Norwegian doctor: The humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza defies description

In an interview with Anadolu Agency on Friday, Ekiz explained that she worked at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis last September as part of a Norwegian medical mission. She and a team of four doctors managed to enter Gaza after lengthy and complex coordination efforts.

She said, “As soon as we entered Gaza, we saw destruction everywhere. Houses were demolished, cars smashed, and children ran toward our vehicles pointing to their mouths in hunger. There was not a single intact building, everything was destroyed.”

Ekiz added that Nasser Hospital, which has a capacity of about 340 beds, was hosting more than 800 patients. Many slept on the floor, in hallways, and on staircases, most of them wounded by bullets, shrapnel, or bombs. Meanwhile, heart and diabetes patients were dying in their tents without treatment.

She noted that the shortage of medicines and medical supplies was “extremely severe,” saying, “There were no anesthetics, and even simple painkillers like paracetamol were rare. Patients screamed in pain after surgeries.”

She explained that medical staff were often forced to discharge patients due to overcrowding, sending them back to their tents despite their need for ongoing care.

Ekiz recounted that a forensic doctor in Gaza told her that about 30% of the martyrs were children, adding, “The youngest child I saw was a six-day-old baby girl who was shot in the chest, and the bullet reached her abdomen. We operated on her, but she didn’t survive.”

She said most of the wounded had been hit while trying to collect food at distribution points, noting that eyewitnesses confirmed Israeli forces deliberately targeted those areas.

“In the intensive care units, I saw children aged three, five, and seven with head injuries, and young men with severe wounds,” she said. “Many of the injuries wouldn’t heal due to malnutrition and infection, forcing us to perform repeated surgeries.”

Ekiz revealed that doctors and nurses were living in tents near the hospitals, losing between 15 and 20 kilograms due to hunger and lack of resources.

“The medical teams are thirsty and starving; they inject themselves with IV fluids just to keep working. Some have lost their families and children, yet they continue to work purely out of humanitarian duty,” she said.

She shared a heartbreaking story, “A father came to me with his 12-year-old son who had a head injury. He begged me to take him to Norway to save his life, but the boy died a few days later. The feeling of helplessness in the face of such tragedies is indescribable.”

When asked about Israel’s targeting of children, she replied, “I didn’t witness it directly, but when you see that about a third of the victims are children, you realize it’s not a coincidence, this doesn’t happen in a normal war.”

Ekiz concluded, “I want to return to Gaza at the beginning of next year to continue my humanitarian work there. It’s our duty to tell the world what we saw so that what happened is never forgotten.”

Since October 7, 2023, Zionist regime has been waging a genocidal war on the Gaza Strip with US support, involving killing, starvation, destruction, and forced displacement. The assault has so far left more than 68,600 martyrs and 170,000 wounded, most of them women and children. A ceasefire was declared on October 10, but is repeatedly violated by Israel.