The Palestinian Return Centre (PRC) hosted a powerful online webinar titled “Gaza’s Health Catastrophe: A Surgeon’s Testimony”, featuring British consultant surgeon Dr Nick Maynard, who recently returned from a medical mission inside the Gaza Strip. Speaking from first-hand experience, Dr Maynard delivered a harrowing account of the systematic collapse of Gaza’s healthcare system, coupled with widespread starvation and targeted attacks against medical personnel.

Dr Maynard, a specialist in upper gastrointestinal and cancer surgery at the Oxford University Hospitals, has been volunteering in the occupied Palestinian territories for over 15 years. Drawing on his three visits to Gaza since October 2023, he asserted that what he witnessed constitutes “a full-scale genocide,” describing the situation as far beyond any normal humanitarian crisis.

According to Dr Maynard, the destruction of Gaza’s healthcare system is not collateral damage but a deliberate and systematic policy. He described how major hospitals such as Al-Shifa, Al-Nuseirat and Al-Aqsa were not only bombed but later raided and dismantled. Medical laboratories, dialysis machines, water and gas supplies, and imaging equipment were intentionally destroyed to render the facilities completely unusable.

He further stated that healthcare workers have not been spared. Hundreds of doctors and nurses have been killed, while many others have been abducted and tortured in Israeli detention centres. Among those victims was Dr Adnan Al-Borsh, a prominent orthopaedic surgeon whom Maynard had worked with in 2023. He said: “Adnan was tortured and raped to death. I received direct testimonies from fellow detainees that are too horrific to describe. This is not a tragic accident; this is policy.”

Dr Maynard also addressed the dire state of nutrition in Gaza, highlighting the use of starvation as a weapon of war. He reported seeing emaciated colleagues and patients, and several infants who died due to the lack of baby formula. “Israeli border forces confiscated all containers of formula milk brought by American doctors. This is a policy of starvation by design,” he said.

Food distribution points set up by Israeli authorities were described as “killing zones,” where thousands of desperate civilians would gather only to be shot at by Israeli snipers and drones. Dr Maynard personally treated numerous teenage boys who were shot while queuing for food. “One day, four boys were brought in, each shot in the testicles. Not the head, not the chest. Just the testicles. The pattern was deliberate,” he recalled.

Operating conditions were nothing short of catastrophic. Surgeons were forced to carry out complex operations without adequate anesthesia, sterilisation, or even clean gloves. Maynard recounted the case of a young girl, Aya, who had a severely fractured leg that had to be straightened in the emergency department without any pain relief. “I can still hear her screams,” he said.

The British surgeon condemned the silence of international medical institutions, including the British Medical Association and leading academic bodies, saying they were made aware of these crimes months ago but failed to respond. “Those who remain silent in the face of genocide are complicit in it. There is no excuse for their inaction,” he insisted.

He also criticised healthcare professionals who still hide behind claims of neutrality. “This is not a conflict. This is genocide. Hiding behind humanitarian neutrality at this stage is cowardice, not professionalism,” he added.

Maynard warned that simply allowing food into Gaza would not be enough to save the severely malnourished. Many require urgent hospital care, which is no longer available due to the destruction of medical infrastructure. He explained that refeeding extremely malnourished patients without medical supervision can be fatal.

Reflecting on his decision to return to Gaza repeatedly, despite the trauma and danger, Maynard said the suffering of the people and his personal ties with colleagues there left him no choice. “What is being done to them is so unspeakably wrong, so brutally unjust. I am privileged to have the skills to help, and I will keep going back.”

The webinar, which drew a large audience, was moderated by PRC researcher Haya Natsheh. It concluded with a call to continue documenting Israeli war crimes, pressuring governments, and supporting the people of Gaza in their pursuit of justice and survival.

Watch the webinar here

https://www.youtube.com/live/7-TfKX5naSI?si