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Emily Hung

Hong Kong nurse Carman Kwok Yuk-lai said she was in shock when she first saw mass casualties at a Red Cross field hospital in Rafah, in the south of the war-torn Gaza Strip.
The palliative care nurse, in her 50s, said she had vivid memories of the panicked faces of victims etched with fear and despair, their bodies covered in blood and disfigured by severe burns.
Many had lost not only limbs, but also their families in the devastating air strikes.
Among the stunned survivors was a middle-aged man who struggled to cope with the loss of his wife and five children in an air attack.
He insisted on going back home to say goodbye to them before he underwent leg surgery for his injuries.
“My heart wrenched … but my colleagues told me not to be too sad about it because there is no complete family in the Gaza Strip,” Kwok said.
“There is nothing we could change about the war, but at least we were there with the people, bringing them some warmth and hope.”


Gaza was the first time the veteran nurse and humanitarian had served in a war zone, where she worked for three weeks in May and June.
Kwok was one of five Hong Kong healthcare volunteers deployed by the city’s Red Cross to Gaza after the outbreak of the conflict with Israel last October.
Some volunteers, despite the horrific conditions, said they hoped to return to support medical personnel and the civilian population to help foster hope in a time of despair.
Dr Au Yiu-kai, a 65-year-old surgeon who has been involved in more than 20 humanitarian missions since 2002, said would make his third trip to Gaza in August.
He was in the area for five weeks between last December and January.
“After I returned, I kept receiving messages from my friends in Rafah about them losing their families to air strikes … but they are still staying there,” Au, fighting back tears, said.
“I was very upset about it, I want to see them again and help them when I return, though I have no idea where they are after the Gaza European Hospital was evacuated in early July.”
Au said that the European Hospital in Rafah was the biggest and most comprehensive hospital in southern Gaza, but the field hospital where he would be working in August had less than 10 per cent of its capacity.
“The situation will be very challenging there … but knowing I will join them soon is a huge motivation for them,” Au added.
He said he would continue his humanitarian work – which he treated as a second career after he retired from work in city public hospitals – as long as he was able.

Wilbur Chan Chi-keung, a 65-year-old accident and emergency department nurse who returned from a 10-day mission to a field hospital in Rafah in June, also said he was prepared to go back because of the severe shortage of medical staff and supplies at the front line.
“It could be very hopeless at the front line when victims might not receive the treatment and medical supplies they needed due to limited resources,” he added.
“Such scenarios would not happen in Hong Kong. What we could do was try to minimise their discomfort as they passed away, but that was not always possible either.”
The Hong Kong Red Cross said the conflict in Gaza had cost the lives of more than 39,000 people and displaced 1.9 million since last October.
Dr Joyce Ching Tak-kwan, the head of international and relief services at the NGO, appealed to the public to continue to watch developments in Gaza and support the city’s humanitarian efforts in the region.
Ching emphasised that a variety of measures had been adopted to ensure the safety of volunteers at Gaza hospitals, including extensive security training and close communication with the authorities on their logistics and movement.


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Hong Kong medical volunteer veterans of Gaza say they will go back, despite war conditions

(From left) Hong Kong Red Cross volunteers in Gaza Wilbur Chan, an accident and emergency nurse; Carman Kwok; and Au Yiu-kai, a surgeon. Photo: Dickson Lee

Au Yiu-kai, a Hong Kong volunteer surgeon, talks about his experiences on the front line in the Gaza Strip conflict with Israel. Photo: Dickson Lee

Chinese University of Hong Kong aims to launch new medicine graduate programme

The CUHK campus. The university’s faculty of medicine says it started working on the plans to launch the new medicine graduate programme months ago. Photo: Eugene Lee

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology is also in talks with Imperial College London to set up the city’s third medical school. Photo: May Tse

Israel-Gaza war: Hong Kong doctor recalls horror but also inspiring scenes of working at Palestinian hospital

An injured Palestinian receives treatment at hospital following clashes in the city of Khan Yunis. Photo: dpa

A Palestinian woman shelters at hospital. Photo: Reuters

Au Yiu-kai says the biggest difficulty medical staff faced was the scarcity of resources. Photo: May Tse

A Palestinian woman reacts after her son was killed in an Israeli strike. Photo: Reuters

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng University abruptly cancels talk on Gaza humanitarian crisis, raising concerns over freedom of speech

Palestinian children in Rafah in the Gaza Strip. The talk, titled “Gaza Humanitarian Crisis – Save the Children of Gaza,” was to be held on Monday. Photo: AP

A university spokesman said the institution was informed of the cancellation on Monday, but did not elaborate on which parties were behind the decision. Photo: Shutterstock

Israel-Gaza war: Jewish, Muslim communities in Hong Kong hold separate prayer sessions, seek ways to help

Believers pray at Kowloon Mosque in Tsim Sha Tsui. Jewish and Muslim communities are finding ways to send aid to friends and family back home. Photo: Yik Yeung-man

Islamic leaders in Hong Kong have stressed the religion’s stance against killing. Photo: Yik Yeung-man

Palestinians flee from northern Gaza to the south after the Israeli army issued an unprecedented evacuation warning as it moves to retaliate against a brutal Hamas attack. Photo: AP

Rabbi Oser at the Ohel Leah synagogue, Hong Kong’s oldest Jewish house of worship, in the Mid-Levels. Israelis in Hong Kong are feeling anxious and worried about family members back home, he says. Photo: Edward Wong

The Ohel Leah synagogue in the Mid-Levels. One Israeli in Hong Kong has told the Post he is considering returning home to fight alongside his countrymen, and knew of others who have already done so. Photo: Nora Tam

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Red Cross volunteer nurse Carman Kwok says she was shocked by scale of death and injury in war-torn region


Red Cross volunteer nurse Carman Kwok says she was shocked at scale of death and injury in war-torn Gaza Strip.


Israel-Gaza war

Israel

War and conflict

Hong Kong medical volunteer veterans of Gaza say they will go back, despite war conditions

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}Red Cross volunteer nurse Carman Kwok says she was shocked by scale of death and injury in war-torn region

Red Cross volunteer nurse Carman Kwok says she was shocked by scale of death and injury in war-torn region