'The only people I've ever seen in Gaza with weapons are the IDF,' says British surgeon

A British surgeon has told Sky News she has never treated or seen anyone in a Gaza hospital in military uniform - and the only people she has seen with weapons are the IDF.

Dr Victoria Rose, a NHS plastic surgeon who has experience working in Gaza, said conditions there are now the worst they've ever been.

"There's been a real escalation in the bombing campaign," she told Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips.

"The population is on their knees."

Hospitals in Gaza have frequently come under Israeli military (IDF) fire - and sometimes find themselves besieged - in the ongoing war following Hamas's October 2023 attacks on Israel.

Medical facilities are usually protected during conflicts under international law, but Israel has repeatedly claimed that Hamas uses them for command centres.

Asked about Israel's allegations, Dr Rose said: "I've never treated or seen anyone - in any of the hospitals that I've worked in - in military uniform or with a weapon.

"The only people I've ever seen in Gaza with military uniforms and weapons are the IDF."

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Dr Rose told Sky News about the impact of the war on hospital staff: "Lots of my Palestinian colleagues were telling me that they would rather die than carry on with this war."

It comes as a controversial humanitarian organisation backed by Israel and the US said it did not distribute any food in Gaza on Saturday, accusing Hamas of making threats that "made it impossible" to operate. Hamas denied the claims.

The Israeli blockade on aid going into Gaza has severely affected the population, she said, leaving them malnourished and without the nutrients they need.

Speaking about her last visit to a hospital in the enclave, she said: "Infection rates were soaring... We were seeing a lot of avoidable deaths, a lot of small children dying from sepsis that would have been prevented if they'd been in in the Western world."

Despite a limited lifting of the blockade by Israel - the head of the UN called it a "teaspoon" - the aid situation in Gaza remains dire.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which is endorsed by Israel and the US, took over responsibility for distributing aid in Gaza, but has been criticised for lack of experience, organisation and faces allegations of assisting in ethnic cleansing by luring Palestinians to the south of the enclave if they want food.

The Hamas-run Gaza government media office said on Saturday the GHF operation has "utterly failed on all levels" and that Hamas was ready to help secure aid deliveries by a separate long-running UN-led humanitarian operation.

A Hamas source told Reuters the group's armed wing would deploy snipers on Sunday to prevent armed gangs looting food shipments.

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