British surgeon working in Gaza says it is now ‘a slaughterhouse’
UK backbenchers shout ‘genocide’
A British surgeon working in southern Gaza described the current situation in the enclave as a “slaughterhouse.” It comes as Israel pressed ahead this week with its new military offensive in Gaza despite mounting international criticism.
Dr Tom Potokar, who is stationed in the southern region, made the grim comparison in a video shared from Gaza, where he is treating what he referred to as “awful explosive injuries.”
“It’s another day of devastation here in Gaza. The stories coming from the north... absolutely horrific... particularly around the Indonesian Hospital," Potokar said.
“I mean, it’s difficult to describe in words what’s happening here... [with the] constant sound of bombardment jets overhead.
“If Cambodia was the killing fields, then Gaza now is the slaughterhouse,” he said.
Describing the medical crisis, Potokar said: “We’ve been operating all morning so far and [treating] awful explosive injuries... [including] one young woman with leg fracture and shoulder fracture and a large wound on her buttock, who came in yesterday and is not yet aware that everyone in our family was killed in the onslaught.”
The Israeli military campaign is reportedly aimed at intensifying pressure on Hamas, gaining ground, pushing civilians further south, and asserting control over humanitarian aid distribution.
Families 'wiped off'
The new wave of ground incursions was announced Sunday following deadly airstrikes that left more than 130 people dead—many of them children—according to hospital reports and medics. The escalation also led to the shutdown of northern Gaza’s main medical facility.
A spokesperson for Gaza’s health ministry said: “Complete families were wiped off the civil registration record by Israeli bombardment.”
On Wednesday, former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert said that what Israel “is doing now in Gaza, is very close to a war crime” during an interview with the BBC.
Olmert told the BBC that Benjamin Netanyahu’s government were waging “a war without a purpose – a war without a chance of achieving anything that can save the lives of the hostages.”
He said that the “obvious appearance” of the campaign was that Israel was killing many Palestinians, and that “from every point of view, this is obnoxious and outrageous.”
He said that the Israeli government had to be more clear that it was “fighting the killers of Hamas, we are not fighting innocent civilians.”
‘Repellent’ extremism
UK-Israeli relations meanwhile plunged to their worst state for decades this week after the British foreign secretary, David Lammy, suspended negotiations over a new free trade deal, saying Israel’s Cabinet ministers’ calls to “purify Gaza” by expelling Palestinians were repellent, monstrous and extremist.
He also said wider talks about a future bilateral strategic roadmap with Israel were being reviewed.
Lammy, unleashing language he has not used since the latest Gaza conflict began, said the further planned major military incursion into Gaza by the Israel Defence Forces was “morally unjustifiable, wholly disproportionate and utterly counterproductive”.
As the foreign secretary made his opening remarks in the Commons, backbenchers shouted “genocide”.
Sounding genuinely outraged with the government of the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, Lammy said: “We are now entering a dark new phase in this conflict. Netanyahu’s government is planning to drive Gazans from their homes into a corner of the strip to the south and permit them a fraction of the aid that they need.”
Dr Tom Potokar, who is stationed in the southern region, made the grim comparison in a video shared from Gaza, where he is treating what he referred to as “awful explosive injuries.”
“It’s another day of devastation here in Gaza. The stories coming from the north... absolutely horrific... particularly around the Indonesian Hospital," Potokar said.
“I mean, it’s difficult to describe in words what’s happening here... [with the] constant sound of bombardment jets overhead.
“If Cambodia was the killing fields, then Gaza now is the slaughterhouse,” he said.
Describing the medical crisis, Potokar said: “We’ve been operating all morning so far and [treating] awful explosive injuries... [including] one young woman with leg fracture and shoulder fracture and a large wound on her buttock, who came in yesterday and is not yet aware that everyone in our family was killed in the onslaught.”
The Israeli military campaign is reportedly aimed at intensifying pressure on Hamas, gaining ground, pushing civilians further south, and asserting control over humanitarian aid distribution.
Families 'wiped off'
The new wave of ground incursions was announced Sunday following deadly airstrikes that left more than 130 people dead—many of them children—according to hospital reports and medics. The escalation also led to the shutdown of northern Gaza’s main medical facility.
A spokesperson for Gaza’s health ministry said: “Complete families were wiped off the civil registration record by Israeli bombardment.”
On Wednesday, former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert said that what Israel “is doing now in Gaza, is very close to a war crime” during an interview with the BBC.
Olmert told the BBC that Benjamin Netanyahu’s government were waging “a war without a purpose – a war without a chance of achieving anything that can save the lives of the hostages.”
He said that the “obvious appearance” of the campaign was that Israel was killing many Palestinians, and that “from every point of view, this is obnoxious and outrageous.”
He said that the Israeli government had to be more clear that it was “fighting the killers of Hamas, we are not fighting innocent civilians.”
‘Repellent’ extremism
UK-Israeli relations meanwhile plunged to their worst state for decades this week after the British foreign secretary, David Lammy, suspended negotiations over a new free trade deal, saying Israel’s Cabinet ministers’ calls to “purify Gaza” by expelling Palestinians were repellent, monstrous and extremist.
He also said wider talks about a future bilateral strategic roadmap with Israel were being reviewed.
Lammy, unleashing language he has not used since the latest Gaza conflict began, said the further planned major military incursion into Gaza by the Israel Defence Forces was “morally unjustifiable, wholly disproportionate and utterly counterproductive”.
As the foreign secretary made his opening remarks in the Commons, backbenchers shouted “genocide”.
Sounding genuinely outraged with the government of the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, Lammy said: “We are now entering a dark new phase in this conflict. Netanyahu’s government is planning to drive Gazans from their homes into a corner of the strip to the south and permit them a fraction of the aid that they need.”
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