Video: Gaza surgeon gives testimony on Israeli drones targeting children
Prof. Mamode said quadcopters shot injured civilians, including children, after bombings
A British surgeon who volunteered at a hospital in Gaza has shared alarming details with MPs, stating that Israeli drones deliberately targeted injured children after bombings, according to a BBC News report.
Prof. Nizam Mamode, from Brockenhurst, Hampshire, worked at Nasser Hospital in Gaza for a month during August and September. In testimony before the UK’s International Development Committee, he described how children recounted being shot by drones while lying injured.
Prof. Mamode told MPs, “What I found particularly disturbing was that after a bomb would drop, the drones would come down to pick off civilians—children.”
He continued, recounting children’s testimony of being attacked by drones after the bombs exploded. “We operated on children who said: ‘I was lying on the ground after a bomb had dropped, and this quadcopter came down and hovered over me and shot me.’”
IDC Chair responds
His testimony was described by Labour MP Sarah Champion, chairing the committee, as “profound and deeply chilling.”
The 62-year-old, who previously led transplant surgery at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust in London, explained that the drones used small cuboid pellets, which he found lodged in the bodies of children.
It doesn’t matter who you are in Gaza. If you’re Palestinian, you’re a target.
These pellets caused more damage than regular bullets,” he said. “They would bounce around inside, causing multiple injuries," Nizam Mamode was quoted as saying in a BBC News report.
One case he recalled involved a 7-year-old boy who suffered severe damage to his liver, spleen, bowel, and arteries from a single shot. Despite extensive injuries, the child survived and was discharged a week later.
Following his testimony, Sarah Champion emphasised the need for the UK to seriously consider violations of international humanitarian law in Gaza, adding that the committee would act on Prof. Mamode’s testimony.