Medics struggle to treat Palestinian casualties in Gaza

After hundreds of missile strikes , the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimates that 77 percent of people killed in Gaza have been civilians. Speaking to The Independent on Sunday from Gaza City, where a mosque and centre for the disabled were hit yesterday, Audrey Landmann, the medical co-ordinator for Médecins sans Frontières, said doctors were "struggling" to reach patients.

"The health system in Gaza is very fragile. It was already fragile before the beginning of the war. With the increase in patients in the hospitals, the situation can very quickly become catastrophic," she said.

She described an influx of the most severe cases including explosive injuries as the biggest problem facing doctors in the region. At Al-Shifa hospital, she said, the majority of patients are surgical cases from such explosive injuries with "mainly brain injuries or everything related to bones, fractures, displaced fracture, open fractures".

"What we are really looking for is a way to continue to treat our patients," she said. "This is the main concern for us to have humanitarian access and to be able to treat our patients. Hopefully in the coming days, we will be able to secure enough access to be able to reach our patients without risking the lives of our team."