“Every space was taken – even the waiting room in the outpatient department had six bread ovens baking away beside patients arriving in their bloody ranks. Every corridor in the hospital had half the width occupied by mattresses on the floor with IDPs sitting and lying – children, men and women of all ages. Even the landings on the stairwells were used as makeshift shelters. Every office in the hospital was home to a doctor or nurse and their entire family.”
Dr. Amer Shoaib, a British military veteran and orthopedic consultant surgeon, has publicly disclosed being bombed by an Israeli F-16 fighter jet while providing medical aid in Gaza in January 2024. The attack targeted a “deconflicted” building where the IDF had been informed that British medical personnel were residing, constituting a clear violation of International Humanitarian Law.
Shoaib witnessed a desperate humanitarian crisis resembling post-earthquake Haiti. Hospital grounds had become refugee camps with thousands of displaced people living in makeshift tents with limited sanitation. He treated victims of indiscriminate violence across all demographics—children and elderly—contradicting IDF claims of targeting only fighting-age men. One heart-wrenching case involved a child from a drone attack on a UN food convoy, requiring kidney removal due to severe shrapnel injuries.
The January 18 bombing forced his team to evacuate early, depriving the hospital of crucial medical expertise. Despite raising complaints with UK officials, Shoaib received only “platitudes” and no substantive action regarding the targeted attack on British doctors using British-manufactured weaponry.