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[Global Times reporter Li Ziyu] "We cannot remain silent about what we see in Gaza," CNN reported on the 26th that 45 American medical staff who had served as volunteers in hospitals across Gaza sent an open letter to US President Biden and Vice President Harris on the 25th, recounting their experiences in Gaza and demanding an immediate ceasefire and arms embargo in Gaza.

45 American volunteer medical staff in Gaza sent an open letter to Biden (left) and Harris. Photo from foreign media

According to CNN, the medical staff said in the letter that "almost everyone in Gaza is sick, injured, or both." "We are not politicians. We will not say we have all the answers. We are just doctors and nurses, but we cannot remain silent about what we see in Gaza."

Medical staff described treating children in Gaza hospitals who they believed were intentionally injured, the report said. "Specifically, each of us treats children with gunshot wounds to the head and chest every day," they wrote.

"We want you to see the nightmares that haunt many of us upon our return: dreams of children maimed by our weapons, their heartbroken mothers begging us to save them. We want you to hear the cries and screams that our consciences cannot allow us to forget," the medical workers wrote in the letter.

Palestinian children in the ruins after the Israeli army attacked a refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on June 9. Source: US media report

The report said that according to the letter, many of the 45 people have experience as volunteers in other conflict zones such as Ukraine and Iraq. The open letter was posted on the social media platform X on the 25th, and it read, "We believe that we are fully qualified to comment on the huge casualties caused by Israel's attack on Gaza, especially the huge harm they have caused to women and children."

CNN stated that in the letter, doctors and nurses called on the Biden administration to impose an arms embargo on both Israel and Palestinian armed groups, and to suspend military, diplomatic and economic support for Israel until a permanent and immediate ceasefire is achieved. The letter wrote, "We believe that under U.S. law and international humanitarian law, the (U.S.) government has an obligation to do so, and it is right to do so."

According to reports, American doctor Mark Perlmutter said in an interview that he witnessed serious violence against children during his work in Gaza hospitals, and children accounted for about 90% of the patients in the emergency room. He recalled two patients, about 6 years old, who were shot in the head and chest. He said the wounds showed that they were deliberately targeted. Perlmutter said, "No child will be shot twice by a sniper by mistake," adding that the two shots "hit" them in the chest.

American doctor Mark Perlmutter was interviewed and talked about his experience in Gaza. Source: Screenshot of the video report by the US media

In addition, the World Health Organization said last week that polio virus was found in sewage samples in the Gaza Strip, putting thousands of Palestinians at risk of contracting the disease, which can cause paralysis. In this context, American medical staff warned that an epidemic could kill tens of thousands of children. The letter said that moving people to areas without running water or toilets "will almost certainly lead to mass mortality from viral and bacterial diarrheal diseases and pneumonia, especially among children under five years of age."

According to the Gaza Strip Health Department on July 10, the Israeli military has killed nearly 38,300 people in Gaza since the outbreak of the current round of Palestinian-Israeli conflict. According to a recent report published by the British medical journal The Lancet, the actual death toll in the Gaza Strip may be as high as 186,000.