Right, let's talk then about the Nasser
Hospital in Gaza. 20 people known to
have died there. Now, we can speak to
Dr. Victoria uh Rose who is a British
surgeon who was working in Nasser
Hospital until June this year. H good
afternoon to you.
>> Good afternoon.
>> It must be very difficult for you to
watch those pictures knowing that that
you were standing in in that hospital
until quite recently.
Yeah, it was very difficult and there
were some friends and colleagues that I
knew in some of the footage that we saw
over the weekend. So, it was it was very
hard to watch. Um, tell us what happens
in that hospital. How how you were there
until June.
How many patients were there? What kind
of people how was it able to operate?
And and and and did did people within
that hospital feel vulnerable or not?
I think NASA's felt vulnerable ever
since it went into the red zone at the
end at the middle of June, beginning of
June. It's the only functioning hospital
in the south of Gaza at the moment. The
only other hospital, the European Gaza
Hospital, was bombed on the 13th of May
and has now been taken out of action.
So, it serves the entire population of
the south of Gaza. There's very little
ability to connect to the best the the
next biggest hospital which is Alaxa
because the Saladin Road the main road
to that other hospital is also within
the red zone. So it's an active fighting
zone. So the people of the south really
can't get anywhere safely. NASA had a
bed capacity of 300 when it was built
and it offers all the specialist
surgical uh specialties.
Since the war started, its bed capacity
has just risen and risen and when we
were there in June, they were running at
over 500 patients. They've actually
built an extension
at the back of the hospital to create
more ward space and they've put a
marquee up next to the emergency
department so that they can split the
emergency department to deal with just
emergencies from warfare and then nonwar
related emergencies. It's the only
hospital that generates oxygen and all
of the field hospitals around it rely on
it for that. It's the only hospital with
a blood bank. And when the cold chain
supply was coming in, so before the
blockade to all aid to all medical aid,
it was the only hospital that could
undertake all investigations such as
blood tests, microbiology,
hytologology. So it's an essential part
of Gaza's healthc care.
Everything that happens that we report
that's happening from uh from Gaza, the
aftermath of course uh to the horrendous
October the 7th attacks is is is you
know it's it's it's so difficult to to
to talk about the the circumstances of
of each of these um attacks are
horrendous. this one particularly
because it was a so-called double tap
strike. Um there was uh a bomb attack
and then the same spot was struck again
um I think 15 minutes later or so.
Israel have said uh Benjamin Netanyahu,
the Israeli prime minister says that
Israel deeply regretted it. He described
it as a tragic mishap
um and that Israel does value the work
of journalists, medical staff and all
civilians. Um, do you have a response to
that?
>> Well, I think that the double tap is not
something that's new and we've certainly
seen it before. When we were in Gaza in
when our teams were in Gaza in January,
they were witnessed to several double
taps on ambulances that went to aid
civilians. And certainly when I was
there in August, I saw the same thing.
So it is a pattern that Israel have
definitely been utilizing. So I'm not
100% convinced that we can say it's a
mishap when it when there is a catalog
of these events happening before. I also
think you have to look at the number of
journalists that have now been targeted
and this isn't the first time that NASA
has been hit.
NASA was initially evacuated
in February of 2024
and then it's been hit repeatedly since
then. When we were in in May and June,
it was hit once before we arrived and
once while we were there and the the
attack on it before we arrived in the
May specifically took out the Burns unit
where a journalist was and the feeling
or the explanation from Israel was that
this journalist was Hamas, but actually
this journalist had reported on October
the 7th and that seemed to be the only
connection. that there was to her mass.
So I'm afraid I without
hard evidence I would find it very
difficult to believe that that was
completely an accident.
>> Dr. Victoria Rose, thank you for talking
uh to us. Uh Victoria Rose is a British
surgeon. uh she was working in that
hospital, Nasser Hospital, until June
this year when, as she said herself, um
the hospital uh went into the so-called
red zone.