Bombs in Gaza ‘shredding people to pieces'
A British surgeon working in hospitals caught in the middle of Israel's new Gaza offensive said air strikes were 'shredding people to pieces'.
Tom Potokar, a plastic surgeon stationed in southern Gaza with the charity Ideals, told The Telegraph he was working in the Strip's European Hospital when it was hit by Israeli bombs.
Israel has escalated its war in Gaza by launching a fresh offensive on the besieged Palestinian territory, which it announced on Sunday, triggering international outrage.
Hundreds of people have been killed in recent days, according to Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry. Israeli tanks have rolled into the Strip, air strikes have intensified and thousands of people have been forced to evacuate their homes by Israeli displacement orders.
Speaking from the Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis, where he is now stationed, Dr Potokar said: 'You have to consider that the Gaza Strip is, geographically, a very small area and yet there are nearly two million people living here.
'So when you drop ordnance – with the amounts being used and the type of weapons being used in such a small, densely populated area – you are literally shredding people to pieces.'
The 61-year-old surgeon, who previously worked as a consultant at the Welsh Centre for Burns and Plastic Surgery in Swansea before becoming a voluntary independent humanitarian surgeon, said he had moved hospital three times in the past week amid ongoing Israeli bombardments.
Recalling the massive air strike on the Gaza European Hospital, he said: 'It is difficult to imagine how human beings can treat other human beings in this way.
'To see children particularly with horrific injuries and amputations, to see pregnant women requiring major surgery – it's absolute brutality.'
The Israeli air force said the target of the strike was an alleged Hamas command centre situated underneath the hospital, with defence sources claiming Mohammed Sinwar, the organisation's leader, may have been killed in the attack.
But the strikes on Gaza's hospitals have drawn criticism from humanitarian organisations, with the UN Human Rights Office and Human Rights Watch warning the campaign is pushing the healthcare system in the enclave to the brink of collapse. Rights groups have also warned of famine, as aid continues to be blocked by Israel.
Dr Potokar evacuated the European facility on Thursday morning and headed to Nasser Hospital, where he stayed for two days, before being transferred to the nearby Al-Amal Hospital, where there was no plastic surgeon onsite.
The doctor says he was also caught up in an air strike near the Al-Amal facility, with the strength of the blast causing a piece of shrapnel to narrowly miss the entrance to the emergency department.
'It was around 6am and a massive strike happened about 400 metres from the hospital, with heavy machine gun fire and helicopters.
'Thankfully, there were no casualties in the hospital, but a huge piece of shrapnel landed in front of the emergency room.'
Israel announced the start of the latest ground offensive in a statement on Sunday, saying it had already struck 670 Hamas terror targets and eliminated 'dozens of terrorists'.
On Monday, the army ordered the evacuation of Khan Younis, where Israel carried out a massive operation earlier in the war that left much of the area in ruins.
It follows a more than two-month blockade on Gaza after a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas broke down amid accusations the organisation was stealing supplies.
But Israel has faced growing international pressure in recent weeks, including from the US, to agree to a temporary armistice and allow aid into the region.
In a rare US intervention, Donald Trump, the US president, warned that Gazans were 'starving' last week as a result of the humanitarian situation in the war-ravaged enclave.
'We are looking at Gaza, we're gonna get that taken care of. A lot of people are starving. There's a lot of bad things going on,' the US president said on Friday as he concluded a tour of the Middle East that took in several Gulf countries but excluded Israel.
Commenting on Mr Trump's visit to the Gulf, Dr Potokar said many in the enclave were hopeful that the president would intervene and were left bitterly disappointed after he signed a $142 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia.
'People were very optimistic of Trump's visit, everyone really thought that he might do something. But what did it do? It sold billions' worth of arms deals. It's not humanity; it's just money and power.'
He continued: 'What is the West doing, what is the rest of the world doing – churning out press statement after press statement but nothing is changing.
'This will be a stain on humanity when people look back in years to come, when we say, 'How did we allow this to happen?' We've been here before and no lessons are being learnt.
'The killing goes on, the slaughter goes on and these are people like you and me.'
Since the end of the ceasefire in March, at least 3,131 Palestinians have been killed and more than 8,600 injured, the Gaza ministry of health has said.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, signalled on Sunday that he was open to making a deal with Hamas, saying his negotiation team would ' exhaust every possibility ' in an effort to end the fighting.
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