LONDON: A British surgeon who worked in Gaza has said she never saw anyone in the Palestinian enclave with weapons except Israeli soldiers.

Dr. Victoria Rose told Sky News that there had been a “real escalation in the bombing campaign” in Gaza that had left the population “on their knees.”

Hospitals, despite being protected under international law, have frequently been targeted by Israel since the war began in October 2023.

The Israel Defense Forces claim that hospitals are often used as bases by Hamas, but the National Health Service plastic surgeon said she had seen no evidence that this is the case.

Rose told the “Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips” program: “I’ve never treated or seen anyone — in any of the hospitals that I’ve worked in — in military uniform or with a weapon. The only people I’ve ever seen in Gaza with military uniforms and weapons are the IDF.”

She said the toll that the war is taking on medics in Gaza is catastrophic, adding: “Lots of my Palestinian colleagues were telling me that they’d rather die than carry on with this war.”

The public health situation in Gaza has been worsened by the ongoing food crisis in the enclave, with vital aid being blocked from entering by the Israeli military for several months. 

Rose said malnutrition is a severe problem in Gaza, especially among children. When she was in the enclave, “infection rates were soaring,” she added.

“We were seeing a lot of avoidable deaths, a lot of small children dying from sepsis that would’ve been prevented if they’d been in in the Western world.”