British surgeon Graeme Groom, who returned from a volunteer mission in the Gaza Strip, which is being subjected to Israeli genocide and starvation, said that children there are “trying to sleep with stomachs full of water and salt,” amid a “man-made” humanitarian crisis he described as “barbaric, dating back to the Middle Ages.”
Groom referred to “shocking scenes he witnessed while working with a volunteer medical team” in Gaza, where Palestinians are suffering from famine and malnutrition, which have caused the deaths of dozens of infants and the deterioration of the condition of wounded civilians.
He explained that the increasing hunger directly affects the wounded, hindering their recovery, increasing infection rates, and doubling the risk of death.
He stated that hunger is not limited to patients, but also extends to medical personnel, noting that “what is happening in Gaza is not a natural famine, but rather a man-made one.”
Grom noted that the famine has also affected health workers, citing his colleague, Palestinian anesthesiologist Nizar Abu Daqqa, who told him that his family had run out of food.
He added, “His six children, aged between two and a half and 13, filled their stomachs with water and licked a little salt to help them sleep.”
