Inside a southern Gaza hospital: Screaming orphaned children, amputee toddlers and the stench of rotting flesh (Graphic)

[David__77]

A badly-burned toddler screaming for his mother he doesn’t know is dead, because doctors do not have enough painkillers to relieve his suffering. An eight-year boy whose brain is exposed as bombing damaged parts of his skull. A teenage girl, her eye surgically removed, because every bone in her face is smashed. A three-year double amputee, whose severed limbs are laid out in a pink box beside him.

And in the background, is the stench of rotting flesh as maggots “creep out of untreated wounds”.

This is the daily reality at the European Hospital inside the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, as described by veteran British war surgeon Tom Potokar, who works for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

While the United Nations warns that the humanitarian situation in Gaza is “apocalyptic,” the Israeli military has expanded a ferocious ground campaign from the north of the besieged territory into the south, where an estimated 1.9 million Palestinians have been displaced.

…

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/israel-gaza-palestinians-hospital-khan-younis-b2459507.html

[GuppyGal]

1. Israel should of just left Gaza alone and spent the next 20 years picking of Hamas one by one.

[David__77]

6. Actually, that's not the only alternative.

[yardwork]

2. It's absolutely horrible. I trust the Biden administration to do the best they can.

There seems to be a belief that the U.S. can stop this war as easily as turning off a water spigot. That is not possible, for many reasons.

I know that many people disagree with Israel's policies and, especially, how they've responded to the ongoing attacks by HAMAS since October. (Which, by the way, were pretty damn horrific in their deliberate rape and torture of specific individuals.)

If we allow anger at another country to undermine support for President Biden, and Trump is elected, we wont have the luxury of having these arguments.

[Goddessartist]

3. My Goddess, when is it enough?

And already have a poster somehow excusing this. Where is the humanity?

[Calculating]

5. When Hamas returns the hostages as agreed and surrenders

Until then the bombing will continue.

[Celerity]

46. that is very likely not happening, so this mantra that the same group keeps chanting is just hollow posturing

[Lonestarblue]

9. Those who believe that every Palestinian should be killed to kill the Hamas fighters have no humanity.

Those babies and children in hospitals did not support Hamas. Israel has alternatives. The only thing the bombing is doing is killing innocents. Given the crowded conditions in Gaza, made worse by the destruction of so many homes, indiscriminate bombing is nothing more than bloodlust.

If Israel wants to destroy Hamas, they could go after their money and their supply routes. They are choosing to kill as many Palestinians as possible because Netanyahu wants to eliminate every Palestinian from their indigenous lands.

[Goddessartist]

13. Exactly.

[claudette]

34. Exactly.

I don’t know how some people sleep at night

[Arazi]

4. There's a whole body of literature on treating the wounded in a war zone

None of this is unique to Gaza. Military doctors train for handling combat injuries at Cook County hospital in Chicago ffs. Ever been in *that* hospital?

Where’s the protest at the conditions there?!

There doesn’t seem to be any of the same “horror” articulated at the starving/amputations/rotting flesh etc in say, Yemen where we supplied Saudi Arabia with the weapons being used to (actually) try to wipe out an ethnic group happening today as we speak.

No mass protests against “Genocide Joe” for providing weapons to Saudi Arabia…

Just Israel getting this media…,

Saudi Arabia gets a pass?! A country that literally launched a massive terror attack on US soil gets a pass (and weapons which actually is a massive mistake that should be sparking protests)

This selective outrage appears orchestrated and entirely antisemitic 🤔

[Big Blue Marble]

7. No this outrage is due to the slaughter of the innocents by the thousands in a few short weeks.

There is no comparison to Yemen or even Ukraine.

When doctors at Cook County or in war zones are treating patients, they have adequate medical
supplies. Neither are in the middle of active fighting with most civilians starved and dehydrated
by the enemy. where people are trapped with no place to go. And by the way, how many
maggots are left to fester in untreated wounds or children suffer without pain relief at Cook County?

Some things just cannot be justified or rationalized..

[David__77]

8. Good points.

And, unfortunately, we may be fairly early into this thing, and ultimately more may die from disease than from bombs.

