ICRC voices: Life and Death in the Red Cross Field Hospital

Having to change my scrubs because they were soaked in blood is something I never thought I’d do – especially as a physiotherapist. But during a mass casualty incident (MCI) it’s all hands on deck. I was stopping bleeding, I was applying dressings, I was taking vitals - anything I could do to help. 

It was relentless. Horrific. Day after day, wave after wave. One morning, we had 179 dead and wounded brought to the field hospital. Another day, we had 50. Another day after that, 184 – 99% of whom had gunshot wounds. A few days later, we received over 240 patients within a few hours. 

Lots of people told me they’d been wounded trying to reach aid distribution points. No one should have to risk their life to collect aid. But in Gaza, the conditions are so desperate that people have no other choice. One patient told me: “As soon as I’m better, I’ll go queue again. One time, I got a box of food that lasted five days. Another time, I got a bullet in the arm.”

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