KLIK SAJA - A British nurse deployed to the Gaza Strip as part of the UK government's humanitarian response to the Israel-Gaza conflict has shared her heart-wrenching experience treating patients suffering from severe trauma.
Mandy Blackman, normally based at Kettering General Hospital in Northamptonshire, is currently serving as the lead nurse at a field hospital in al-Mawasi, operated by the UK-based charity UK-Med.
According to BBC, She explained that the hospital provides essential day-to-day services such as general practice, surgical operations, and maternity care, but also regularly handles high-pressure emergency situations.
"We deal with mass casualty incidents, where multiple patients arrive in a very short period of time. Recently, we received around 34 people at about 11:30 PM," she recounted.
"Many families are torn apart. We’ve had countless children brought to us whose parents or surviving relatives were transferred to other hospitals," Blackman added.
"We spent an entire week trying to reunite families. That moment—being able to bring loved ones back together—was incredibly rewarding after such horrific experiences."
This marks her third deployment to Gaza. She said she feels "fortunate" that her employer allows her to volunteer, especially in such a critical time of need.
Mandy has witnessed some of the world’s worst humanitarian tragedies—tragedies inflicted by human hands.
She described a grim reality where people die almost every single day due to the ongoing conflict.
"What breaks my heart is how the world sees these deaths as just numbers, with no real effort to stop them," she said.
“I have the opportunity to come here, and so I choose to come,” she explained.
"I don’t think anyone could remain unaffected by the cases we see. Back home, I deal with trauma too, but nothing comes close to the intensity and frequency of what I see here—it’s relentless."
In al-Mawasi, she also treats patients suffering from significant weight loss and malnutrition.
"Children here clearly show signs of malnutrition. We do everything we can to get them on targeted feeding programs,” she said.
