Doctors Without Borders physician Morten Rostrup has flown nearly 30 missions across the war-torn world during his career.

What is now happening in Gaza is unparalleled, he believes.

– There is a bombed population of 2.2 million people with no possibility of escape in a total blockade. I’ve seen a lot of bad things in other places, but this is a very special and extreme situation.

– Terrifying

Rostrup himself sat at a safe distance in Norway, but gained daily insight into the daily lives of his colleagues working in Gaza.

– Everyone has lost someone close, and they live under extreme stress. Should they leave their jobs and try to find safety with their families, or should they continue working and caring for patients. This is a pretty intense moral dilemma.

After more than two weeks of fighting and thousands of injuries, employees were exhausted, he said.

– Being a health professional in a war zone where you yourself are afraid of being killed is a very stressful situation. And I can’t imagine how terrible it must have been to witness what was happening.

Until recently, there was very limited what was allowed in the form of medicines, medical equipment and food. Israeli authorities have also decided that emergency aid will be concentrated in the south.

This means, among other things, that Gaza’s largest hospital, Shifa, located in the north, will lose new supplies.

– According to the messages we received from our colleagues there, the situation is very sad, said Rostrup.

Living a “nightmare” in a Gaza hospital

– The best we can do

On Tuesday, Médecins Sans Frontières published, both in Norway and internationally, a photo of the Shifa hospital in its offices. social media accountswhich shows one of their doctors performing an amputation on the hallway floor.

The patient is said to be a nine-year-old boy, whose leg was partially torn off.

Due to the lack of an operating room and medical equipment, the operation had to be performed on site with limited anesthesia, and her mother and sister as spectators, Rostrup said.

The boy’s 13-year-old sister will be the next patient to undergo surgery, according to surgeon Obeid’s statement published by the organization.

– It’s almost impossible to imagine. This 13 year old girl was waiting for surgery while watching me amputate part of her sister’s leg. But in reality that’s how it is. This is the best we can do. We can’t do anything more. And I hope this image can be shared with the world.

The image was sent by a Doctors Without Borders surgeon “in desperation,” Rostrup said.

– The story tells something about the drama and its capacity, when this happened on the floor in front of his family and with limited anesthesia. This is a bad situation.

Now you have to wake up!

– Explode

At Shifa Hospital, the capacity can accommodate around 700 patients. Now as many as 5,000 patients can be treated there, said Rostrup.

– The capacity is running out, and the situation is getting worse. Medicine shortages have been a topic of discussion for a long time, and it is impossible to run a healthcare system without supplies. This is extreme consumption when there are thousands of people injured.

Normally, seriously injured patients can be evacuated from areas worst affected by war, Rostrup said. This also helps ease the burden on local hospitals. Due to the blockade placed on Gaza, this is not possible at this time.

– It should be a normal thing, but now no one is coming in or out. This makes the situation hopeless and I don’t understand how the world can allow this to continue.

Family: – Killed by Hamas

– Off the cliff

There is also a major shortage of fuel to operate units at hospitals, and according to Israel, delivery of new fuel is impossible.

– If petrol now runs out, as is starting to happen according to the reports I received, this would be a major disaster for patients, says Rostrup.

– From a health perspective, it seems that this will decline in a very short time. I don’t understand how they can continue to provide health services after so long.

According to the UN, a third of hospitals in Gaza have had to close due to lack of fuel Sky News.

Tom White, head of UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, recently stated that their biggest worry now is that Gaza will run out of fuel.

– We really need to find a solution to the fuel situation. Otherwise, the emergency operation will be terminated. People will not have access to clean water, and hospitals will have to close, he told CNN, according to Sky News.