British Surgeon Compares Gaza's Devastation to Hiroshima in Parliament Testimony
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – British surgeon Nizam Mamode, recounting his volunteer work in Gaza, described scenes of widespread destruction and hardship to a UK parliamentary committee, likening the landscape to post-atomic Hiroshima.
Nizam Mamode, a British professor of transplant surgery, fought back tears as he detailed his month-long experience volunteering at Nasser Hospital in Gaza.
He told the UK Parliament’s International Development Committee that upon entering Gaza, his convoy passed through “miles” of destroyed buildings, which he compared to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, with the terrain appearing barren and devoid of life.
“Buildings reduced to rubble for miles around as far as you can see, nothing growing, no people,” he said.
Further along, Mamode said he encountered an area where 1.3 million people lived in makeshift shelters of carpets and plastic sheets, lacking basic sanitation, electricity, and running water.
“Most people have moved six or seven times,” he said, describing the frequent displacements under severe conditions.
Mamode also recounted harrowing scenes of drone attacks, describing a constant “psychologically affecting” drone noise. He told the committee that drones, which frequently shot civilians, often targeted crowded areas. “The bullets that the drones fire are these small cuboids. And I fished a number of those out of the abdomen of small children,” he said.
Meanwhile, attacks continued across Gaza, with sources reporting three recent Israeli raids in the north, raising Tuesday’s Palestinian death toll to 64. According to reports, recent casualties occurred in Deir el-Balah, Beit Lahiya, Nuseirat refugee camp, Khan Younis, and al-Karama in Gaza City.
In a UN Security Council meeting, Joyce Msuya, a top UN humanitarian official, described Gaza as “a wasteland of rubble” with cut-off essential services, expressing urgent concern over humanitarian abuses.
“The daily cruelty we see in Gaza seems to have no limits,” Msuya told the council, noting that aid remains blocked in many areas. She called on UN member states to use diplomatic and economic measures to halt violations of international humanitarian law, urging the Security Council to act under the UN Charter.
According to OCHA, five “mass casualty” events occurred in northern Gaza from November 4 to 10, including deadly attacks in Beit Lahiya, Jabalia refugee camp, and Shati refugee camp, which collectively killed dozens of Palestinians, including children and entire families.
Israel’s genocide in Gaza has killed at least 43,665 Palestinians and injured 103,076 since October 7, according to local reports.