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Gaza: Account of a surgeon during March of the Return Protests

01 Apr 2019

MSF teams mobilised on 30 March to support the Gazan health authorities treat people injured in protests at the fence that separates the blockaded enclave from Israel. Michel Sauer, a French vascular surgeon, is currently in Gaza. 

Gaza City beach, Gaza. MSF works with other health providers in Gaza to treat thousands of people shot by the Israeli army during protests at the fence that separates Israel from the blockaded enclave. ©Simon Rolin

“On 30 March we were in Nasser hospital. In the ward where I was we received three young people shot in the abdomen, and two shot in the head. I assisted local surgeons in two operations," explained Dr Michel Sauer. 

"The first was really a bad case, the bullet had torn a hole in both the main artery and the main vein in the chest. Arteries are not so difficult to repair because they are quite thick, but veins are much thinner and much more fragile. It is very easy to do more damage when trying to sew them up. In the end we succeeded, but the patient had lost all his blood – he required a complete transfusion. 

"The second case was a young boy. We had to remove one of his kidneys. To try and rescue the kidney would have meant him bleeding to death.” 

 

"The second case was a young boy. We had to remove one of his kidneys. To try and rescue the kidney would have meant him bleeding to death.”

Michel Sauer, MSF vascular surgeon

Mohammed Abu Jasser, a nurse from Gaza, was assisting Michel. He also worked during the worst days of the protests last year, when hundreds of people were shot in just a few short hours.

“I was nervous about what would happen. We thought it would be like last year, but we were ready. In the end, compared to last year it was not as bloody as we feared.”

Gaza: MSF's treatment of patients injured in Great March of the Return protests infographic