Since the horrifying war on Gaza began, at least 38,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, have been killed and 87,0000 others have been injured.
Teams from MSF working across the Gaza Strip, endeavouring to provide essential and lifesaving care to those who have been injured by relentless Israeli attacks, have also been forced to flee for their lives.
Kamil,* MSF emergency nurse, and Haider,* MSF watchman, were part of our team treating severely injured patients at Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City during the bombardments between October and November 2023. Between them they have been displaced 18 times up until today.
“When the war started, we carried on living at home for four days,” says Kamil. “My kids at that time were waking up and waiting for me to come and I would hold them and start calming them down and distracting them, telling them that it was fireworks, not bombing. It was very, very difficult.”
On the fifth day of the war, the top floor of Kamil’s building was hit by a drone rocket. He and his children moved into the MSF office, living alongside members of the MSF team, including Haider, whose wife and children stayed at their home, in a safer neighbourhood in north Gaza.
Kamil, Haider and the other MSF staff continued working daily at MSF’s burns clinic and Al-Shifa hospital, which was overwhelmed with patients with severe burns and shrapnel wounds.
“The patients I have seen during this war are different from previous wars,” says Kamil. “Most have deep burns, with shrapnel. Many have lost limbs or have infected wounds. I will never forget the smell of infection—it smells like bad oil.”
“We were receiving 30 to 40 patients every day at the clinic, while also working and treating dozens more at Al-Shifa hospital,” says Haider. “We kept doing this for 40 days, until things got too dangerous. The Israeli army started moving towards Al-Shifa hospital, towards us.”
By early November, at least 75 people—MSF staff and their families—were sheltering in the MSF clinic and guesthouse while fighting raged outside.
“The situation was really bad, and we were all scared,” says Haider. “If we opened the door, there was fire and gunshots. They were shooting people in the street.”