[Big Blue Marble]

25. I know what you are saying and fearing it with great trepidation.

Have you seen the Op-ed by Giora Eiland, former general and current advisor to the Israeli
government? He is considered a moderate:

“After all, severe epidemics in the southern Strip will bring victory closer and reduce fatalities among IDF soldiers,” he wrote this week in Yedioth Ahronoth. One only has to wait for the daughters of Hamas’ leaders to contract the plague, and we’ve won.

https://archive.ph/DmwAp

[David__77]

26. That is very... audacious. Really, I do prefer them to forthrightly state their objective rather than not.

[Arazi]

11. Hell no, you don't get to revise history

We literally watched on tv as large swaths of Ukraine (as one example) was overrun and people were literally left to rot in the streets in a matter of weeks while the rest starved. This is common in war zones. Gaza is not unique, not by a long shot. Ethiopia, Sudan, Yemen face medical supply issues, starvation, dehydration today…

And you’ve outed yourself as a privileged healthy person with access to medical care since you don’t realize folks at Cook County (or just about any hospital) are stabilized only and sent away - most without access to meds *especially pain meds*, or in some cases adequate treatment if they can’t pay

[Big Blue Marble]

20. Ask the doctors at Cook County Hospital

if they are forced to preform surgeries without general anesthesia when they have to amputate both
legs of a two year old. Or if their medical resources are so low that that there
are insufficient to treat wounds, maggots and rotting flesh.

I have lived in Chicago; I know Cook County Hospital. In fact, my
mother all most died there due to lack of care. But there was nothing like what
is happening in Gaza.

The US and Israel are not Saudi Arabia, Iran and third world countries.
We are suppose to hold ourselves to a higher civilized standard. Even in the US illegal
invasion of Iraq, no hospitals or schools were bombed. Our military went along way
to protect civilians far better than this nightmare.

You are wasting your time defending the indefensible.

[Arazi]

22. You are wasting your time similarly

Last edited Wed Dec 6, 2023, 05:29 PM - Edit history (1)

Trying to portray Gaza’s situation as unique (the battles in Fallujah or Mosul ring any bells? We have definitely participated in bombing hospitals and schools since ISIS similarly used them as command centers like Hamas)

The fact is what’s happening in Gaza is typical in war.

That shit is happening concurrently *today* in Sudan, Yemen, Syria etc.

The singular focus on this situation definitely smacks of antisemitism.

It’s a tragedy. I place the blame 100% on Hamas though, that started this and continues using civilians as human shields

[Big Blue Marble]

27. Your charge of anti-Semitism

in counter-factual as I am married to a Jewish person and have a Jewish name.
I have been part of a Jewish family for over 30 years.

You, on the other hand, seem quite willing to dehumanize Palestinians by minimizing
their extreme suffering,

[Behind the Aegis]

29. Who you are married to is irrelevant.

Anti-Semitism is simply bigotry against Jews, there is no caveat of "unless some of their best friends are Jews" or even if the speaker is Jewish.

"The Jews are behind and finance all wars" is anti-Semitic, and it doesn't matter who said it, even if it were uttered by a Jew.

[Arazi]

41. I want Hamas to come out from behind their human shields

And have their war with the IDF. Let them get slaughtered instead of this vicious horror HAMAS is perpetrating.

I’m not minimizing their suffering at all. Far from it. I want the Palestinians to have their own state but the only way that happens is if Hamas is destroyed. The faster the better - less civilians will die.

You on the other hand appear to be minimizing and dehumanizing the innocent Yemenis, Rohingya, Tigrayans, Darfuris who are suffering as much and in some cases worse (such as years of sexual slavery) TODAY.

You appear to only care about the Gaza situation … because Israel and the Jews are involved?

Quacks like a duck, walks like a duck, looks like a duck… (hint: saying you have Jewish - or black - friends is the world’s oldest dodge 🙄 )

[Big Blue Marble]

45. Being married to a Jew is not just having Jewish friends.

My Jewish spouse agrees with everything I am saying.

And how in the hell do you know what I care about or not.
You are walking a fine, fine line with your accusations. I suggest not getting
carried away.

[Goddessartist]

54. Yep.

[GuppyGal]

37. Thank you for your posts

[Celerity]

50. only when done by authoritarian, murderous nations, it is no longer done now by Western democracies :

The fact is what’s happening in Gaza is typical in war.

look at the nations you are dragging in for comparison in order to justify Israel's utter disproportionality of response:

That shit is happening concurrently *today* in Sudan, Yemen, Syria etc.

and this said by you:

The singular focus on this situation definitely smacks of antisemitism.

is not only false, but is an outrageous personal smear and attack of the the other poster

shameful

[muriel_volestrangler]

43. About twice as many civilians have already been killed in Gaza in 2 months as in 10 months in Ukraine

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualties_of_the_Russo-Ukrainian_War#Civilian_deaths

Of course, everyone on DU condemned Putin for that.

