Gaza doctor amputates niece's leg without anaesthetic on his kitchen table using scissors as her brother holds her down after she's wounded by Israeli shelling

Hani Bseiso was unable to get his teenage niece, A'Hed Bseiso to hospitalThe footage went viral on Instagram showing Bseiso perform the operation

Palestinian doctor, Hani Bseiso was left to face an agonising decision when his teenage niece was wounded by Israeli shelling of her Gaza City home: amputate her leg or risk her bleeding to death.

After being unable to reach a nearby hospital, and using little more than a pair of scissors and some gauze he had in his medical bag.

Despite this, he successfully managed to remove the lower part of A’Hed Bseiso’s right leg in an operation carried out on the kitchen table without the use of any anaesthetic to ease the pain.

The grainy video footage that went viral on Instagram showing Bseiso wiping the bloody stump of her right leg as she lies on the table.

One of her brothers holds her steady in position whilst another holds up two mobile phones to provide better lighting for the emergency procedure.

After being unable to reach a nearby hospital, and using little more than a pair of scissors and some gauze he had in his medical bag Palestinian doctor, Hani Bseiso successfully managed to remove the lower part of his niece, A’Hed Bseiso’s right leg in an operation carried out on the kitchen table

The grainy video footage shows one of her brothers holds her steady in position whilst another holds up two mobile phones to provide better lighting for the emergency procedure

The house is only 1.1 miles (1.8 km) from Gaza’s Al-Shifa hospital, which would usually only take a six-minute drive or a 25-minute walk to get there, but Bseiso said intense Israeli fire in the area made it too dangerous to try to get there.

‘Unfortunately, I did not have any other choice. The choice was that I either let the girl die or I try to the best of my abilities,’ Bseiso told Reuters this week in an interview in the room where he amputated her leg on Dec. 19.

Reuters was unable to confirm independently what struck her home, why it came under fire and what events preceded the attack.

‘Could I get her to the hospital? Of course not,’ Bseiso continued to explain, he also described the area as ‘under siege’. ‘The tanks were at the entrance of the house.’

Israeli authorities say they work to minimise harm to civilians.

Asked for comment about the events of Dec. 19, the Israeli military did not specifically respond to questions about the incident at A’Hed Bseiso’s home, however, they did state that Hamas used hospital complexes as cover, an allegation the militant group denies.

‘A central feature of Hamas’ strategy is the exploitation of civilian structures for terror purposes,’ the military stated.

‘Specifically, it has been well documented that Hamas uses hospitals and medical centers for its terror activities by building military networks within and beneath hospitals, launching attacks and storing weapons within the confines of hospitals, and using hospital infrastructure and staff for terror activities.’

‘Regrettably, Hamas continues to put Gaza’s most vulnerable citizens in serious danger by cynically using hospitals for terror,’ it said.

A’hed Bseiso, 18, is part of a generation of young amputees emerging from the war being fought in Gaza since Hamas militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing about 1,200 people and taking 253 hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

Doctors say many of those killed in the Gaza Strip since then might have been saved if they had been able to reach hospital in time.

Lying in bed several weeks after the amputation, A’hed Bseiso said that she found an Israeli tank near her house when she went outside at about 10:30 a.m. to get a signal to make a call to her father, who lives abroad.

She recalls that her sister went inside and closed the blinds of the house in case it was shelled.

Shortly afterwards, the building came under fire and she was wounded, she added.

She realised she had no feeling in her leg when family members tried to help her by pulling out pieces of shrapnel.

Palestinian doctor, Hani Bseiso was forced to carry out the operation on the kitchen table without the use of any anaesthetic to ease the pain

She recalls: ‘They placed me on the dining table. There was no medical equipment. My uncle saw the sponge that we clean the dishes with, a wire, washing-up liquid and chlorine (disinfectant),’ she said.

‘He took them and he started scrubbing my leg. He amputated my leg without anaesthetics and without anything at home.’

Asked how she withstood the pain, she replied: ‘I was just saying ‘Thanks to God’ and reading the Koran. Thanks to God, I did not feel much but of course there was pain, and the scene and the shock.’

She has since undergone further operations in hospital to treat the injuries she received.

More than 24,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel began its military campaign in Gaza in response to the Oct. 7 attack, Palestinian officials say.

Many others, including children, have had limbs amputated because of the severity of their wounds during the Israeli offensive, which Israel’s military says is intended to eliminate Hamas and secure the release of the remaining hostages.

More than 1,000 children in Gaza had undergone leg amputations by the end of November, according to the U.N. children’s agency UNICEF.

Poor hygiene and shortages of medicine continue to further endanger lives, and doctors say that supplies to hospitals are hindered by the lack of access given to them.