Doctors detail the daily deluge of Gazans shot while seeking food

As Gazans face widespread starvation, doctors in the enclave say they have been treating victims of mass shootings almost daily after crowds of Palest...

As Gazans face widespread starvation, doctors in the enclave say they have been treating victims of mass shootings almost daily after crowds of Palestinians seeking food are fired on. Witnesses say Israeli troops have frequently shot at people who pass near military positions while approaching aid sites or who throng relief convoys.

More than 1,778 Palestinians have been killed and more than 12,894 wounded under these circumstances since late May, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. International aid agencies say that the scale of the bloodshed has pushed an already buckling health care system practically to the breaking point, as medical workers scramble to treat the tide of casualties - at times on the floor - and hospital staff use what downtime they have to find extra beds and surgery teams for the next influx.

The following description of the conditions inside Gaza’s hospital wards is based on interviews with seven American and European medical workers who visited Gaza as part of voluntary medical missions between May and the first week of this month.

Each medical worker said that the Israel military’s bombing of medical facilities in Gaza during the ongoing war with Hamas, combined with a near-total blockade of the enclave since the winter, has often made it impossible for doctors to deliver adequate treatment. A shortage of oxygen tanks has forced staff to choose whom to save, medical workers said, and a dearth of wheelchairs and crutches at times forces families to carry away disabled relatives in their arms.

Many of the victims have been shot in areas near food distribution sites run by the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), according to aid groups and doctors treating the casualties. But Palestinians have also been killed while trying to pull flour from United Nations convoys or while waiting for aid drops from the sky.