“I’m not a politician. I’m a doctor,” Prof Nick Maynard begins. The 61-year-old consultant surgeon, who recently returned from a volunteering stint in Gaza, says his mission is to bring awareness to the targeting of medical professionals and facilities in the Palestinian territory. “These are not accidents. These are deliberate targeting.”
His words are firm, driven by years of witnessing the devastation first-hand while working with Trócaire’s partner organisation, Medical Aid for Palestinians.
Maynard – a surgeon at Oxford University Hospital – has been volunteering his life-saving skills in the region since 2010. His commitment to Gaza is deeply personal. “I’ve made lots of very, very close friends there. People I’d call family.”
Maynard’s personal connection to Ireland, through his wife Fionnuala from Kinsale in Co Cork, has also fuelled his advocacy. Nearing retirement, he spends considerable time in Ireland and uses his experiences to inform and mobilise public opinion. “I’ve been on many of the rallies,” he says.
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More than 38,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 77,000 wounded in the Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip since October 7th last year, according to the Gaza health ministry.
[ Number of Palestinians killed in Gaza may reach 186,000, three academics sayOpens in new window ]
Since last October, Maynard has made two trips to Gaza, once in December-January and again in April-May. “The people were going out, and I was very keen to go there because Gaza is such an important place to me. I have so many close friends there. So, it was an easy decision for me.” he says.
“The whole country’s been devastated, we could smell all the smoke in the air,” Maynard recalls. Upon arrival, he witnessed thousands of displaced people moving south, their lives turned upside down by the relentless bombardment. “Cars packed with their luggage, people walking, people in carts being pulled by donkeys.”
At Al-Aqsa Hospital, where Maynard worked during his visits, the situation was dire. “It’s a small hospital, normally catering for about 160, 170 patients. There were over 800 patients. The hospital was overwhelmed with casualties, many of them children and women suffering from severe burns and traumatic injuries. We saw a lot of children with arms or legs that had been blown off.”
The working conditions were appalling. “There were often no painkillers to give the children,” he says. Operating without adequate supplies, Maynard and his colleagues faced the agonising task of treating patients without basic necessities. “We ran out of surgical gloves. Everything we ran out of.”
When discussing the targeting of medical facilities, he notes: “There are no properly functioning hospitals left ... Many doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, paramedics, many of them have been killed.” He says he has also spoken to medical staff who had been tortured.
“The house that we’d been living in was directly bombed by the Israeli air force,” he says. His colleagues survived but the dangerous are constant.
“The local healthcare workers, the doctors and the nurses who were so heroic, they were doing it day and night for nine months. They’re living in tents; they’ve all been displaced from their homes. Many of them have had their close family killed, and yet they’re still working in the most appalling circumstances.”
Maynard used to work at Al-Shifa Hospital, which was mostly destroyed after a two-week assault by the Israel Defense Forces. It is claimed that more than 400 Palestinians died in the assault. Maynard “unequivocally” rejects Israeli claims that is was used by terrorists and says “I have never seen any evidence of Hamas there”.
The humanitarian crisis extends beyond immediate injuries. Malnutrition, exacerbated by the blockade, has led to severe health complications. “Malnutrition is much more than just losing weight. You need nutrition to recover from surgery,” Maynard explains.
He described the tragic deaths of young patients such as Tala (16) and Lama (28). “Both with severe abdominal injuries from bomb blasts. Both should have survived if they’d been well nourished. But because they were so malnourished, they got devastating complications and died. It’s heartbreaking.”
He calls for increased pressure on Israel to halt what he described as genocide and war crimes. “The western governments are failing the Gazans,” he says.
“Israel is continuing with this because they are being allowed to continue by western governments, particularly America, but also the UK and the Irish governments. The governments need to put pressure on Israel to stop these war crimes.”
However, Maynard praised the grassroots efforts of communities in Ireland. “I’m hugely impressed by what everyone in Ireland is doing at the ground level.” He encouraged continued awareness, protests and pressure on politicians to hold Israel accountable. “What people are doing at community level on the ground is very impressive. They need to do more and continue doing that.”
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