Similar volunteering initiatives have been launched in other parts of the world, including Pakistan and Turkiye.
Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) has issued a call for local and global volunteers in preparation for a crucial medical response in the Gaza Strip, drawing up 700 volunteers within 48 of the campaign’s launch.
Titled ‘The Lifeline of Dignity and Life – Gaza’, the initiative was launched on Friday for medical teams inside and outside of Qatar for a potential deployment of experts to Gaza, where thousands are in urgent need of treatment.
“In a humanitarian initiative as an expression of solidarity and medical care, the Qatar Red Crescent invites medical personnel from within the State of Qatar and from around the world to join the medical teams, in various specialties,” QRCS said in a statement to Doha News on Tuesday.
The specialities listed include orthopaedics, general surgery, vascular surgery, neurosurgery, plastic surgery, paediatric surgery, thoracic surgery, and nursing. Those who are eligible can volunteer by filling an online form shared by QRCS on its social media platforms.
The volunteers will “perform complex surgeries that require expertise and advanced medical equipment”, QRCS explained. The doctors will also be expected to provide their counterparts in Palestine with training.
“It should be noted that medical personnel in the Gaza Strip suffer from severe fatigue as a result of working for more than a month in war conditions and targeting the health infrastructure. This is in addition to the shortage of medicines and medical supplies,” QRCS noted.
Within 48 hours of its launch, the initiative has garnered interest from more than 700 medical personnel inside and outside of Qatar in numerous specialties.
The QRCS initiative comes at a crucial time in Gaza as it continues to face non-stop Israeli bombardment for one month. Since the start of the war on October 7, the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) have killed more than 10,000 Palestinians, including 4,104 children—who represent 40% of the total toll.
Similar volunteering initiatives have been launched in other parts of the world, including Pakistan and Turkiye.
Last month, hundreds of Pakistani doctors volunteered to provide medical assistance in Gaza in the event that the borders open up for foreigners. A number of Pakistani NGO’s said that they have been in touch with those in Turkiye and Gaza in order to support medics on the ground, Anadolu Agency reported on October 18.
Meanwhile on November 2, Turkiye announced its readiness to take in cancer patients from Gaza’s Turkish-Palestinian Friendship hospital, the only cancer treatment facility in the Strip. The hospital was forced to shut down due to relentless Israeli bombardment and the complete absence of fuel.
Race against time
The indiscriminate bombing has flattened most structures in Gaza, with the IOF mainly targeting hospitals, residential buildings, schools, and bakeries.
Israel has dropped more than 25,000 tonnes of explosives on Gaza since the start of the war, making it the equivalent to two nuclear bombs, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said on Thursday.
More than one-third of hospitals in Gaza have already shut down either due to damage or lack of fuel, and the remaining 10 hospitals in the north of the Strip continue to face threats of bombing by Israel.
Hospitals in Gaza receive an average of one wounded person every minute and 15 bodies every hour, the Gaza Media Office said.
However, the absence of essential medical supplies, water and electricity have made it almost impossible to tend to injuries, with doctors working round the clock to save as many lives as possible.
Health facilities, including the vital Al Shifa Hospital, have been receiving almost daily bombing threats by the IOF over unverified claims that Hamas fighters use tunnels beneath the structures.
Last week, a group of 100 Israeli doctors shocked the world after calling for the bombing of Al Shifa, the largest hospital in Gaza, as per a report by Israeli news site HaMedash reported.
“Bomb the terror nests and Hamas headquarters in the hospitals in Gaza. A place that is a home for terrorism is not a hospital protected from war,” the doctors’ said in a joint statement.
They added: “Those who confuse hospitals and terrorism must understand that hospitals are not a safe place for them – terrorism must be eliminated everywhere and in any way.”
On Sunday, the IOF hinted at further attacks targeting hospitals in Gaza over the same allegations.
In a press conference at the time, the IOF’s Spokesperson Daniel Hagari pulled up footage and images of a number of hospitals in the besieged Gaza Strip which he claimed were being used as bases for Hamas operations, including the Qatar-funded Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa bin Thani Hospital.
Responding to the allegations on Monday, Chairman of the Qatari Committee for the Reconstruction of Gaza Mohammed Al Emadi said Israel made the claims without providing “concrete evidence or an independent investigation”.
A separate investigation by Eekad found that the tunnels Hagari was referring to are tank openings that are already exposed and included in the facility’s floor plan.
The Arab watchdog’s findings echo other investigations, including a probe by Boycott4Pal, a Palestinian entity that monitors and debunks Israel’s media propaganda.
The Palestinian watchdog also contacted the contractors who built the Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa bin Thani Hospital, who clarified that the so-called tunnels are in fact water tanks.
Authorities in Gaza have also refuted Israeli allegations and invited investigators to inspect the hospitals.
“The occupation adopted falsification and broadcast fabricated images to promote its claims about Gaza’s hospitals,” Gaza’s media office chief Salama Maarouf said. “We refute the occupation’s claims regarding Gaza’s hospitals, which provide only medical services.”
Khalil Al-Hayya, a member of the Hamas political bureau, called on international bodies to inspect the facilities.
“The occupation is promoting its lies in order to pave the way for a major massacre,” Al-Hayya told Al Jazeera.
