Israeli forces shooting at Gazans 'almost like a game of target practice,' says UK surgeon
'There will be many, many more deaths unless the Israelis allow proper food to get in there,' warns Nick Maynard, who spent 4 weeks working inside Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis
LONDON
Israeli forces are targeting Palestinians in Gaza in specific areas, "almost like a game of target practice," according to a British doctor who recently returned from the besieged enclave.
In an interview with Sky News, Nick Maynard, who spent four weeks working inside Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, where a lack of food has left medics struggling to treat children and toddlers, said that there is "profound malnutrition" among the population.
"I met several doctors who had cartons of formula feed in their luggage—and they were all confiscated by the Israeli border guards. Nothing else got confiscated, just the formula feed," he said.
The doctor, who has been going to Gaza for the past 15 years and returned from Gaza on his third visit to the territory since Oct. 7, 2023, added that four premature babies died during the first two weeks when he was in Nasser Hospital.
"There will be many, many more deaths unless the Israelis allow proper food to get in there," warned Maynard.
The surgeon went on to say that he saw people I had known for years, and he did not recognize some of them.
"Two colleagues had lost 20 kg and 30 kg, respectively. They were shells; they're all hungry," noted Maynard, adding that his colleagues are going to work every day, then going home to their tents where "they have no food."
He said Israeli soldiers are shooting civilians at aid points "almost like a game of target practice," a claim that the Israeli forces have rejected despite multiple international reports.
Nine more Palestinians have died in the past 24 hours due to famine and malnutrition, bringing the total number of starvation-related deaths to 122, the Gaza Health Ministry said Friday.
Israel has killed more than 59,500 Palestinians, most of them women and children, in the Gaza Strip since October 2023. The military campaign has devastated the enclave, collapsed the health system, and led to severe food shortages.
Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
