AMY GOODMAN: Israeli troops and tanks are pushing deeper into Gaza City as Israel continues its full-fledged military ground invasion for a second day despite mounting international condemnation. Israel’s military confirmed its Air Force and artillery units attacked Gaza City more than 150 times in the days before Israel’s ground invasion, destroying homes, targeting areas that are densely populated by tent camps sheltering thousands of displaced Palestinians. Israeli strikes have killed dozens of people across Gaza just since dawn this morning, including children, most of them in Gaza City.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to flee the city, where nearly a million Palestinians were living among rubble and ruins ahead of Israel’s ground offensive. Mohammed Al-Bayari was interviewed as he prepared to leave the city with his family.

MOHAMMED AL-BAYARI: [translated] It is an issue of fear. I fear for my little ones only. I do not fear for the army or anyone. Death is death. But the little ones, the little ones, they scream. We are used to the sound of shelling, to the sound of gunfire. We are used to it. It has become the norm. But the little ones, I cannot bear seeing them like that, torn apart.

AMY GOODMAN: Israel’s ground invasion of Gaza City came a day after a U.N. inquiry found Israel has committed genocide in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a news conference Tuesday stressing the need for Israel to develop its own weapons industry as more countries sanction Israel over its war on Gaza.

PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU: So we are going to produce an independent arms industry, very powerful, very strong, that can withstand any kind of international political constraints and will provide security for the state of Israel. This is what I envision for the state. It’s going to continue to grow. It’s going to continue to innovate. And it’s going to continue to provide for our security and our prosperity.

AMY GOODMAN: Netanyahu also announced another visit to the White House this month after the U.N. General Assembly. It’ll be his fourth trip to the White House since President Trump returned to office.

For more, we’re joined by two guests. We begin with Dr. Kathleen Gallagher, general surgeon based in North Dakota, currently volunteering at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. She’s a military veteran who served as a medic in Iraq and Afghanistan. She previously volunteered as a surgeon in Honduras and Ukraine. Dr. Gallagher arrived at Gaza September 2nd, is volunteering at Nasser Hospital for a month with the group MedGlobal.

We thank you so much for being with us, even if the sound is a bit difficult and there’s a delay to be able to speak to you in Gaza. It’s so unusual. The corporate media in this country hardly goes directly there. We want to hear your experience on the ground, Dr. Kathleen Gallagher, as the ground offensive by Israel has commenced.

DR. KATHLEEN GALLAGHER: Yes, ma’am. So, thank you, Amy and Juan, for having me on the broadcast. It’s an honor to share the story here.

You know, so, we’re down in Khan Younis, which is south of Gaza City, and so we’re starting to see quite an influx of people evacuating from the north. Here at our hospital, which is one of two remaining functioning hospitals, tertiary centers in the country, our emergency room is seeing anywhere from 200 to 400 patients a day. My surgery — our surgery team and my colleagues are doing anywhere from four to 10 major trauma surgeries every day. I crunched a few of the numbers of my own operations before, before starting this broadcast, and it’s about an even split. About 52% of the patients that I’m operating on are GSWs, and the other half are explosive injuries. So we’re seeing huge amounts of trauma here, and we expect it to escalate as people evacuate the north and have to seek aid at the humanitarian aid sites.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Doctor, I wanted to ask you — the Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant quoted 15 international doctors saying at least 114 Palestinian children had been — had a single gunshot wound to their head or their chest, and the forensic experts are suggesting these injuries are deliberate. What have you been seeing in terms of injuries to children?

DR. KATHLEEN GALLAGHER: Yes, sir. So, we have crunched those numbers, as well. We’ve got about 40% our patients are under 20. I would say probably 25% of those are under 12. I can confirm that we are seeing single shots to the head, neck, chest. My partners down in the emergency room, who are working absolutely tirelessly to stabilize these folks so they can survive to surgery, have reported to me that two days ago they lost six children under 12 to single shots to the head. We have seen multiple isolated neck wounds. And I have operated on four separate people in the last 48 hours with gunshot wounds to the chest. And it’s —

AMY GOODMAN: A little trouble with your —

DR. KATHLEEN GALLAGHER: — [inaudible] but of lethal — lethal shots. I have not seen any evidence that nonlethal means are being used on the ground there.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And you’ve worked as a volunteer medic in Ukraine and Honduras, as well as served in the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan. How does Gaza compare?

DR. KATHLEEN GALLAGHER: This is worse than anything I’ve ever seen. The scale of destruction is something that I couldn’t even comprehend before I got here. Everywhere you look, you see buildings, civic infrastructure just completely destroyed. And we’re in Khan Younis, which is one of the last sort of remaining cities that’s still somewhat standing. You look south towards Rafah, and there’s nothing. You hear reports from Beit Hanoun, and there’s nothing. Gaza City is on the way.

The mass displacement of people is also really, really shocking. You know, everybody from Rafah has already been pushed north to the area around Khan Younis, the middle area. People from Gaza City are coming this way. There is no more room. Everyone is living in tents. Somehow they manage to — the Palestinians are incredible. Somehow they manage to keep water, you know, trucks running, garbage trucks running. They’re doing everything they can to maintain their society. But it’s getting harder and harder every day, and I have an enormous amount of fear for that infrastructure as the refugees arrive from the north.

AMY GOODMAN: Dr. Kathleen Gallagher —

DR. KATHLEEN GALLAGHER: This is worse than anything I could have possibly imagined.

AMY GOODMAN: Dr. Gallagher, our last question to you is about this U.N. inquiry that’s found this week Israel has committed genocide during its nearly two-year assault on Gaza. It’s the U.N. Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory. They put out a 72-page report that Israel’s government is responsible for four of the five acts prohibited under the 1948 Genocide Convention. Of course, you are not a genocide expert; you are a medical doctor. But your reaction to this report as a frontline doctor in Gaza?

DR. KATHLEEN GALLAGHER: Yeah, yeah. As you said, I’m not — you know, I’m not a genocide expert. But what I’m seeing here is evidence of a systematic destruction, as I said, of the civil infrastructure, the extermination of a people and a way of life. I don’t know what else you call it. And as a parting message to my folks back home and to my fellow Americans, this is no longer a political issue. This is — this is a question of right and wrong. And I encourage everyone at home to use any avenue possible to reach out to your representatives, to implore them, to beg them to do the right thing, to be a source of justice in the world and to pressure the Israeli government to stop this senseless killing.

AMY GOODMAN: Dr. Kathleen Gallagher, I want to thank you for being with us, general surgeon based in Grand Forks, North Dakota, usually, but currently volunteering at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, a military veteran who served as a medic in both Iraq and Afghanistan, also served in Honduras and Ukraine as a volunteer surgeon. Dr. Gallagher arrived at the beginning of the month and has been at Nasser Hospital with MedGlobal.