Just in terms of the level of destruction?<\/p>\nMB:<\/strong> Yes, the level of destruction. I don\u2019t understand, nobody understands.<\/p>\nThe people have no hope. They\u2019re just like, \u201cIt has to stop. Why? Why?\u201d They ask, \u201cWhy my daughter? Why my brother? Why my little sister?\u201d It\u2019s unbelievable.<\/p>\n
And I never saw, except maybe after the [Haiti] earthquake in 2010, a volume of wounded people like that in the street, in the health facility, in the waiting rooms of the health facility. Some of those cases should be hospitalized, but there\u2019s no more beds. The bed capacity is overwhelmed.<\/p>\n
FP: <\/strong>Can you talk about the mental health challenges that Palestinians in Gaza are facing? I can imagine that it\u2019s especially difficult for Palestinians who are working with NGOs [nongovernmental organizations] like MSF, where they are helping to address a situation that is also impacting them. They are also starving, they are also facing bombings and losing family\u2014and yet they are trying to help.<\/p>\nMB:<\/strong> Our colleagues are openly sharing with us their feelings about that. I spoke to a person working with another NGO\u2014we were discussing ways to collaborate on some issues\u2014and she was saying that if it was just about us, we would stay at home and cry, but we are waking up in the morning just to do our job because patients are there and this is what we need to do.<\/p>\nSo, they continue. They tell us that working is their way to cope. They are really heroes who are working every day.<\/p>\n
FP:<\/strong> It\u2019s obviously been hard to even address basic needs in Gaza, including water and food. But mental health is important. Is it difficult for organizations like MSF to address mental health issues in a conflict zone like Gaza?<\/p>\nMB:<\/strong> Yes, it is. It\u2019s all the strip that\u2019s affected.<\/p>\nWe try to complete our care for patients with the mental health team and psychosocial programs. But we do not currently have an open program that will address this for the entire population, because it\u2019s not possible for us. The targeted population for us is our wounded patients. Some of our other MSF colleagues are taking care of malnutrition in children. They will have this activity that is combined with their medical activity. This is what we do in our organization because it\u2019s too difficult to address this need.<\/p>\n
FP: <\/strong>What will your top priorities be during the cease-fire as more aid flows in?<\/p>\nMB: <\/strong>We have different branches of MSF here, so we try to complement each other. One of them is in charge of maternity and children. And three others, we are focused on trauma care and burn[s]. Burn care and trauma care is massive. There are also those complicated wounds among a large volume of population that need to be addressed. We are working with other organizations to cope with this. So, this is the priority.<\/p>\nI would say the other priority is water. We are doing water trucking, which other organizations are also doing. So, we are providing drinkable water in different places for the population.<\/p>\n
But I would say that trauma care is still one of the main needs.<\/p>\n
FP: <\/strong>Is there anything that you would like to say that you think is particularly important for the outside world to understand about the situation in Gaza and what you\u2019ve been seeing there on the ground?<\/p>\nMB: <\/strong>Wow, many things.<\/p>\nHonestly, what is shocking\u2014and sorry to repeat myself\u2014is the magnitude and the level of harassment with the use of technology like drones. This includes suicide drones. There are bombs that are supposed to target a specific person, but they\u2019re killing, like, everybody within 20 meters.<\/p>\n
The intensity of the killing here\u2014nobody understands the meaning of it. And I think something that people need to understand is, you know, why? Why are all those innocent people supposed to die? It\u2019s unbelievable that this country is applying this advanced military technology to kill and destroy. Why?<\/p>\n
And the systematic attack on hospitals. I\u2019m not even talking about the schools\u2014I saw so many schools run by the U.N. destroyed. Why? It\u2019s crazy.<\/p>\n
Sorry, I\u2019m just a medical doctor. I\u2019m not an analyst. But, again, why?<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The recent agreement between Israel and Hamas for an initial phase of U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s peace plan has prompted a sense of relief across the region. A cease-fire has now begun, and the remaining hostages in Gaza are set to be released in the coming days. Israelis and Palestinians have been celebrating the deal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2640,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2639","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politcical-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2639"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2639\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmupgrades.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}