Gaza surgeon: 'Morgues are flooded with dead bodies, outbreak of disease poses additional threats'

Dr Mohammed Obeid, a Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) surgeon in Gaza, says that morgues in Gaza are now "flooded with dead bodies", and that without proper burials and retreaving bodies from the rubble, "outbreaks of disease would pose an additional threat".

MSF has renewed their calls today for an immediate ceasefire, in a statement which states that "helpless people are being subjected to horrific bombing. Families have nowhere to run or to hide, as hell is unleashed on them. We need a ceasefire now".

The statement said that hospitals such as Shifa in Gaza City, where MSF Palestinian colleagues continued to work, were overwhelmed with patients and that Israeli military orders to evacuate the hospital were impossible and dangerous.

"We are ready to increase our aid capacity in Gaza. We have teams on standby ready to send medical supplies and to enter Gaza to support the emergency medical response, as soon as the situation allows it," said Dr Christos Christou, MSF international president.

"But as long as the bombing continues with the current intensity, any effort to increase medical aid will inevitably fall short."