– Many people are worried about what is happening in Rafah, says doctor Engemyr on the phone to VG.
He works closely with Palestinian doctors and hospital staff who all have their families in Rafah, what until now has been considered the safest place in Gaza.
– There are a huge number of people there, so they are the ones I think about the most.
On Tuesday morning, Israeli forces have taken parts of Rafah, and tanks have rolled into the Rafah border crossing. It is the most important border where emergency aid and aid workers have used.
Several deaths and large explosions are reported.
Rafah is an area full of refugees, because around 1.5 million people have sought refuge there. The UN has previously warned of a massacre and great civilian suffering if Israel entered the area.
VG has verified the location of the video in which an Israeli tank drives over a Gaza sign at the border crossing in Rafah:
The Rafah border is also the border NORWAC and the orthopedic surgeon Engemyr were to use on Monday when their four weeks in Gaza were over.
Because although the concern lies with the consequences for the Palestinian civilians and the doctors he works with, he fears that the Rafah attack will also prevent his return home.
Because it is a May Day he is looking forward to.
– The most important day of the year for me is 17 May, it is the finest day of the year.
For him, the day is about freedom and security.
– So I will be very upset if I don’t get home by 17 May.
He himself has two children at home in Norway, so when he sees injured children in Gaza, it makes an extra impression.
– Seeing young girls who have lost their leg and have to grow up without a leg makes a very, very strong impression.
As when he operates in Norway, he usually talks to the patients. Now he hears the stories of children who have lost siblings, parents and their house.
– At the same time, there is frustration that the health system is as it is, that we lack a lot of equipment, that we cannot provide the optimal treatment if we could in Norway. The damage here is very large, he says.
This is how the residents of Gaza are evacuated:
