Gaza: Doctor Without Borders condemns strike on shelter that killed staff member’s five-year-old daughter

09/01/2024

Palestine

Palestinian Territories, 9 October 2023. © MSF

Yesterday morning, a shell, resembling that from a tank, broke through the wall of the building where over 100 Doctors Without Borders staff and their family members were seeking shelter in Khan Younis in the south of the Gaza Strip. The five-year-old girl was critically injured by the strike and underwent surgery at the Gaza European Hospital. However, she later died of her injuries on January 9. Three other people were slightly injured in the strike.

We are outraged and deeply saddened by the death of yet another family member of our Doctors Without Borders staff. This strike on civilians is unacceptable and, once again, goes to show that it doesn’t matter where you are in Gaza, nowhere is safe. The shell did not detonate on impact, otherwise many more of our staff and their families would have most likely been killed.

Thomas Lauvin, Project Coordinator

Prior to the incident, Doctors Without Borders notified Israeli forces that the shelter near Gaza European Hospital was housing Doctors Without Borders staff and their families. Furthermore, no evacuation orders were issued before the strike. While Doctors Without Borders is not able to confirm the origin of the shell, it appears to be similar to those used by Israeli tanks. Doctors Without Borders has contacted Israeli authorities and is seeking further explanation.

Four of Doctors Without Borders’s staff have been killed since the beginning of the war in addition to numerous family members.

We reiterate our call for an immediate and sustained ceasefire in Gaza. Indiscriminate violence against civilians must end now.

OUR RESPONSE TO THE ISRAEL-GAZA WAR

Will you support our emergency response work?

Help us provide lifesaving medical care during emergencies by making a donation today.

Donate now

"Gaza today means cold, hunger and bombs."

Fighting has been raging for over 45 days in northern Gaza, following the offen...

Gaza: Living conditions are putting the lives of Palestinian children and newborns at serious risk

From June to October 2024,Doctors Without Borders treated more than 10,000 children under 5 for upper respiratory tract infections at Nasser ...

West Bank: Treating open wounds in Tulkarem

Addressing the physical and psychological impacts of military incursions by Israeli forces.

Israeli UNRWA ban will deepen Palestinian humanitarian catastrophe

The Israeli Knesset's ban on UNRWA's operations voted on 28 October represents a devastating blow to Palestinian life. It will further undermine pe...

Jordan: The long road to recovery for war-wounded children from Gaza

At Doctors Without Borders' reconstructive surgery hospital in Amman, we’re treating a few Gazan children evacuated for rehabilitation—just a fract...

Gaza: Last remaining hospitals in the north under siege and people trapped

“While the northern part of the Strip is under siege since over two weeks, it is absolutely crucial to ensure the protection of the few remaining f...

Israeli forces pushing people from north to south Gaza will only worsen humanitarian catastrophe

In northern Gaza, Palestine, Israeli evacuation orders and strikes are forcing people to flee south. Th...

Israel’s all-out war on Gaza must end and its allies must stop enabling it

Jerusalem, 2 October 2024 -For almost a full year now, Israel has carried out unmitigated slaughter in the Gaza St...