Caring for casualties in Gaza: life at the Red Cross Field Hospital

A Red Cross nurse deployed to Gaza speaks about her time working at the Red Cross Field Hospital in Rafah.

CONTENT WARNING: Please be aware that the story below discusses conflict and its impact on civilians. This content may be upsetting to read.  

“He was covered in blood and cradling his three-year-old daughter in his arms,” says Carrie. 

“He passed her to us, and we started resuscitation, but she was already dead, hit by a bullet in the family tent while she was sleeping. The father’s screams touched everyone in the hospital that morning.” 

Carrie is describing the scene that confronted her early one morning at the Red Cross Field Hospital in Rafah, Gaza. As a trauma nurse, Carrie was deployed there with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in May 2025, having previously worked in Sierra Leone during the Ebola epidemic, and Iraq during the Battle of Mosul. 

“My motivation to help people has always been fuelled by the biggest need, not a particular country,” says Carrie, who specialises in surgical ICU and trauma, and holds an advanced master’s degree in disaster medicine. “People see it as extremely dangerous, but I also knew there were thousands of people in need of assistance.” 

Carrie, who is from Ireland, travelled to Gaza with four other delegates, including a surgical surge team. “It was a sea of tents everywhere,” recalls Carrie. “My initial impression on arriving in Gaza was probably the overwhelming level of desperation and hardship.”   

Life at the Red Cross Field Hospital in Rafah

The Red Cross Field Hospital opened in May 2024. It was implemented by the ICRC in coordination with the Palestine Red Crescent Society, with the support of National Societies around the world, including the British Red Cross. Originally opened as a temporary facility, it has remained in operation ever since because of the near-collapse of Gaza’s healthcare system and the overwhelming need for medical support in the area. 

The 120-bed hospital is equipped to perform life-saving surgeries and blood transfusions, as well provide emergency care to the injured. 

“The field hospital has been a year and a half in the making and it is very impressive given the circumstances,” says Carrie. “The Palestinian staff are kind, caring, dedicated, resourceful, and inspiring.”

This resourcefulness is a must in Gaza, where basic items are not always available. Staff at the hospital live with the constant worry of supplies running out.

“We burned through about a month’s worth of stock in the first week I was there,” Carrie remembers. “No one knows when the next pallets will make it through so staff are constantly coming up with Plan B and Plan C scenarios to treat people with the supplies they have left.”

Mass casualty events happened almost daily while Carrie was at the hospital in the early summer, with most people reporting they had been injured while seeking food assistance. “We saw adults and children with bullet wounds all telling us they had been queuing for food,” she recalls. “We had to treat over 200 cases most days, in chaotic conditions – gunshots, shrapnel wounds, burns and explosive injuries.”

“You learn to tune out the screams,” says Carrie. “When the numbers felt overwhelming and there were children among the injured, we would scoop them up and put them often three or four to a bed to avoid further injury or them being trampled.”

Life-saving care for men, women and children

Having worked in numerous conflict situations, in Syria, Iraq and Ukraine, Carrie was struck by a noticeable difference on this deployment – that most of the patients in the field hospital are civilians. 

In May 2025, the ICRC reported that 36 per cent of the hospital’s patients are children under the age of 18.

“There were exhausted men, women and children that had just been looking for food,” she says. “People were being shot as they desperately tried to get even the smallest scraps of food for their families.”

The youngest patients at the field hospital

Another source of joy during Carrie’s deployment to Gaza was seeing patients who had survived surgery and stabilisation. Sadly, this happiness was tempered by her worries about their chances of long-term survival on the outside. 

“In the hospital, all patients get some rice and desalinated water, so at least they have something to eat once a day,” she says. “Once they are discharged, they are faced with difficulty accessing food. Everyone in Rafah has lost weight and body mass - many come in fainting with low blood sugars as they stand in the 35-degree heat, waiting for food that they never get.” 

Carrie’s fears extended to the babies born during her time in Gaza. “Even in times of crisis, babies are still born, bringing hope,” she says. “Unfortunately, the reality is that mothers then have to take their newborns back to dirty tents where there is no formula, no nappies. It is hard to imagine what the future holds for these healthy new babies if there isn’t a ceasefire soon.” 

Hope for the future in Gaza

Carrie has now returned from Gaza but says she would be keen to go back should the hospital continue to run. “I really hope people see the life-saving importance of the field hospital in Rafah and continue to support the Red Cross and Red Crescent in any way they can to help keep it running for as long as it is needed,” she says. 

For now, Carrie keeps in touch with her colleagues in Gaza over WhatsApp. “It is so reassuring when I get a reply,” she says.  

“I was inspired by the level of hope there still is in Gaza,” she reflects. “People talking about their dreams being shattered just ‘for now’. Some dreams are big like traveling around the world or studying overseas, others are as simple as eating chicken and hummus again.” 

“There is an unwavering hope that a ceasefire will come and they can finally start living their lives again.” 

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