During her 21-day volunteer mission in Gaza, Dr. Victoria Rose, a senior plastic surgeon from London, witnessed unfathomable suffering due to the ongoing conflict. Arriving on June 1, she was immediately confronted with the aftermath of a mass shooting at a food distribution point, which surged hospital admissions at Nasser Hospital, the last major facility still operational in southern Gaza.
"It was chaos," she recalled, describing the overwhelming trauma as ambulances and donkey carts delivered numerous casualties every hour. The gravity of injuries shocked Dr. Rose even more than during her previous trips to the region; patients suffered from life-altering burns and obliterating blast wounds caused by Israeli bombs. "These injuries were beyond what I had previously seen," she explained, noting cases of children arriving with severed limbs, a grim testament to the escalating violence and desperation tied to the fight for basic resources.
In her account, Dr. Rose emphasizes the dire need for humanitarian aid in the enclave, expressing concern for those who are literally risking their lives for mere sustenance. Her experiences resonate in stark detail about the human cost of conflict amidst an overarching food crisis.
