Novick is a prominent pediatric cardiologist who has operated on children with severe cardiac issues all over the world, including in conflict zones. He worked in the West Bank and Gaza in the 2000s and has since maintained contacts with his colleagues there.
"Doctors in Gaza face shortages of everything: critical items, routine items, anesthesia, medications, bandages. It is terrible," he said.
Novick, who is planning to perform surgeries in other parts of the Middle East later in November, said he receives first-hand information from American doctor Steve Sosebee, president of charity Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF).
"Steve’s Gaza team is there, and Steve is still in the West Bank. I am in communication with him, not so much because all the cell towers are going down. Nobody from PCRF has died yet. They are supplying what they can, the children and the families," Novick said.
He stressed that it is very difficult to treat patients, particularly children, in Gaza, where hospitals are running out of gas, medical supplies and anesthesia.
"They are running out of medical supplies, anesthesia, they are operating on people with very little amounts of anesthesia, some of which is sedation," he added.
The US doctor said that the current situation looks more difficult than in 2000 when he worked in the West Bank and Gaza in the beginning of the Second Intifada.
"There is no comparison, the Israelis were not bombing Gaza at the time, all this stuff was mostly happening in the West Bank, and we saw a fair amount of it," he said.
Novick called Hamas "vicious monsters" and "evil" but also pointed to the "horrors" that Gazans are going through because the Israelis are bombing "everything that they think contains Hamas." He also expressed belief that the Israeli government made a "tactical error" by cutting hospitals and other civilian infrastructure off from water, fuel, and other critical items.
"I can understand the reaction by the state of Israel. But it should not be against all Palestinians, it should be against Hamas," Novick said.
On October 7, Hamas carried out a surprise large-scale rocket attack against Israel from the Gaza Strip and breached the border, killing and abducting people in neighboring Israeli communities. Israel launched retaliatory strikes and later began ground operations in Gaza. It also ordered a complete blockade of the exclave, cutting off supplies of water, food, and fuel.
The escalation of the conflict has resulted in thousands of people killed and injured on both sides.