{"id":306460,"date":"2025-07-31T11:29:21","date_gmt":"2025-07-31T11:29:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/306460\/"},"modified":"2025-07-31T11:29:21","modified_gmt":"2025-07-31T11:29:21","slug":"emergency-response-in-gazas-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/306460\/","title":{"rendered":"Emergency Response in Gaza’s Crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"

– Advertisement –\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

When David Anderson OBE crossed back into Gaza this year, the scale of the devastation was immediate. Where once there were roads, houses and markets, there was now rubble. Where children once played, silence. And where exhausted doctors and nurses had worked against the odds last year, they were now hanging on by a thread.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve worked in conflict zones for over two decades,\u201d said David. \u201cBut nothing compares to what I witnessed this time. Whole areas that were barely touched before are now flattened. It\u2019s just destruction upon destruction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anderson, a seasoned emergency nurse and Senior Health Advisor for Manchester-based medical charity UK-Med<\/a>, had returned to Gaza in early 2024 to help establish and lead operations at two emergency field hospitals. What he found was a population on the brink, millions displaced, hundreds of thousands injured or ill, and a healthcare system brought to its knees.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was happy to be back with our Palestinian colleagues,\u201d he said quietly. \u201cBut every single one of them looked exhausted. They\u2019d lost weight, lost family, lost homes. And yet they turned up to work. Every single day.\u201d<\/p>\n

UK-Med on the front lines in Gaza <\/p>\n

\"\"The Deir El Balah Field Hospital<\/p>\n

At UK-Med\u2019s field hospital in Al Mawasi, the largest of its Gaza operations, up to 1,000 people a day come through the tents seeking treatment. It includes an emergency department, an operating theatre, an inpatient ward, and a maternal and child health unit. Another hospital in Deir al-Balah handles around 400 patients daily and functions more like a community health centre, managing chronic conditions like hypertension and diabetes, conditions made life-threatening in a region without reliable medication or food.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no such thing as a typical day,\u201d Anderson said. \u201cYou might start with dressing wounds or managing blood pressure, and then suddenly you\u2019re in a mass casualty event. Airstrikes, aid truck bombings, building collapses, patients flood in all at once, many of them children.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"David Anderson OBE (L)<\/p>\n

One such incident stays with him. \u201cA father brought in his daughter who had collapsed,\u201d he recalls. \u201cWe assumed she was 10 or 11, she was that small. But she was 16, just 26 kilos in weight. Her diabetes was out of control, and she was severely malnourished. Her father looked as starved as she was. They\u2019d been living off bread when they could find it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The team stabilised the girl and started treatment, but Anderson is honest about her long-term prospects. \u201cWithout sustained access to nutrition, water and insulin, how does a young girl like that survive? What kind of future can she have?\u201d<\/p>\n

UK-Med: Delivering urgent medical aid in Gaza and beyond<\/p>\n

UK-Med, the Manchester-based emergency medical aid organisation Anderson works for, has a long legacy of responding to crises. Founded in 1988, it grew from a group of South Manchester NHS clinicians who travelled to Armenia to respond to a devastating earthquake. Since then, it has operated in Ukraine, Lebanon, DR Congo, and many more troubled spots around the globe.<\/p>\n

\"\"UK Med\u2019s hospital in Gaza <\/p>\n

But Gaza, Anderson said, is the hardest deployment yet.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just the danger. It\u2019s the complexity. You\u2019re working in a situation where access is severely restricted, the population is constantly displaced, and healthcare itself has become a target.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe infrastructure is not sufficient to support absolute continuity of care. We do keep up-to-date, contemporaneous records of all care undertaken which is uniquely identified to the patient. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhere appropriate this information is shared between health care providers in an effort to maximise continuity of care.<\/p>\n

Today, UK-Med runs two field hospitals in Gaza and supports a third, the emergency department at Nasser Medical Complex, one of the last functioning hospitals in the south. The conditions are basic, but the needs are massive.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve treated over 580,000 patients since January,\u201d said Anderson. \u201cIt\u2019s a reflection of the scale of suffering here.\u201d For reference, when I Love Manchester spoke to UK-Med last year, they had only helped 140,000 people. <\/p>\n

Local acceptance of UK-Med is high. Anderson credits the 500 Palestinian health workers UK-Med employs and trains. \u201cThey\u2019re the backbone of what we do. They\u2019ve lost everything, and still they care for others.\u201d<\/p>\n

The difficulty in finding essential items in Gaza<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Logistics are a constant nightmare. Essential items like painkillers, wound dressings, antibiotics, even baby formula, sit for months waiting for border permissions. \u201cWe ordered supplies over six months ago,\u201d Anderson said. \u201cThey\u2019re still not here.\u201d<\/p>\n

The shortages aren\u2019t just inconvenient, they\u2019re deadly.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had to operate without anaesthetics. We\u2019ve had to reuse gowns, improvise with expired medication. The reality is, patients are dying from conditions that are treatable. If we had even the basic supplies, we could save hundreds more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Continuity of care is also nearly impossible. \u201cMost of our patients have been displaced several times. We keep records, we try to transfer information. But often they\u2019re gone before we see them again.\u201d<\/p>\n

How do you prepare for life on the frontline?<\/p>\n

Sending international clinicians, many from the NHS, into such a volatile zone is not something UK-Med takes lightly.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe screen everyone extensively,\u201d Anderson explained. \u201cIt\u2019s not just about clinical expertise. They need to understand the culture, the security context, the psychological weight of it all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before deployment, new arrivals speak with those already in Gaza or just returned. Once in-country, staff health focal points and access to mental health support are provided. Team meetings happen every morning to share updates, air concerns, and, when necessary, debrief after mass casualty events<\/p>\n

How to support humanitarian work in Gaza<\/p>\n

UK-Med\u2019s work in Gaza costs around \u00a31 million a month. Until now, the charity has received significant funding from the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office and the World Health Organization. But that support is ending.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re at a critical tipping point,\u201d said Holly Smith, who leads the organisation\u2019s Gaza Appeal. \u201cWe\u2019ve launched an emergency fundraising campaign to keep the hospitals running. Even small donations matter, \u00a335 can fund a single consultation. That consultation could be life-saving.\u201d<\/p>\n

Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham has voiced his support in a recent campaign video, urging the public to back the effort.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cThe suffering of the people of Gaza is beyond words, with many living without the most basic essentials and often without access to medical care. <\/p>\n

\u201cOrganisations like UK-Med, based right here in Manchester, are doing extraordinary work to keep the last functioning hospitals going and saving lives every day.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir presence on the ground speaks to the values we hold in Greater Manchester: compassion, solidarity, and standing by people in their time of need.\u201d<\/p>\n

UK-Med is also reaching out through digital media, partnerships, and email appeals. But time is running out.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t keep doing this alone,\u201d Anderson warns. \u201cWe need governments to step up. We need donors to care. And we need the public to keep talking about Gaza, even when it drops off the headlines.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moments of hope do exist in the darkness <\/p>\n

Despite everything, moments of hope do exist. Babies born in tents. Burn victims walking again after weeks of rehabilitation. A teenager with shrapnel injuries laughing with a nurse.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese moments are rare, but they keep us going,\u201d says Anderson. \u201cThey remind us that even in war, life insists on continuing.\u201d<\/p>\n

How you can help UK-Med<\/p>\n

The need in Gaza is immediate and immense. UK-Med is asking the public to:<\/p>\n