‘Apocalyptic’: In Gaza, patients discharged from hospital ‘are thrown back into hell’ • FRANCE 24

‘Apocalyptic’: In Gaza, patients discharged from hospital ‘are thrown back into hell’ • FRANCE 24

Says International mediators and Hamas delegates are in Cairo this week to try and set up a pause in the war envoys from the Palestinian militant group and the US are meeting with qari and Egyptian mediators this Tuesday this is the third day of negotiations over a six

Week truce the exchange of dozens of remaining hostages for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and the flow of Aid to Gaza Israeli delegates have so far stayed away from the negotiations despite growing diplomatic pressure for a true before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan early next week my guest today is ory godar an

Anesthesiologist and medical team leader who was in Gaza for Med Frontier or Doctors Without Borders thanks so much or for speaking to us now you came back from Gaza in early February after five weeks on the ground first of all tell us a bit more about msf’s operations there

Where do you have operations now so the main operation we have now now is based in in Rafa in the South because we’ve been pushed back along the offensive we like msf had to evacuate nine Health Facilities along uh the last five months so most of our operations

We’ve been cornered in the South exactly as a population because that the only location where a minimal safety is guaranteed for our patients and our staff so mostly based in in Raa in the South everything else up north is is still extremely uh difficult to reach and and unsafe unfortunately you

Yourself though were one of the rare people who got into Northern Gaza while you were there what was the situation like what did you see um so that was already one months ago and I would say that it was already already at that time apocalyptic um from people already

Starving um maybe not to death at that time but starving to a point that when we passed to the Convoy the only thing we asked was where is the food where the water um the street and the town in Gaza is is vastly destroyed like there are Rebels everywhere there’s not one single

Street that is uh free from from being destroyed and the hospital itself which was trying to resume some activities in shifa hospital it was very very minimally functioning I would say because most the hospital was more of a refugee camp uh because people still tend to think that there’s a bit of

Safety guaranteed within the hospital premises so they they sought for some safety inside so keeping um and maintaining medical activity when you have um tens of thousands of people around is quite challenging so the situation was already apocalyptic and that was one month ago so it can only be

Now definitely in indeed and Northern Gaza is where six children died from dehydration from malnutrition in hospitals just over the weekend would you say the situation has been particularly difficult for children definitely they are more vulnerable as at the elderly people it’s population that is suffering first from

Um any injuries any wounds or any a lack of food and water so they are more prone to have like digestive disorders and suffer from hunger and they are growing so they have nutritional needs that are quite specific to to their age and definitely the the the famine that is

Going on in the north is not able to provide this more vulnerable um patients to to what they need both in terms of nutrition and as well in terms of care Orly the msf patients obviously not just children also men and women but but what happens to these people after they leave the

Hospital where do they go so that’s a very good question usually people are quite happy when you tell them well you’re going to be discharged the wound has healed everything’s going better um it’s it’s rather the opposite in in Rafa hospital um because they have

Nowhere where to go so most of the times when you tell them well it’s finished now we’re going to follow you up but just as ambulatory patient um they’re quite afraid because they usually most of the time they’re going to ask for one two days to organize thems to buy or to

Build a tent a shelter um but they they’re being thrown back into the extremely difficult life they have outside the hospital um and where access to water food Etc is extremely challenging so unlike the usual situations being discharged from the hospital is not necessarily so good news because you’re thrown back into hell

Basically um so we we were able to make them understand that well we need the bed for patients coming in um but that was already um heartbreaking every time you discharge a patient it’s heartbreaking because you don’t know if actually you can make it just for the daily life uh

Situations so very difficult situation and orle I imagine heartbreaking for you spending those five weeks there in Gaza how did it feel when you left after those five weeks on the ground so you you feel abandoning them patients and our staff uh you know that they remain there under the bombardments

Not knowing if they’re going to survive until tomorrow or next week um you get quite prepared when you go in saying well I’m going into a situation that I’m not so sure about but getting out was quite surprisingly very difficult as well U because you abandon them and

There’s nothing else you can do except um testifying which I’m doing with you right now um but that’s the only thing I can do for them from outside um but yeah they have nowhere to go they are terrified they don’t know what going to happen and you go back to your normal

Life um no matter what well L thank you so much for for sharing that with us and for sharing your experience and keeping their stories alive of all those people there who are suffering in Gaza or godar speaking to me they are from Doctors Without Borders thank you

Famine is now gripping the besieged Gaza Strip as aid supplies, already sharply curtailed since the start of the war, have dwindled to barely a trickle over the past month. Whole swathes of the territory are completely cut off from food. Gaza’s few functioning hospitals, already overwhelmed by the wounded, are now filling with children starving to death. The situation is worst in the north of Gaza, beyond the reach of aid agencies or news cameras. Gaza health authorities say 15 children have died of malnutrition or dehydration at one hospital. Israel says it is willing to allow in more aid to Gaza through the two checkpoints on the southern edge of the territory it has permitted to open, and blames UN and other aid agencies for failing to distribute it more widely. The aid agencies say this has become impossible with a breakdown of law and order, and it is up to Israel, whose troops have stormed Gaza’s towns and patrol them, to provide access and security for food distribution. As Gaza ceasefire talks end, with no breakthrough in sight, FRANCE 24 is joined by Aurélie Godard, Anesthesiologist, Medical Team Leader in Gaza for Doctors Without Borders (MSF).

🔔 Subscribe to France 24 now: https://f24.my/YTen
🔴 LIVE – Watch FRANCE 24 English 24/7 here: https://f24.my/YTliveEN

🌍 Read the latest International News and Top Stories: https://www.france24.com/en/

Like us on Facebook: https://f24.my/FBen
Follow us on X (Twitter): https://f24.my/Xen
Browse the news in pictures on Instagram: https://f24.my/IGen
Discover our TikTok videos: https://f24.my/TKen
Get the latest top stories on Telegram: https://f24.my/TGen