An American doctor working at a hospital in Gaza has pleaded with Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy to come and see the reality of what is happening on the ground.
Doctor Tom Adamkiewicz, a paediatrician working at Nasser Hospital in Gaza, told Sky News the majority of the hospital’s patients have signs of malnutrition and “many children are passing out literally during the day and injuring themselves”.
He said it was “particularly difficult” to see children with chronic illnesses “suffering from extreme severe malnutrition, because there’s a combination of the chronic illness and malnutrition”.
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Dr Adamkiewicz said his colleagues “have not eaten for a day” and are “gaunt”, but added: “Yet they’re incredibly resilient and doing amazing work.”
He said the prices in Gaza were “absolutely crazy” and 1kg of meat or sugar “costs the equivalent of $100 (£75).
“So if people are saying there’s plenty supply of food, that does not explain these absolutely crazy prices that people have to endure, and most people can’t afford this,” he said.
“So this is an absolutely inhumane situation.”
Mr Adamkiewicz also spoke of what he had seen in the emergency room, with boys between the ages of 11 and 13 having “massive bullet wounds”.
Asked for his response to Donald Trump being told there is no famine in Gaza, Dr Adamkiewicz said: “This is an absolute lie.
“This is absolutely not true, because I’ve seen that with my own eyes.”
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He appeared emotional as he said of the US president’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, who arrived in Israel on Thursday: “I would like to have Mr Witkoff come here and talk to me, to my face, and I’ll show him.
“Mr Witkoff, just come here right now.”
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Israel’s war against Hamas and blockade of Gaza has led to the “worst-case scenario of famine” in the enclave of around two million Palestinians, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), the leading world authority on hunger crises.
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Mr Witkoff has led Washington’s efforts to bring an end to the nearly 22-month war between Israel and Hamas. He will arrive in Israel on Thursday for talks on the situation in Gaza.
