Surgeons in Gaza: Medical Testimony on Wounds, Conditions, and War Crimes Evidence

Dozens of Western surgeons and physicians volunteered in Gaza's remaining functioning hospitals throughout the conflict. Several have given documented public testimony about what they witnessed. Several have given public testimony about what they witnessed.

Dr. Nick Maynard, a British consultant gastrointestinal surgeon at Oxford University Hospitals, has volunteered in Gaza for about 15 years with Medical Aid for Palestinians, including several deployments during the current war (NPR). In media appearances and formal testimony, he described:

• Children presenting with blast injuries, gunshot wounds, and burns inconsistent with proportional targeting of combatants
• Widespread acute malnutrition among pediatric patients
• Baby formula and nutritional supplements confiscated at Israeli checkpoints, preventing them from reaching patients
• Physical evidence he described as consistent with deliberate targeting of civilians rather than incidental harm in military operations

He has said many of the gunshot victims were teenagers shot near Gaza Humanitarian Foundation food distribution points (NPR). The Israeli military denies intentionally targeting civilians; no independent medical records of the specific injury clusters he describes have been published.

Dr. Feroze Sidhwa, an American trauma surgeon who volunteered at a hospital in Gaza, testified that in his entire deployment he did not treat a single fighter — only children with shrapnel and bullet wounds, and adults including pregnant women with injuries he described as obliterative. His testimony was disputed by some Israeli officials who argued that Hamas fighters do not wear uniforms and would not be identifiable as combatants in a hospital setting. Sidhwa's account is his own first-hand testimony; what it implies about targeting is contested.

UN agencies, citing the Gaza Health Ministry, reported more than 1,500 health workers killed in Gaza by 2025. As of late 2025, fewer than half of Gaza's hospitals remained operational. The IDF has said it targets medical facilities only when Hamas uses them as military infrastructure — a claim supported by US intelligence in the case of Al-Shifa and asserted by the IDF in others (e.g., Al-Rantisi, where some IDF evidence was disputed) but disputed as a general justification by international medical organizations including the WHO and Médecins Sans Frontières.