Ambulance drivers in Gaza have been working non-stop in extremely difficult conditions throughout the Israeli military offensive. According to the United Nations, one doctor has been killed and 19 medical staff have been injured in Gaza since July 7, while two hospitals, four clinics, one treatment centre, and four ambulances have sustained damage in Israeli air strikes.
The emotional impact has also taken a toll on medical workers in the besieged coastal enclave. Abuelkas told Al Jazeera that one of the worst calls he responded to was to help the al-Batsh family; eighteen members of the same family were killed by an Israeli missile in Gaza City on Saturday.
When he got to the site of the bombing, he didn’t know what he would find. At the house, he met women, children and old men; everyone was either screaming, crying or silent, in shock. He said the most difficult part was collecting dismembered body parts to identify the dead and prepare them for burial.
“This was a terrible, emotional mission - we found all types of injuries: light [and] medium to critical, body parts blown off, amputated limbs, and other dead bodies,” he says.