First UK-funded field hospital opens in Gaza

The facility is based near Rafah, where 1. 5 million Palestinians are crammed in, having fled other parts of Gaza. It has been set up by the aid organisation UK-Med, which deploys many NHS staff to international emergencies. It will eventually cover the size of two football fields, but getting started hasn’t been easy.

UK-Med is already running mobile clinics that go out into the community in Gaza. The team are already seeing about 100 outpatients a day at the field hospital and expect to double that soon. They have definitely seen cases of acute malnutrition in very young children, David said. A surgical team from the aid group has been working in the chaos of the Al Aqsa hospital.

The wards and corridors are teeming with patients, and with families seeking shelter. A 12-year-old boy called Anas was on his way to surgery with a broken leg and wounds to his face. The UK-Med team understand the danger, said Mark Shaw, from West Yorkshire. The worst injuries we are seeing are the amputations, and blast injures, especially in young children.

Back in Al Mawasi, more trucks have arrived, and another hangar has been erected.