Back from a mission in the bombed out Gaza Strip, Louise Bichet of French medical charity Medecins du Monde told AFP about the challenges its team has faced working through the horrors of war.

Bichet, head of the Middle East section of Medecins du Monde (Doctors of the World), said the organisation's Gaza team of around 20 have kept at their posts despite the trauma of colleagues getting killed or wounded as they tried to offer medical help.

The war began when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel on October 7, resulting in the deaths of around 1,160 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli figures.

Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel has responded with a relentless military campaign that has killed at least 31,490 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory.

Most of Gaza's hospital are no longer functioning and the United Nations has warned repeatedly that northern Gaza in particular faces the threat of imminent famine.

Here are excerpts from AFP's interview with Bichet:

What has most affected your team?

"There have been many... One event that was very traumatising was the death of a colleague in the bombing of his building on November 5. They made a promise to themselves, as soon as they have access to the north, to comb the ruins of his building and bury him with dignity. Without that, they cannot grieve.

"Another of our colleagues lost his brother in a bombing in the north. His grave had to be dug by hand, along with other corpses, when dogs started to eat them. This same colleague had been expelled from our offices (in Gaza City) by the army without clothing," only his undergarments.

"The Israeli army came in and ordered everyone out, women and children on one side, men on the other."

Later, "they put explosives on the floors of the building" and blew it up.

In a statement on February 12, Doctors of the World condemned "in the strongest possible terms the deliberate destruction of its offices in Gaza City".

Contacted by AFP, the Israeli army said it was checking the information.

What difficulties do they face?

"They lack equipment. The clinics run well because we have a very good team but they are working on sand, or on clay with four wooden stakes, a plastic tarpaulin and cardboard to make the walls. These are the conditions in which they work every day," and there is no computer to collect patient data.

"There's not enough medicine" and the clinics have only just received some "camp beds" on which patients can lie and be examined.

"So in terms of equipment and working conditions it's more than complicated, with bombardment continuing."

How do they feel?

"They say that it's difficult to be helping people when they themselves are in torment. They are traumatised. They need to review the past months, what they have been through. They have all the traumatic episodes in their heads" but don't have time to digest them.

"The state of stress is permanent for them and for their children."

But "working in health care, for the civilian population, counts for them and they are able to do an extraordinary job".

What do you want to see?

"Where to start? I think they should be protected in accordance with international humanitarian law, both as health workers and as civilians, which is not the case today.

"They should be able to work in structures which are protected, which is not the case today.

"They should also have access to humanitarian aid, especially water and food, as should the rest of the population.

"Finally, humanitarian aid, medicine and medical goods especially should arrive so they can simply work."