![An injured Palestinian receives medical care after Israeli forces fired at Palestinians during the Great March of Return in the Gaza Strip on 5 November 2018 [Mohammed Asad/Middle East Monitor]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/2018_10-25-Gaza-demo-m4.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1)
Doctors working with international charity Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) have described their grim task of “replacing the centimetres of bones pulverised by Israeli bullets in the bodies of protesters” in the occupied Gaza Strip.
In an update published yesterday, MSF describes how “the limited resources available on site, however, make it impossible to provide a viable solution for many of [the wounded protesters]”.
According to MSF, “in protests held along the fence that separates Gaza from Israel since 30 March 2018, 6,174 people have been injured by live bullets fired by the Israeli army”, with “nearly 90 per cent of those were injured in the lower limbs”.
READ: 254 Palestinians killed, 23,000 injured in Gaza protests
MSF has “provided care for around half of the wounded after their initial treatment in local hospitals”, adding that the wounds observed “have been unusually severe”.
“In half the cases, patients have complex open fractures – where the bone is exposed to the air – and severe tissue and nerve damage in most of the rest,” MSF added.
MSF is still taking care of 900 people in Gaza with gunshot wounds, with 302 operations taking place in December.
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