Interviewer: Dr. Mohammed Abu Mughaiseb is the deputy medical coordinator for Doctors without Borders (MSF). He joins me now from Southern Gaza. Doctor, we are so grateful to you for your time with us this morning, because it is so important for us to understand about what is happening inside Gaza from people who are seeing things with their own eyes. Describe the situation inside Gaza right now.

Dr. Mohammed Abu Mughaiseb:
Thank you for having me. As you mentioned in several reports, actually the situation has reached the limit of deterioration in Gaza in terms of all aspects of life. The main topic now is the starvation that is imposed by the Israeli authorities in Gaza since March. There is no food entering. Nothing is entering. Of course, acute hunger is spreading all over Gaza, mainly children, youths, women, everyone. All the population is suffering from lack of food and lack of supplements. Today it could end, if Israel would allow food to enter, it could stop today. It could end, but if they would allow food to enter the starvation would end. If it will not end, we will have to declare famine in Gaza. In addition of course to the destruction is the non-existing health system – no more. The partially remaining hospitals which are functioning are overloaded with patients, who are injured patients or normal patients, already reaching 250% above the capacity of the hospital. Even the Doctors Without Borders field hospitals have reached 100% of their capacity and we don’t have space to admit injured patients.

Interviewer:
Doctor, when a patient who comes in is suffering from acute malnutrition, explain what the treatment plan is. How long will it typically take for full recovery to take place and importantly, do you have enough resources to help malnourished Gazans to recover?

Dr. Mohammed Abu Mughaiseb:
Unfortunately, not. In Gaza all the health structure – the doctors, paramedics, nurses – all we just do is consultation and acknowledge the malnutrition. We having nothing to treat them. They need supplements, milk formula, food, but nothing is available in our stocks and even in the markets. To treat malnutrition, you need to provide them with supplements that are not present at all in Gaza to give a child, a pregnant woman, a lactating mother or a normal person. Normal people are looking for formula milk to feed their children, who don’t need formula milk. Imagine the situation that they reach. We are calling for a ceasefire, to stop the war, to open the borders and let things enter. That will end everything.

Interviewer: You just mentioned clinics being at full capacity. Given that resources and staff are so precious, how often are you having to turn patients away?

Dr. Mohammed Abu Mughaiseb:
We try as much as we can to coordinate among ourselves and with other international staff, that have field hospitals, with Doctors Without Borders. We have to say no, because there is no capacity at all. There is no place to admit patients. There are also other activists who are working in Gaza, who are providing field hospitals and healthcare and they are not able to receive patients any more, they have reached their capacity. So, we are referring to the Ministry of Health hospitals, who are putting patients in their corridors. Patients are literally lying on the floors in the corridors, because there are no beds for them.

Interviewer: The hunger and the lack of food is obviously not sparing anyone. We have heard of doctors going to work hungry, humanitarian aid workers having trouble to find food. Have you Doctor, personally experienced hunger and trouble in finding food in recent days?

Dr. Mohammed Abu Mughaiseb:
Personally, I struggle every day to find a meal, that’s my objective. I need calories to be able to move, to work. All of the healthcare workers in Gaza are suffering from hunger. There is nothing to buy in the markets. The markets are completely empty. We are all exhausted, burned out. We are working 658 days of this war continuously. Now, in addition with this starvation imposed on us … really, it has to stop.

Interviewer:
There have been many reports of Gazans getting hurt or killed while trying to get food from an aid distribution site. How often have you seen patients coming in who were injured while trying to get food, Doctor?

Dr. Mohammed Abu Mughaiseb:
We have many of the patients actually admitted in our hospital who were shot at the food distribution points recently; they were critically injured, amputations of lower limbs, severe injuries. There are testimonies that they were shot at and injured by the Israeli army while they were on their way to get food parcels, to get food. This has to be reorganized, stopped or to go back to the od system where the UN had 400 distribution points. Now there are only 4 distribution points by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which are a death trap. There is an average of 50-100 patients injured or killed every day. This is not acceptable.

Interviewer: Thank you for helping us understand what is going on in Gaza on the ground and please take good care.