US medics volunteered in Gaza: Death toll is more than 92,000

Washington (Quds News Network)- Dozens of US doctors and nurses who volunteered in Gaza have written to US President Joe Biden, saying that the true death toll from Israel’s genocide war is much higher than previously reported and demanding the US withdraw diplomatic and military support for Israel.

According to a report published by The Guardian, in an eight-page letter, delivered on Thursday and addressed to Biden, the first lady, Jill Biden, and the vice-president, Kamala Harris, forty-five surgeons, emergency room physicians and nurses who volunteered in several Gaza hospitals over recent months said they saw evidence of widespread violations of laws governing the use of US weapons supplied to Israel, and of international humanitarian law.

The medics laid out what they described as the “massive human toll from Israel’s attack on Gaza, especially the toll it has taken on women and children”.

“We cannot forget the scenes of unbearable cruelty directed at women and children that we witnessed ourselves,” they wrote.

“Every single signatory to this letter treated children in Gaza who suffered violence that must have been deliberately directed at them. Specifically, every one of us on a daily basis treated pre-teen children who were shot in the head.”

The medics, who volunteered with the World Health Organization and other relief groups, said that the real death toll is much higher than the toll presented by the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

“It is likely that the death toll from this conflict is already greater than 92,000, an astonishing 4.2% of Gaza’s population,” they wrote.

The medics added almost no one in Gaza has escaped the consequences of the Israeli attack.
“With only marginal exceptions, everyone in Gaza is sick, injured or both. This includes every national aid worker, every international volunteer and probably every Israeli hostage: every man, woman and child,” they said.

The letter also warned that “epidemics are raging in Gaza” and described Israel’s repeated displacement of a malnourished and sick civilian population to areas without running water and toilets as “absolutely shocking”.

The medics said that the “catastrophe” in Gaza requires the US to withdraw material support for Israel.

“President Biden and Vice-President Harris, any solution to this problem must begin with an immediate and permanent ceasefire. We urge you to withhold military, economic and diplomatic support from the state of Israel and to participate in an international arms embargo of both Israel and all Palestinian armed groups until a permanent ceasefire is established, and until good faith negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians lead to a permanent resolution of the conflict,” the medics wrote.

The letter added that “Israel has directly targeted and deliberately devastated Gaza’s entire healthcare system”.

The medics described their Palestinian colleagues as “among the most traumatized people in Gaza, and perhaps in the entire world” who kept working despite losing family members and their homes. Many were malnourished while working grueling hours without pay.