No, there's no comparison between Cook County and Gaza. That's ridiculous. Cook County has power, clean water, medical supplies ... while the World Heath Organization says Gaza is "catastrophic", and "reaching humanity's darkest hour": https://www.wionews.com/videos/who-gaza-reaching-humanitys-darkest-hour-666585

The World Health Organization has said 18 of Gaza 36 hospitals are still functioning in any capacity: three are providing basic first aid only, while the rest are delivering partial services. Twelve of the 18 are in the south.

There are 1,400 hospital beds still available in Gaza. The WHO says 5,000 are needed.

Richard Peeperkorn said that since the start of the war, there had been 120,000 acute respiratory infections; close to 26,000 people with scabies and lice; 86,000 cases of diarrhoea, including 44,000 among children aged under five, which he said was 20 to 30 times higher than could be expected.

Meanwhile some 1,150 cases of jaundice have been recorded, along with cases of chicken pox, skin rashes and meningitis.

https://www.rte.ie/news/post/104328079

[Arazi]

51. I'm not even trying for a direct comparison to Cook County

As Gaza… 🙄

My point is people are suffering in many places around the world but only Israel is singled out for attack.

Only the battle zone that involves Israel gets the protests, the kristalnacht-type action where Jewish businesses are getting defaced, Jewish students physically harassed on campus…

It’s a fucking war. That Hamas started. And that Hamas is waging exactly the way they’ve planned. Protests would be better aimed at the Qatari embassies instead of the White House shrieking “Genocide Joe”.

It’s a war and it always sucks for the innocents

[muriel_volestrangler]

53. So why did you "whataboutCookCounty"?

You appear to be rolling your eyes at your own comparison.

No, not only Israel is singled out "for attack". Russia is condemned. On DU, Saudi Arabia is condemned.

But an article quoting an eyewitness doctor "appears orchestrated" to you, and you call it "antisemitic".

Have some sense of proportion.

[Uncle Joe]

52. It is bad in Ukraine, at least 500 children have been killed since the Russian invasion

from February of 2022 to August 13th 2023, roughly a year and a half.



(snip)

At least 500 children have been killed and over 1,000 injured since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Ukraine’s Prosecutor-General’s Office reported on August 13. Officials stressed that the figures are incomplete because of the difficulty gathering data in areas occupied by Russian forces. Last month, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights reported that at least 9,396 civilians have been killed and 16,646 wounded. Russia continues to carry out air strikes attacking cities across Ukraine. To read the original story by RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service, click here.

(snip)

https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-war-children-dead-500/32545962.html#:~:text=At%20least%20500%20children%20have,Office%20reported%20on%20August%2013.



However I believe Gaza is up past 6000 children being killed in about two months.

[Butterflylady]

10. So military doctors train

For children?

[Arazi]

12. Yes, pediatrics are included

That said, Cook County is for combat type wounds - gunshots, knife wounds, explosives etc

Since there are kids who get caught in the crossfire (or who are in gangs and actively involved in gunfights), yes pediatrics are included

[Goddessartist]

15. Wow did you just call him antisemitic?

Be very careful with your accusations.

[The Magistrate]

14. This Is What War Is, Sir: It's Why Sensible People Avoid It

Only moral cretins court it, only persons of diabolic nature boast of 'a nation of martyrs' and view calling down this hell on their fellows as a means of vindicating their virtuous rejection of reality in favor of fantasies of vengeful purification, to be achieved by sadistic murder on some random morning, repeated as opportunity offers.

Not one bomb would be dropped in Gaza, not one person there be dead or maimed, save for the spree of sadistic murder Hamas indulged its killers in on October 7. A spree which, it is worth noting, was not met with a chorus of abhorrence in the Moslem world, but rather gleeful applause. The Western left really has not done much better.

[David__77]

16. "The Moslem world"

The phrase "the Moslem world," using an older spelling for "Muslim," may tend to homogenize a highly diverse group of people and cultures. The Muslim community is composed of individuals from vastly different ethnic, cultural, linguistic, and national backgrounds, each with their own unique practices and interpretations of Islam.

