Israel-Gaza conflict

摘要

We too share the pain of Paola Manduca and colleagues1 regarding the horrific loss of innocent civilian lives in Gaza. They, and the readers of The Lancet, should know that Israel, as acknowledged by the European Union and the USA, is making every possible effort to avoid civilian casualties. However, such prevention is extremely difficult, due to the inexcusable fact that Hamas shamefully uses its own fellow civilians as human shields. The readers of The Lancet should also know that Israel has established a field hospital at the border to treat civilians from Gaza injured in the fighting. These efforts are similar to Israel's ongoing medical treatment of Syrians injured in the far more bloody conflict (in which Israel has no part) raging north of its border.2 All these facts were not mentioned by Manduca and colleagues in their letter-either because of ignorance or purposeful political propaganda; both are unacceptable in a scientific medicaljournal.