Dr. Deird. Nunan, who has recently returned from an order in Gaza, calls for an orthopedic surgeon from Saskatchewan, Dr. Deirdre Nunan, when asked about a stronger measures.
“We saw how the Canadian government suggests recognizing the state of Palestine, but this is not a practical step,” said Nunan.
The Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney confirms the intention to recognize the state of Palestine in the UN general assembly later this month, and Nunan said her message to Ottawa was clear: recognition alone will not save a life.
It calls on a meaningful resumption of the auxiliary current flow in Gaza and Canada to implement a two-way weapon embargo.
Canada announced a weapon embargo, but a parliamentary report marked gaps. Nunan now demands that these gaps are closed.
“It is completely horrific and every time I went, I thought we had reached the bottom … I didn’t think things would get worse. They became worse … For so many lives that were lost, for so many people who were injured during this time,” said Nunan.
Sana Bég, Executive Director of Doctors Without Borders Canada, describes the situation “clearly a genocide” and claims that the destruction of the water infrastructure and the blockade by Israel has driven civil suffering.
Nunan has taken a photo of a desalination system in southern Gaza, the functions of which were affected by a lack of fuel. She said she saw how children begged around water in the hallways of the hospital.
Deirdre Nunan says she took this picture of the southern desalination facility of the southern Gaza Strip on July 3, 2025.
With kind permission: Nunan Delreead
“At a time when children begging for water, it must be clear that there is a lack of water to the highest size,” said Nunan.
Bég warns that not a single hospital in Gaza is now fully functional. She said that only 18 of 36 still show operations. She said Canada had to act according to his international humanitarian legal obligations.
“Stop the genocide in the Gaza, stop ethnic cleansing and the forced shift. We are calling for an immediate and persistent ceasefire. Lift the siege. Canada has to play its role and show real leadership qualities for humanitarian international law and the same claims,”
Israel emphasizes Palestinian state recognition from countries like Canada and said that it could undermine the efforts of peace and escalate the tensions. According to reports, Israeli civil servants take into account the annexation of parts of the West Bank in response to emerging international recognition movements.
The Israeli defense forces (IDF) say that their military operations aim at Hamas militants, not civilians and try to protect Israelis from ongoing missile attacks. The IDF emphasizes that warnings are issued before strikes and efforts are made to minimize civilian damage.
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Nunan has been working in Gaza since 2019 with three tasks since the Hamas attack on October 7 and the reaction of Israel.
During her latest order in Gaza in July 2025, Nunan describes the treatment of many of her patients in the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis with minimal supplies, little or no anesthesia, limited water and frequent power outages.
“There were days when we didn’t have enough fuel to lead the generators in the hospital to supply the air conditioning system with electricity. The surgeons dripped into the patients’ wounds when they operated on them,” said Nunan.
Nunan said she saw patients treated in tents and mats outside of hospitals and in the operating theaters that run on water in bottles, and surgical teams who work in the middle of heat, power failures and constant air strikes.
On July 25, 2025, doctors who treat an injured man approved next to a tent on a mat on the floor.
With kind permission: Nunan Delreead
“The patients were absorbed in tents outside the hospital. We used water in bottles to pour our hands over when we washed them before operations,” said Nunan.
Traumatic injuries from rocket effects and splinters to burns and squeezes were widespread and often required amputations, and said Nunan.
“A large part of the injuries we see came from explosive injuries. So this is that rockets largely send to people who are at home in their tents,” she said.
Nunan said that gunshot wounds were another frequent injury, including civilians who reported that they were attacked while waiting for help. She said that children blamed at least a third of their patients and were up to six weeks old.
“It is the most serious injuries that I saw in my career. There were five worst cases that I saw in one day in one year, and then the next day would be the same,” said Nunan.
Nunan brings her testimony on Monday, September 8th, together with the author Naomi Klein in Vancouver in Vancouver to a public event and makes the eyes of the crisis zone and Canada clear what political decision -makers do next.
Action calls “ignored”
Nunan said on July 20, 2025 that she saw how the medical staff protested against famines and asked the world. Now, weeks later, she emphasizes with formal reports on famine that international actions are now needed.
“When I went between the hospital buildings in the Nasser Hospital, the hospital employee headed a protest. It was coordinated with other health facilities in Gaza … with small signs that end the famine and stop hunger and the children feed Gaza stripes. And they hoped that this would be a call to the world,” she said.
She took a picture of this protest and later recognized one of the journalists in her photo as a Mohammed Salama, which was later killed in the double tap strike of the Israeli military in the Nasser Hospital on August 25th. Nunan said her colleague later confirmed that it was Salama.
“Sound the alarm for hunger in the Gaza” Protest by health workers in the Nasser Hospital July 20, 2025. With friendly approval: Deirdre Nunan.
With kind permission: Nunan Delreead
August 25th hit the top floor of the hospital for the first time, then there was a second strike about 15 minutes later when medical professionals, journalists and rescuers fled to help the first victims. The attack, which kills at least 20 people, including five journalists, was sentenced internationally as a serious violation of international humanitarian law.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the incident as a “tragic mishap”. He emphasized that Israel appreciated the work of journalists, medical personnel and civilians and the military authorities mentioned, carried out a thorough investigation.
Nunan commented on serious concern about her colleague Dr. Ahmad Mhanna, director of the Al Awda Hospital in northern Gaza, who was detained by Israeli armed forces in December 2023 without any formal charges when Israeli troops stormed the hospital and removed several employees. Most were published, but Dr. Mhanna not.
“One of my colleagues … Dr. Ahmad Mhanna, anesthetist and medical director of the Al-Awda facility in the North Gaza, a partner facility in which I have worked for years, he has been in prison for many months,” said Nunan.
The Guardian reports troubling allegations that Dr. Mhanna achieved hard treatment, including dehuman surveys and physical and psychological abuse in the detention.
According to human rights organizations Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, more extensive reports of other imprisoned members of GAZA, which describe a similar abuse – including strikes, humiliation and hunger – according to Israel’s illegal fighter law, which enables inconsistent liability without procedures or court hearings.
The Israeli authorities claim that their detention guidelines exist to check in prisoners and the publication “those who are not involved in terrorist activities” after they have been clarified.
