- ARAB NEWS
- 21 May 2025
Since 1975
LONDON: Israeli strikes on Gaza are “shredding people to pieces,” a British surgeon working in hospitals there has told the Daily Telegraph.
Tom Potokar, a plastic surgeon working in southern Gaza, said he was at the European Hospital when it was attacked by Israel.
Its new offensive has been met by international condemnation, with Gaza’s Health Ministry saying hundreds of Palestinians have been killed in recent days.
Potokar, who is now stationed at Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis, said: “You have to consider that the Gaza Strip is, geographically, a very small area and yet there are nearly two million people living here.
“So, when you drop ordnance — with the amounts being used and the type of weapons being used in such a small, densely populated area — you are literally shredding people to pieces.”
Potokar was forced to move hospital three times in the past week to avoid Israeli bombing. Describing the attack on the European Hospital, he said: “It is difficult to imagine how human beings can treat other human beings in this way. To see children particularly with horrific injuries and amputations, to see pregnant women requiring major surgery — it’s absolute brutality.”
Israeli attacks on hospitals have drawn widespread condemnation from humanitarian organizations.
The UN Human Rights Office and Human Rights Watch said Israeli bombardment is pushing Gaza’s already-damaged healthcare system to the brink of collapse.
Potokar was also near an airstrike that hit Al-Amal Hospital. “It was around 6 a.m. and a massive strike happened about 400 meters from the hospital, with heavy machine gun fire and helicopters,” he said.
“Thankfully, there were no casualties in the hospital, but a huge piece of shrapnel landed in front of the emergency room.”
He added: “What is the West doing, what is the rest of the world doing? Churning out press statement after press statement but nothing is changing.
“This will be a stain on humanity when people look back in years to come, when we say ‘how did we allow this to happen?’ We’ve been here before, and no lessons are being learned.”
Potokar said: “The killing goes on, the slaughter goes on and these are people like you and me.”
