Starvation and shelling: A Perth nurse’s view from the ground in Gaza

The sound of airstrikes thundering overhead and rumble of artillery shaking the ground beneath her feet welcomed Médecins Sans Frontières Australian emergency coordinator Claire Manera to a humanitarian catastrophe unlike anything she had seen before.

Manera, who was previously a nurse in Perth, has witnessed unimaginable suffering, most recently a five-year-old girl with third-degree burns to most of her body. With medical supplies running critically low, including pain relief, the little girl screamed as her dressings were changed.

Manera said from the moment she entered Gaza, it resembled a scene from the end of the world, with some areas turned to wastelands.

“It’s different from other crises because the population is trapped, they are imprisoned,” she said.

With Israeli authorities blocking humanitarian assistance since March 2, including food, fuel and medical supplies, Manera said the population was “on the brink of starvation”.

“It’s like a death sentence for the Palestinian people and the world is just sitting by watching them die,” she said.

Israel put up the blockade claiming Hamas was seizing and selling supplies on the black market, or was using aid distribution as a means of controlling Gaza.

Defence minister Israel Katz also described the blockade as a “pressure lever” to get Hamas to release the remaining Israeli hostages.

However, on Monday Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the blockade would be eased to let some food into Gaza following a series of strikes in the region over the past two weeks and what the military described as “extensive ground operations”.

That partial end to the blockade was panned by foreign ministers from 23 nations including Australia, who said in a joint statement the plan put “beneficiaries and aid workers at risk”, and that “humanitarian aid should never be politicised”.

“Food, medicines and essential supplies are exhausted. The population faces starvation. Gaza’s people must receive the aid they desperately need,” the statement said.

Canada, France and the United Kingdom threatened “concrete actions” against Israel in a statement which Australia was not part of.

Netanyahu said the partial end to the blockade would provide “just enough [aid] to prevent” hunger and that even strong supporters of Israel had spoken out about the humanitarian situation.

Manera said if Médecins Sans Frontières lost access to fuel they’d lose everything, with the humanitarian organisation the last line keeping 150,000 people from thirst and disease.

“There’s no food coming into the country. Even our own staff are surviving on one meal a day, selling their belongings just to eat,” she said.

“Mothers, breastfeeding and pregnant, are calling us, begging for help to find food for their babies.”

Manera has helped in other conflicts including Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Libya, Sudan and the Congo.

“I have seen this before in other countries, but the deliberate way in which this is being done to the population, is beyond words,” she said.

“The conditions people live in are inhumane, with piles of rubbish, rats, open sewers and no protection from the constant air strikes and shelling from the ground troops.

“The number of children with third-degree burns from explosions, is truly horrific.

“Young people that are missing limbs are growing by the day.”

An Israeli airstrike last week targeted one of the buildings of the Nasser medical complex, killing two people and injuring 12. It was the second attack on the same building in seven weeks.

Manera said the attack on a medical complex so close to the MSF medical operations was “horrific”.

“I have to make the decision daily about whether it is safe for my staff to be there, but if the staff are not there, then less patients are receiving life-saving assistance,” she said.

Médecins Sans Frontières Australia’s executive director Jennifer Tierney said Gaza has become a “mass grave”.

“Not a single hospital in Gaza is fully functional, only 21 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals remain just partially functional and almost all have sustained some damage in the conflict,” she said.

“In Gaza City clinic, MSF teams are overwhelmed with the high number of patients – almost 400 a day.

“As supplies are running out, our teams are unable to keep up with the high needs. The mental health needs are also skyrocketing, and MSF teams are seeing people with severe anxiety and depression.”

On Monday, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification released a snapshot on the levels of food insecurity in Gaza, finding the entire population was facing high levels of acute food insecurity, with half a million people – or one in five – facing starvation.

with Matthew Knott, Reuters

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