TEMPO.CO, Jakarta -A British surgeon working at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, Nick Maynard, made a shocking statement about the Israeli military’s actions in Gaza.
He stated that Israeli forces have been deliberately shooting children at humanitarian aid distribution sites in Gaza, with specific parts of the body targeted depending on the day of the week.
Maynard told the BBC, as cited by Arab News, that he and his medical team observed distinct injury patterns among teenage victims. According to him, the gunshot wounds varied systematically — some days targeting the head, others the legs or genitals.
Speaking on the "Today" program on BBC Radio 4, Maynard said, "On one day they’ll all be abdominal gunshot wounds, on another they’ll all be head gunshot wounds or neck gunshot wounds, on another they’ll be arm or leg gunshot wounds."
"It’s almost as if a game is being played, that they’re deciding to shoot the head today, the neck tomorrow, the testicles the day after," he said.
Maynard explained that the victims were shot at aid distribution centers operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), describing the locations as death traps. He said most of the victims were teenage boys.
"These are mainly from the militarized distribution points, where starving civilians are going to try and get food but then report getting targeted by Israeli soldiers or quadcopters," he said.
"A 12-year-old boy I was operating on died from his injuries on the operating table — he’d been shot through the chest."
According to Maynard, the GHF centers are staffed by private contractors and the Israeli army, with backing from the United States and Israel. Since May, at least 875 Palestinians seeking food at these locations have been killed by direct gunfire, based on United Nations data.
He added that many teenage patients suffer from severe malnutrition, which significantly impacts their recovery from injuries. "The repairs that we carry out fall to pieces, patients get terrible infections, and they die," he said. "I’ve never had so many patients die because they can’t get enough food to recover."
Israeli forces continue their assault on Gaza civilians. On Sunday, July 20, 2025, Al Jazeera reported that at least 115 Palestinians were killed, including 92 who were shot while attempting to access food. The attacks occurred at the Zikim crossing in the north and at distribution points in Rafah and Khan Younis in the south.
In Zikim alone, medical sources said Israeli troops shot at least 79 people who had gathered in hopes of receiving flour from a UN convoy.
