Surgeon Nick Maynard to speak in Derry about his experiences in Gaza

A surgeon who said he witnessed things in Gaza he would never have expected to see in the civilised world will be speaking in Derry as part of Féile 2025.

Professor Nick Maynard will be in Cultúrlann Uí Chanáin on Tuesday, August 5, at 7.00pm, as part of Trócaire’s ‘Gaza Hospitals - An Eyewitness Account’ event.

Speaking to Professor Maynard following his return from Gaza on May 6, 2024, he told me he had “witnessed appalling atrocities in Gaza - war crimes, the deliberate attacking of hospitals and healthcare workers” and felt an “overriding duty to tell everyone” what was going on.

A leading consultant in Oxford University Hospital in England, Prof Maynard works in Gaza with Trócaire’s partner organisation, Medical Aid for Palestinians. He has volunteered there since 2010.

Professor Nick Maynard.

Recalling the horrific scenes he had witnessed working in Al-Aqsa Hospital during Israeli bombardment, he said: “It’s awful. I have seen things I would never, ever have expected to see in a healthcare setting, things I would never have expected to see in the civilised world.

“I have witnessed appalling atrocities in Gaza, the war crimes, the deliberate attacking of hospitals and healthcare workers and I feel an overriding duty to tell everyone what is going on.

'It seemed to us like this was a game of target practice'

Surgeon @maynard_nick describes to @SkyYaldaHakim the injuries of patients who were shot while seeking food at GHF aid distribution sites in Gaza

More ➡️ https://t.co/uVBezxbcBs

https://t.co/uX9kb5xf8l pic.twitter.com/hNZt8MP5M0

— Sky News (@SkyNews) July 24, 2025

“I don’t think the true reality is being broadcast by the media. There is a lot of stuff on social media, but I don’t think the media is representing what is going on.

“I think there is a lot of bias in the media, and I think our governments are abdicating responsibility for trying to hold Israel to account.

“I know they have been told because I have met members of the Government. I have shown them photographs of literally burnt children, children without their limbs, but I think they are not willing, for whatever reason, to confront the reality of what’s going on in Gaza.”

IN PICTURES: 'Defend the Right to Protest' rally held in Derry's Guildhall Square

Photos: Deirdre Heaney (nwpresspics)

Biking community raises vital funds for Air Ambulance NI at North West 200

Volunteers collected £12,343.79 during the race week

Al-Aqsa Hospital normally caters for 160 patients but, according to Professor Maynard, it constantly has had more than 800 patients, with thousands living in its grounds.

“It is overwhelmingly crowded, far more patients than it can cope with,” said Professor Maynard, “so, whenever there is an influx of trauma patients from a bombing, which happens all the time, you get dozens of people coming in and it completely saturates the system, it overwhelms the whole capacity of the hospital.

“The injuries coming in are awful. Many of them are little children and women. Far more than 50% of the injuries I saw were to women and children. More than 50% of the population of Gaza is children because the average age there is 17.

“The narrative coming out of Israel is that it is specifically targeting Hamas militants. I don’t think there is a grain of truth in that. We are seeing so many women and children because they are the majority of the population, which simply illustrates the indiscriminate killing of whole civilian populations.

“Maybe Israel has the intention of killing some Hamas militants, but it is indiscriminately bombing these huge refugee camps and constantly the majority of the victims coming in are children and women,” said Professor Maynard, who saw predominantly bomb blast injuries, gunshot wounds, traumatic amputations, along with severe malnutrition.

The surgeon said the situation was also distressing because frequently there was no pain relief to administer.

In one harrowing incident he recalled how a girl of about eight years-old died in agony from burns.

“She came in with the most awful burns, which she was never going to survive. She wouldn’t have survived in England, Ireland or the US.

“We knew she was going to die, and we knew she would take several hours to die, but we had no pain relief to give her, so she died in agony.

“There was no privacy. She was literally lying on the floor, in the corner of the waiting area of the emergency room.”

Despite the challenging environment Professor Maynard said was hoping to go back to Gaza.

Tickets for ‘Trócaire: Gaza Hospitals - An Eyewitness Account’ are free and can be reserved at: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/
trocaire-gaza-hospitals-an-eyewitness-account-tickets-1477243558249?aff=oddtdtcreator.