International doctors and nurses working in Gaza hospitals reported seeing injuries among Palestinians that were far more severe than those typically observed in civilians in other recent conflicts, according to a peer-reviewed study released Friday.
The research, published in the medical journal BMJ, surveyed 78 humanitarian healthcare workers – mostly from Europe and North America – who described the severity, location, and cause of wounds they encountered during deployments in the Gaza Strip.
Led by a British research team, the study provides the most comprehensive data yet on Palestinian injuries amid Israel’s nearly two-year offensive on the enclave, at a time when Gaza’s health facilities have been heavily damaged and international access remains severely restricted.
Two-thirds of the healthcare workers had previously deployed to other conflict zones, the vast majority of whom said the injuries in Gaza were “the worst thing they’ve ever seen,” the study’s lead author, British surgeon Omar El-Taji, told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Up to three months after returning from Gaza, the doctors and nurses – using logbooks and shift records – completed a survey about the injuries they saw during deployments lasting two to 12 weeks between August 2024 and February 2025.
