Gaza ER feels like hell on earth

AS explosions and gunshots rage outside, a British surgeon assesses the horrifically injured children at the Gaza hospital where he works.

- PATRICK HILL

As he looks at them lying on the floor with bullet and bomb wounds, Dr Mohammed Tahir says: "This kid is dying... this kid is probably going to die... this kid is dying as well... and this kid is probably gonna die, too." This heartbreaking moment provides a grim snapshot of the true horror of the Israel-Gaza war, in which hundreds of thousands of civilians have been killed or injured by Israeli forces.

It is shown in a new 90-minute film, The Mission, which follows the awardwinning ex-NHS doctor as he carries out his final four-month stint in Gaza.

Dr Tahir, 40, who was born in Wales and brought up in Queen's Park, West London, had already completed two previous spells working in Gaza, before leaving in January this year. In other disturbing footage, which was filmed by two medics, he is seen consoling a grieving man and crouching over the lifeless-looking body of a young girl.

While dealing with the aftermath of a bombing, he is seen checking a boy's pulse before telling staff: "He's gone." Now, in the offices of the film's director in Central London, Dr Tahir recalls the incident to The Mirror: "What's more tragic is the words that follow from one of the guys after me.

"He said, 'Oh, is he dead? OK... God have mercy on his soul', then he scoops him up and takes him to the morgue.

He was just waiting for confirmation, because it became so commonplace.

"This is a dead child that anywhere else in the world would have shaken the foundations of society. But a dead child in Gaza means nothing." Dr Tahir previously completed his training at London's King's College Hospital before working at The Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel.