French doctor: Almost no functional hospitals left in war-torn Gaza

​​​​​​​By Esra Taskin

PARIS (AA) - French doctor Pascal Andre reported that Israeli attacks have left the Gaza Strip with nearly no functioning hospitals and urgently appealed for assistance to reach health workers after serving there recently.

Andre, who worked at Gaza’s European Hospital in Khan Younis from Feb. 8 - 22, told Anadolu that medical staff are facing severe conditions, struggling to provide care due to a critical lack of supplies.

Although only a few aid trucks have entered, foreign medical personnel are now barred from reentering Gaza, Andre noted.

“Almost no functional hospitals remain in the region,” said Andre, who described recent patient evacuations from northern Gaza as “degrading and shocking.”

Andre emphasized that health professionals are dealing not only with injuries but also underlying harms and illnesses, as conditions worsen.

He criticized what he described as a collapse of the rule of law, leading to deaths from hunger, thirst, chronic illness and targeted attacks.

Andre noted that nearly 25 European and more than 100 American medical staff had been in Gaza until recently. “Most of us, at least the French people I talk to regularly,” he added, “are sick because of what we are experiencing here rather than what we experienced there,” referring to Gaza.

Returning health workers have brought evidence of Gaza’s conditions to the International Criminal Court and South African lawyers, according to Andre.

“We conveyed what we witnessed to the European Parliament, the French Parliament, and the Senate. We spoke with numerous politicians and independent media but engaged with very few national media. It’s unbearable that none of our consciences guide us to act, and that my French colleagues here remain inactive in the face of this intolerable situation affecting patients and health care workers in Gaza, Lebanon and beyond,” he said.

-‘Our humanity is at stake’

Andre stressed that after returning from Gaza, he and his colleagues toured France and Europe, sharing experiences through videos, recordings and surgical documents, yet struggled to access municipally-owned venues.

He urged public concern concerning Gaza’s situation. “It’s not a matter of Muslim, Palestinians or Christian, Lebanese. Our humanity is at stake.”

According to Andre, Mediapart, an investigative French online newspaper, reported that 65% of Israel’s weapons come from the US, 30% from Germany and a smaller amount from France, although transparency is lacking.

Despite alleged breaches of Article 2 of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, which mandates human rights compliance, Andre expressed frustration that the agreement remains in effect.

-‘We just want to live like human beings’

Andre said patients in Gaza and the West Bank expressed a wish to live peacefully, with health workers hearing no hostility from them.

“We just want to farm our land, live, pray in our mosques, eat, drink, and live like human beings,” he noted them saying.

He urged accountability for those responsible. “If we are human, we must not allow this. Those who remain silent and stifle discourse must be held accountable,” he said.

Andre criticized media coverage, pointing out that one French network dedicated only one minute and 45 seconds to Israeli side events while noting hospital bombings in Gaza for 15 seconds. “We witnessed horrific scenes of civilian refugees in a hospital being bombed and burned without intervention,” he said.

-Silence and hypocrisy of Western countries

"I cannot understand how a media outlet, a journalist, or an ordinary citizen can validate the Israeli army’s narrative, given it is an occupying force,” he said, adding that independent journalists from outside Gaza are barred from entry.

“We witnessed children being shot in the head. How can a sniper who shoots a child in the head remain human? How can a sniper who targets a pregnant woman’s belly and head go home and embrace his family?”

During visits to Gaza and the occupied West Bank, Palestinians told them:

“Thank you for coming to help us; this is very helpful, necessary, and appreciated. However, please return home, because much of the answer to our suffering over the past 75 years lies with you: the silence and hypocrisy of Western countries and the failure to enforce international law are responsible for what we are experiencing here,” he said.