[The Magistrate]

17. Whatever....

Mine took four syllables, including the article. Yours took several dozens, expended in ludicrous pretense I am not aware of differences between Morocco and Indonesia, between Shia and Sunni, or the Sufi, and all the rest of it.

All to elide the point. Did crowds turning out to decry the sadistic murder spree Hamas indulged in appear in any capital of any majority Moslem country? You know the answer, we both do.

Face up to it.


"Don't try and teach Grandma to suck eggs."

[brush]

36. Moslem is an antiquated spelling long abandoned by most SINCE THE FIRST HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY...

That's how old it is. It was a western/European usage and is objectionable (near-r_ _ _ _t) now as a people are entitled to self-determination in how they are referred to.

Muslims have always defined themselves with their own preferred spelling, Muslim.

[The Magistrate]

42. Do I Strike You, Sir, As Someone Put Off By A Thing Being Antiquated?

Anyone who can't find weightier matters to be offended by is welcome to whatever queasy little thrill of outrage I have provided them. I do try to be kind. I tend to choose words for euphony and rhythm in a particular patch. This is, after all, something I do for my own amusement, so I will choose what vocabulary and rhetorical devices I prefer.


"The difference between the right word and the wrong one is the difference between lightning and a lightning-bug."

[brush]

44. It offends Muslims...and it so old it hasn't been in usage since the FIRST HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY.

But I guess that doesn't matter to you. It's kinda like using the N-word.

[The Magistrate]

47. Such An Instinct For The Capillary As You Display, Sir, Fascinates Me

But not enough to continue japing with you.


"I prefer the wicked to the foolish. The wicked sometimes rest."

[Goddessartist]

55. It doesn't surprise me

that he used that term.

[brush]

57. One learns more and more about people as these inhumane tragedies unfold. Often uncomplimentary things.

[Tickle]

18. Take your request to Hamas

Tell Hamas to return the hostages. Tell Hamas to stop hiding behind women and children and the hospitals.
Until then, se la vie.

[EX500rider]

21. Or perhaps "Se la mort"

[Behind the Aegis]

24. "C'est" not "se"

Sorry, couldn't help it. Je parle un peu français.

[Oopsie Daisy]

30. Say la vee!

[Behind the Aegis]

31. LOL!

Oo la la!

[claudette]

33. Except

Hamas isn’t causing this. Bombs are

[Oopsie Daisy]

19. Blame Hamas. But, this is what Hamas wanted (apparently).

This would not be happening if not for Hamas. What was their objective on the 7th? Surely they knew this would not end well for them. Therefore it's reasonable to assume that this is exactly what they wanted to happen.

[David__77]

23. I don't think the toddlers are Hamas members.

[Oopsie Daisy]

28. Who said that they were, David?

The suggestion that I (or anyone) has made such a claim is a strawman argument that misrepresent the original positions or statements. This type of fallacy appears to make it easier to criticize or dismiss those positions or statements. Strawman arguments are often used as a rhetorical tactic to undermine the credibility of an opponent's position by attacking a distorted version of it, instead of engaging with the original argument. Further, it frequently indicates that someone is arguing from a position of weakness.

[David__77]

35. I think it's notable, since they are being killed.

I understand that your statement was that one should blame Hamas.

[Oopsie Daisy]

39. And I understand that it's notable.

And it's a damn shame that Hamas didn't care about innocent civilians. Or that they think they can win by hiding among civilians, hospitals and schools. I think it's more likely that the Hamas terrorists care MORE for the propaganda opportunities it presents than anything else, I can think of no other objective. They could end this right now if they wanted to, but they don't want to. And so the war that they wanted will continue until the bitter end.

[GuppyGal]

38. Shall I link you all the videos again ? In case you need a refresher???

[CincyDem]

40. Agree and I would add "this is what Hamas wants today"

Every day, Hamas leadership has the ability to put a stop to this and they look out at the destruction and say " yeah - we're good with this". It's not that all this is because of a single day (10/7). That was a flashpoint but every day since these is another day Israel is reminded that Hamas lives each day to kill Jews.

[claudette]

32. 🥲

My heart hurts for these innocents. And the world sits by silently.

[Basic LA]

48. The rush to justify this massive cruelty is mind boggling.

And I admire your indefatigable efforts to push back.

[claudette]

49. Thanks

for that. There’s too much suffering in this world already. It just hurts to see ANYONE in pain

[Goddessartist]

56. Mine too

and so many here justifying this. It only reflects on their inhumanity and hatred.