Gaza: MSF teams respond to “unacceptable massacres of civilians” by Israeli forces

In the early hours of 18 March, Israeli forces attacked multiple areas in the Gaza Strip, after almost two months of an already fragile ceasefire. According to the Ministry of Health, hundreds of people have been killed.

“We woke up at around 2am local time to 20 minutes of airstrikes and heavy artillery—just like the past 15 months of war. We are appalled and outraged by these new unacceptable massacres of civilians,” says Claire Nicolet, MSF head of emergencies.

MSF teams are responding to influxes of patients in southern and central Gaza. In Nasser Hospital, we received 55 dead and 113 injured. In Deir Al Balah, the MSF field hospital received 10 injured, and Al Aqsa Hospital received 20 dead and 68 injured in the emergency department.

In MSF Attar clinic in Al-Mawasi, southern Gaza, our team received 26 injured, three in a critical condition who were later referred to Nasser Hospital. The clinic was also struck with shrapnel. MSF teams were unharmed.

MSF continues to call for a sustained ceasefire in Gaza. People simply cannot afford such violence and devastation to start again. Israel must end its collective punishment of the population. Aid and basic goods must be allowed in.

Dr Mohammad Qishta, MSF emergency doctor at Nasser Hospital shares his testimony:

“The emergency unit in Nasser Hospital was a disastrous situation. We received many bodies and “parts of bodies”, most of them children and women.

The bodies were everywhere in the emergency room, with complete confusion among the citizens. Some people rushed to get treatment and other families rushed to the emergency room for protection.

Each of us had two concerns:

The first was to triage the cases and to help with those in need, to intervene quickly.

The other concern was to be reassured that our families are ok and safe, especially since most of us have returned to the places where we lived after a long displacement.

At that moment, everyone was praying to God that none of our relatives would be present among the martyrs and the injured.

The situation was very tense, and the doctors in emergency room fell down and collapsed.

They were crying due to the intensity and the difficulty of the situation.

Then there were some serious cases, such as burns from the third degree, burns on the face, amputations, wounds on the head, wounds on the chest.

Most of the cases were classified according to the Triage Law as red cases.

At the end, there were cases that were classified as yellow or green cases, such as cut wounds or fractures.

As an emergency response unit in Nasser Hospital, we received no less than 400 cases in less than two hours.

The situation was disastrous. There were many cases in Nasser Hospital.

There were many citizens, some of whom were in the emergency shelter, while others were with their families or were injured.

Therefore, it was difficult to control the situation because there were many injured people and citizens inside Nasser Hospital.”