Gaza Doctors Describe the Trauma of Working in a Collapsed System

Medical professionals in the Gaza Strip are operating in a state of perpetual emergency, forced to perform amputations without anesthesia and treat family members amidst the wreckage of a dismantled health system. Dr. Audrey McMahon, a psychiatrist who recently returned from the region, notes that the trauma inflicted upon local staff is profound. Many have watched their own homes vanish and their colleagues perish, all while continuing to provide care in facilities that have been repeatedly struck by military fire.

The human cost of the conflict is reflected in the staggering loss of life among medical personnel, with more than 480 healthcare workers killed since the escalation of the war. MSF secretary-general Christopher Lockyear has stated that the territory’s medical infrastructure has been effectively erased, leaving no fully functional hospitals to serve the wounded. For those surviving on the front lines, the psychological toll is as debilitating as the physical danger. Amparo Villasmil, an MSF psychologist, describes a population living in a state of constant alert, where the fear of death is so pervasive that sleep has become an impossible luxury.