Medical staff at the Shifa Hospital discuss a patient's treatment during ward rounds.

On 7 July 2014, Israeli forces launched a large-scale military operation ('Pillar of Defense') in the Gaza Strip). The operation lasted 51 days and resulted in 2,145 deaths and 11,231 injuries among the Palestinian population. The vast majority of the serious casualties have complex orthopaedic injuries that the Palestinian Ministry of Health is ill-equiped to manage. DFID/UK Aid is funding NHS Doctors, deployed through the UK's Rapid Response Facility's funding, to work alongside Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) in providing post conflict surgery at Gaza's Shifa Hospital. The NHS doctors (through the charity Ideals) volunteer to visit Gaza in their spare time and work alongside their Palestinian colleagues.