What a doctor witnessed after the ceasefire collapsed in Gaza

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After returning to the hospital just six days ago, a frontline doctor shared his emotional experience treating critically injured children in Gaza following the breach of a ceasefire in the early hours of Tuesday, March 18.

Among the first patients brought in that morning was a young boy—quiet, badly wounded, and one of the first cases operated on. “Sick, injured children who are quiet are always more concerning than those who cry or scream,” the doctor explained. “A quiet child is an unwell child.”

The hospital was overwhelmed. During the first 20 minutes, doctors spent their time pronouncing the dead—most of them children. Many of the deceased adults, especially men, were taken directly to the morgue. Women and children, however, were brought into the emergency area, where teams worked desperately to save lives.

In one especially heartbreaking moment, the doctor recalled treating three critically injured children on a single trolley—there simply weren’t enough beds. Forced to act fast, he picked up the young boy and ran up four flights of stairs to the operating room. “I didn’t trust the elevators,” he said. “There were bombings going on. I didn’t want to get stuck in an elevator with a dying child.”

The boy had internal bleeding and had already lost two or possibly three siblings. When asked if the child’s parents were still alive, the doctor said that, all too often, at least one parent was dead or severely injured.

Next to him in the ward was another child—a five- or six-year-old girl—who was the second patient he operated on that day. She had injuries to her kidney, liver, spleen, and intestines from shrapnel. “That’s what shrapnel does,” he said. “It’s high-velocity, sharp metal flying in all directions—thousands of pieces.” Days later, when she woke up, they discovered a piece of shrapnel lodged in her brain. She was completely paralyzed on the right side of her body.

He also described a one-year-old boy with abdominal injuries. When the child regained consciousness, he began calling out for his mother—who had died in the attack.

Visiting the mortuary the following day, the doctor described scenes of unimaginable horror. Two rooms, each able to hold 25 bodies, were completely full, with additional bodies and body parts lying on the floor. “At least 60 to 70 bodies,” he said. “Many were unrecognizable. Some will never be claimed, and even when they are, the family members might be dead too. They’ll be buried in unmarked mass graves.”

After a brief moment of calm in the afternoon, the doctor left the operating room to get a drink of water. Walking through the 20-bed intensive care unit, he saw every bed occupied. When he returned later that evening—around the time when patients were breaking their fast—half the beds were empty. “They had all died,” he said. “That’s the reality when you’re dealing with a mass casualty situation.”

News source- Middle East Eye