PALESTINA – The thick scent of blood fills the emergency ward of Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza. Near the morgue, Palestinians whisper funeral prayers for loved ones killed by Israeli strikes. Just outside the facility in Khan Younis, vendors sell mangoes and young children play soccer against the backdrop of blown-out buildings, according to Dr. Deborah Weidner. “The site is half destruction,” Weidner, an American psychiatrist who was deployed to the hospital earlier this year, told CNN in September. “Bombs send shockwaves. They can be a couple of miles away, yet they shake the building.”

Medical workers are struggling to cope with the constant flow of people wounded by attacks, as the Israeli bombardment and siege of Gaza starves hospitals of critical supplies, Weidner said. Local staff are burdened by the fear that their loved ones will arrive in the floods of mass casualties.

“Everybody’s going through the motions,” Weidner said. “There’s no physical or emotional safety. There’s no predictability. There’s such randomness in who is injured or where there’s going to be a bomb.” Those with pre-existing mental health conditions, including schizophrenia, are deteriorating, said Weidner, adding that some “fear for their own behavior.” Others arrive at the hospital begging for medication. “They (the Palestinian staff) just keep going,” she said. “So much of it is about faith and trust in God. Trust in Allah … The people are generally hopeful. But I worry what will happen if nothing changes.”…[+]