Toheed Khan is writing for the Employment and Advocacy Project Back 2 Basics Campaign newsletter about his findings listening to doctors who recently returned from Gaza.

Earlier this month, I travelled down to Parliament to take part in the Labour Muslim Network’s Parliamentary briefing of the situation in Gaza with eyewitness testimonies from three doctors who spent time with MAP in the region.

The event was well attended with various MPs and parliamentary staff and stakeholders taking part and understanding what the situation was on the ground.

However it was very ironic considering in a committee room, there were around fifty of us listening to the findings of these three doctors from their time in Gaza but at the same time, for the whole week the only parliamentary debate regarding Gaza was the debate to proscribe Palestine Action.

There is clearly not enough debate or criticism of the famine and hunger crisis in Gaza.

A leading MP in the room said she ‘has no more words’ for what is happening in Gaza, a statement which I think resonates with us all. More UN workers have been killed in Gaza in the last 20 months than in the UN's 79 year history. These are not isolated incidents, they are clear breaches of international law and humanitarian law.

I heard from Dr Goher Rabour who presented his findings to the room, he works full time in the NHS in London and spent 1 month in Gaza for MAP. He was clearly distressed about the lack of antibiotics in Gaza and severe malnutrition that affects so many innocent kids and adults. He said the situation is so dire that patients have burst abdomens. He talked about patients looking thin and not getting many chances of survival.

He talked about his experience at Al Nasr hospital where there is no nutrition and severe malnutrition exists under WHO even till this day.

On the 1st June, a severe malnutrition crisis was declared in Gaza and Dr found it difficult to find food nutritional centres. It is clearly recorded that the IDF attacked children and adults looking for food - mass casualties, blood everywhere, bullets and shrapnel. This is the new norm in Gaza.

However the Gaza doctors carry on as normal, one young boy said to Dr Rahbour 'Can I die doctor' - life is as hard as it possibly could get in Gaza, life is horrendous. This is the harsh reality of what is happening in Gaza, there is clear evidence of a genocide being committed as supported by the rulings of the ICJ and WHO.

We also heard from a plastic surgeon from the NHS who also spoke about her experiences in Gaza, she has been attending Gaza since 2018. I won’t mention her name but she agreed there is a case for genocide in Gaza.

She made two visits in 2024 and one in 2025 June. In Gaza she treated and operated on more children in one month than she ever did in her 30 years in the NHS. The youngest child she operated on was 3 months old, she also treated a child with 35% burns. The IDF ordered an evacuation to the safe zone, and injured patients were given no hope. All four hospitals that are equipped in Gaza are now destroyed and captured by the IDF. Al Nasr hospital was evacuated and destroyed by the IDF in 2024, there is now no hospital in Gaza that has the ability to deal with any sort of issue, no blood banks, no CT scanner, no MRI scanners left.

In conclusion, the situation in Gaza bears the hallmarks of a genocide, as defined by international law, including the systematic targeting of a civilian population with mass casualties, forced displacement, and destruction of essential infrastructure.

Since October 2023, over 38,000 Palestinians have been killed—more than 70% of them women and children—according to United Nations and Gaza health authorities. More than 85% of Gaza’s population has been forcibly displaced, with entire neighbourhoods reduced to rubble and basic services like hospitals, water, and electricity decimated.

Independent UN experts and human rights organisations, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, have documented patterns of collective punishment, indiscriminate bombing, and starvation tactics. The scale, intent, and impact of these actions underscore a grave violation of international humanitarian law, and demand urgent international accountability and intervention.

• If this is an issue you feel strongly about look for a group with similar views and go to a meeting.

• Join a march: Look for actions — show up, be seen, be heard.

• Pressure your MP, you can find the name and email address of your MP by going here: https://members.parliament.uk/members/Commons

Reality on the Ground in Gaza

Economy of Genocide