- Lebanon state media says Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Miami on track for MLS record points after win in Toronto
- Madrid beat Villarreal but Carvajal suffers knee injury
- Madrid beat Villarreal to move level with Liga leaders Barcelona
- Monaco take top spot in Ligue 1 with win at Rennes
- French rugby player on rape charge whistled but 'serene' on return
- Madrid beat Villarreal to level Liga leaders Barca
- Thuram treble fires Inter past Torino and up to second
- 'Fight': defiant Trump jets in to site of rally shooting
- Toddler among 3 dead in migrant Channel crossings
- Mexico City's new mayor sworn in with pledges on water, housing
- Israel on alert ahead of Hamas attack anniversary
- Guardians maul Tigers in MLB playoff series opener
- Macron criticises Israel on Gaza, Lebanon operations
- French rugby player whistled but 'serene' on return amid ongoing rape case
- Kovacic stars as Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- Retegui hat-trick fires five-star Atalanta to hammering of Genoa
- Heavyweights Australia, England off to World Cup winning starts
- Visiting UN refugee agency chief decries 'terrible crisis' in Lebanon
- Spinners come to party as England defeat Bangladesh at T20 World Cup
- Search continues for missing in deadly Bosnia floods
- Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- France's Auradou whistled on Pau return in Perpignan loss amid ongoing rape case
- A 'forgotten' valley in storm-hit North Carolina, desperate for help
- Arsenal hit back in style after Southampton scare
- Thousands march for Palestinians ahead of Oct 7 anniversary
- Hezbollah heir apparent Safieddine out of contact after strikes
- Liverpool stay top of Premier League as Arsenal, Man City win
- In dank Tour of Emilia, Pogacar shines in rainbow jersey
- DR Congo launches mpox vaccination drive, hoping to curb outbreak
- Trump returns to site of failed assassination
- Careless Leverkusen held to Bundesliga draw
- O'Brien's 'superstar' Kyprios posts landmark win on Arc weekend
- Toddler crushed to death in migrant Channel crossing
- Liverpool suffer Alisson injury blow
- Habosi helps Racing beat Vannes before Auradou's playing return
- Thousands march in London in support of Palestinians, 1 year after Oct 7
- Israel readying response to Iran missile attack
- Schutt, Mooney help Australia beat Sri Lanka in Women's T20 World Cup
- Liverpool extend Premier League lead with win at Palace
- Djokovic 'shakes rust off' to make third round of Shanghai Masters
- 'Imperfect' PSG fighting on all fronts - Luis Enrique
- Struggling Pakistan look to thwart adaptable England
- Child 'trampled to death' in asylum seekers' Channel crossing: minister
- Gauff fights back to set up Beijing final against Muchova
- Guardiola claims Premier League won't delay season for Man City
- Israel to mark October 7 attack as Gaza war spreads
- Gauff fights back to reach China Open final
- Recovering Stokes ruled out of first Pakistan Test
- Hezbollah battles troops on border as Israel pounds Lebanon
US health workers sound alarm on Gaza medical crisis
Patients in Gaza's few standing hospitals are dying in droves from infections resulting from a lack of protective gear and soap, even when they survive their horrific blast injuries.
And health workers are facing agonizing decisions, like giving up on a seven-year-old boy with extensive burns because bandages are in short supply and he'd have probably died anyway.
These are just some of the horrors witnessed by American doctors and nurses returning from the besieged Palestinian territory, who are now on a mission to spread the word about what they saw and apply pressure on Israel to allow in more life-saving supplies.
"Whether or not a ceasefire happens, we have to get humanitarian aid. And we have to get it in sufficient volumes to meet the demands," Adam Hamawy, a former US army combat surgeon, tells AFP in an interview after a medical mission to Gaza's European Hospital last month.
"You could give all you want, you can donate," says the reconstructive plastic surgeon from New Jersey. "But if these borders don't open up to allow that aid to get in, then it's just useless."
Hamawy has volunteered in war torn and natural disaster-hit countries for the past 30 years, from the siege of Sarajevo to the Haiti earthquake.
"But the level of civilian casualties that I experienced was beyond anything I'd seen before," says the 54-year-old, who helped save the life of Senator Tammy Duckworth when she lost both of her legs to a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) attack on the helicopter she was flying in Iraq.
"Most of our patients were children under the age of 14," he stressed. "This has nothing to do with your political views."
- Rampant infections -
Hamawy and other medics told AFP they are convinced that for now their energy is better spent lobbying the halls of power to stop the war and require Israel to comply with international law by letting in more aid.
Israel denies allegations of international law violations during its invasion, launched in response to Hamas' attacks and hostage-taking on October 7.
On a hot June afternoon in the capital Washington, Monica Johnston, a 44-year-old ICU nurse from Portland, Oregon said she conveyed specific lists of what was needed in meetings she had held with White House officials and lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
Unlike Hamawy, her journey to Gaza was her very first medical mission.
"I don't watch the news, I don't take part in anything political," she said. But last fall, she received an email from the American Burn Association with an urgent call for help. "Anytime I hear the word 'help,' my ears perk up, my heart starts pumping, and I feel I need to do that."
A 19-member team organized by the Palestinian American Medical Association set off with packed suitcases, bidding farewell to their families.
On the ground, they faced daunting challenges: not enough health workers, as well as a severe scarcity of vital medicines and even basic hygiene supplies, which led to the rampant spread of infections.
Johnston's voice cracks with emotion as she recalls the decision to stop treating a seven-year-old boy's extensive burns, prioritizing resources for patients with a better chance of survival.
"Two days later, he started developing maggots in his wounds, and then the feeling of responsibility that I caused this," she says. He was buried in his bandages because his body was totally infested.
- Families wiped out -
Whole families often arrived together, explained Ammar Ghanem, a 54-year-old ICU doctor from Michigan. This stemmed from the common practice of extended relatives living in multistory buildings, making them more vulnerable to bombings.
A case in point was a cheerful 12-year-old boy who used to volunteer at the hospital, a source of inspiration for the medics. But for several days, he stopped coming.
When he finally returned, Ghanem learned tragic news: thirty members of the boy's extended family had been killed in a single bombing, and he himself had to help pull their bodies from the rubble.
Initially the team felt relatively safe, but that changed abruptly after the Rafah crossing was closed. This triggered deep anxiety in their Palestinian colleagues, who expressed a sense of deja vu from Israel's past incursion into northern Gaza and the multiple evacuations they'd been through.
Though they were penciled in for a two-week mission, they were left stranded for days until an intervention from the US embassy -- a harrowing time for their partners and children back home.
Now home, they grapple with survivor's guilt, thinking of patients and colleagues left back in Gaza. They also feel grateful for small things, from clean surgical gloves to filling meals.
"What makes me feel better is feeling that I'm making a difference by relaying this message and telling people what I witnessed -- I think that's as important as what we did over there," says Hamawy.
D.Sawyer--AMWN