British doctor who spent 48 nights ‘drowning in a sea of casualties’ in Gaza describes horror of war including injuries on a scale ‘not seen in previous wars’
A British doctor who 'drowned in a sea of victims' for 48 hours in Gaza has said the extent of horrific injuries he saw during the conflict is not comparable to previous wars.
Professor Ghassan Abu-Sittah returned from the Palestinian enclave to east London almost a month ago and is now working with Scotland Yard to help the International Criminal Court investigate alleged war crimes in the war between Israel and Hamas.
The 54-year-old doctor said the memory of terribly injured children still haunts him now that he is back in Britain.
On the verge of tears, he told The Times: 'The blood doesn't bother me. There was a girl with half her face missing and no one left, but it wasn't until I cleaned off the layers of caked blood and mud that I began to see the child before her injury.
Professor Ghassan Abu-Sittah (pictured) returned from Gaza to East London almost a month ago
Palestinian man searches for valuables under the rubble of destroyed buildings after the Israeli attacks in Deir al-Balah, Gaza
Medical staff and patients at En-Neccar Hospital in Rafah, Gaza on December 27
'The elastic hairbands with plastic flowers, the nail polish on her toes before they were amputated.
“You see this beautiful nine-year-old girl who once had a mother who braided her hair and suddenly gets hit in the stomach, and it takes a few minutes for you to regain your strength and keep going.”
The doctor, an honorary professor at King's College London and Imperial College London, previously worked during other bloody wars in Iraq, Syria and Yemen.
He subsequently became a founding member of the conflict medicine program at the American University of Beirut.
After Israel's retaliatory strike began on October 7, Dr. Abu-Sittah started working with the charity Doctors Without Borders on October 9.
Israeli soldiers walk next to tanks near the Israel-Gaza border, in southern Israel (January 1, 2024)
Israeli soldiers fire mortars at an area near the border with the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel (January 1, 2024)
Speaking to the newspaper, the doctor said he had seen injuries that “don't occur in other wars.”
This included “undeniable” phosphorus burns and “guillotine-like amputations by Hellfire missiles,” he said.
On arrival at the hospital, the doctor, who runs a plastic surgery clinic in Harley Street, arrived at the Christian hospital just hours before it was hit and became embroiled in what he described as the 'massacre'.
In recent weeks, Israel has come under increasing pressure from its key ally, the United States, to switch to lower-intensity fighting, amid high numbers of civilian casualties in Gaza, where Hamas authorities say the death toll is over 21,000.
However, military leaders have vowed to continue until Israel's war goal of dismantling Hamas is achieved, with bitter fighting in the enclave continuing and casualties continuing to rise on the first day of the new year.
IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said in a New Year's message that Israeli forces are preparing for continued fighting in 2024.
“The IDF must plan ahead knowing that additional missions will take place and that fighting will continue for the rest of the year,” he said, according to the BBC.