What happens when you drop a bomb?

It takes a while to get to the point of this video, but frankly only the serious and tough minded are going to be able to look at the footage when it arrives.

This is the reality of war.

Utterly innocent people slaughtered by the hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, the millions – based on lies.

They’re not even honored in death. Their murders are covered up and swept under the rug by a psychotically corrupt news media.

There’s no “just cause” for this.

War has long ago ceased being a contest between brave soldiers.

It’s pure evil to drop a bomb in a settled area, no matter who is doing it.

MSF Calling For Surgeons Following Israeli Attacks

Date Published: 05/01/2009 11:01

More than a week after air strikes on Gaza Strip began and following the first land incursion of Israeli forces, surgical services in the area are overwhelmed and surgeons specialised in vascular surgery are desperately needed in order to deal with the number of wounded. In Gaza City, the intensive care unit of Shifa referral hospital has reached the limits of its capacity. The conflict is preventing patients needing post operative medical care and health personnel from reaching clinics and hospitals.

Three international MSF volunteers (a field coordinator, a doctor and a nurse) arrived in Gaza Strip on Wednesday the 31st of December, to reinforce the 35 local staff members.

MSF is adapting its activities to reach people in need of medical help who are unable to leave their homes. Local MSF doctors, nurses and physiotherapists have taken medical supplies to their own neighbourhoods and are providing care and distributing medical material to meet the immediate needs of patients living in their vicinity. In response to a request from Shifa referral hospital, MSF is attempting to send a surgical team into Gaza Strip. MSF is also trying to send  a mobile hospital unit with an operating theatre and an intensive care unit, and medical material for treating the wounded and supplying hospitals, in order to help them deal with the numerous emergencies they are facing.

The intensity of the bombing hasn’t allowed MSF to continue with post-operative care in the MSF clinic in Khan Younis in the south and this clinic has been closed since the beginning of the air raids. In Beit Lahia, the conflict has repeatedly forced our teams to interrupt paediatric work despite several attempts to share the workload of  doctors in Kamel Edwan hospital. Finally, in Gaza City, hardly any patients have been able  to get to the MSF clinic where our teams continue to provide post-operative and medical care.

 

——————————————————

Since July 2007, MSF has been providing post-operative care and physiotherapy to hundreds of people wounded by fighting in the Gaza Strip. In March 2008 a pediatric clinic was opened in Gaza for children under 12 years of age. In Nablus, on the West Bank, as in Gaza, MSF provides psychological, medical, and social support to families affected by violence. The team is composed of 11 international volunteers and 108 local staff members. MSF also operates a psychological support program in the West Bank town of Hebron. MSF has been working in Gaza and the West Bank since 1989.

Temporary halt to Gaza bombing a paltry response says MSF

Date Published: 08/01/2009 04:48

The military offensive in the Gaza Strip is affecting civilians indiscriminately, while medical teams continue to face serious obstacles to providing assistance, the international medical humanitarian organization Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said today. The international community must not be content with a limited truce, which MSF said is largely inadequate for providing life-saving assistance. 

As the Israeli military offensive continues, the toll, estimated at 600 deaths and 2,950 wounded in just 11 days, is reaching alarming proportions and is indicative of extreme violence indiscriminately affecting civilians. 

“Today, 1.5 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, almost half of them children, are the victims of incessant shooting and bombing,” said Franck Joncret, MSF’s head of mission. “How can anyone believe that such a steamroller attack would spare civilians, who are prevented from fleeing and are crowded in a densely-populated enclave?”

The military offensive has sown terror within a trapped urban population. Residents no longer dare leave their homes to seek medical care. This insecurity also affects aid organisations.  Palestinian humanitarian aid and health workers have been killed and hospitals and ambulances have been bombed.

Hospital emergency departments are besieged by wounded patients. In the last 10 days, medical staff at Al Shifa Hospital have performed more than 300 surgeries.

“The hospital’s six operating rooms are operating at full capacity, with two operations underway simultaneously in each room,” said Dr. Cécile Barbou, MSF medical coordinator in Gaza. “The Palestinian surgeons and the medical staff are exhausted, struggling to keep up with the number of wounded.” Most of the emergency cases involve patients with serious wounds, who have suffered multiple traumas, primarily to the thorax, abdomen and face.”

The MSF teams in Gaza, composed of three international and nearly 70 Palestinian staff members, have been trying to support Palestinian medical facilities and treat the wounded since the offensive began. They have already distributed medical supplies and medications to several hospitals that were close to running out of material. Today, approximately twenty MSF staff are treating Gazans in their homes, visiting close to 40 people every day.

“The level of insecurity is so high that our ability to travel and provide medical aid is extremely limited,” said Jessica Pourraz, MSF field coordinator in Gaza. “We need unfettered access so that we can reach the wounded around the clock and civilians need to be able to reach treatment facilities.”

At the request of doctors at Al Shifa Hospital, MSF is sending a surgical team (a surgeon, anesthetist and a surgical nurse) and a mobile hospital that includes an operating room and an intensive treatment unit, which will increase the hospital’s treatment capacity. MSF hopes to obtain the necessary authorisation allowing the team, as well as all necessary supplies, to enter the Gaza Strip.

Under these circumstances, and while entry into Gaza of personnel and material is still restricted, the temporary bombing halt may improve wounded patients’ access to healthcare facilities, allow aid workers to move about and enable the transport of supplies of lifesaving materiel (fuel, food, medical supplies and medication). “However, these partial measures, which are intended to soothe international opinion, have no effect on the direct and massive violence that the population is experiencing,” says Dr. Marie-Pierre Allié, president of the French office of MSF.

Further information

• Click here to hear interviews with MSF medical staff working in Gaza.