Two doctors affiliated with Doctors Without Borders were killed in an attack Tuesday on Al Awda Hospital, one of the last remaining hospitals in northern Gaza. This was reported by Doctors Without Borders in a press release. A doctor associated with the Ministry of Health also died in the attack. “It is beyond tragic to see doctors murdered at hospital bedsides, and this must end now,” he said.

The NGO does not specify in the press release who carried out the attack. It notes that the hospital’s GPS coordinates were shared with Israeli authorities on Monday.

Doctors Mahmoud Abu Nujaila and Ahmad Al Sahar were in the building when the third and fourth floors were hit. Other medical staff, including Doctors Without Borders staff, were seriously injured, he said. The NGO has been working in Al Awda since 2018, performing reconstructive surgeries for adults and trauma surgeries for children.

The parties to the conflict “regularly” received information from the NGO about Al Awda as a functioning hospital and about the presence of Doctors Without Borders staff.

The organization condemns “this attack in the strongest terms and once again calls for respect and protection of medical facilities, staff and patients.”

There are currently about 200 patients in the hospital, says Doctors Without Borders. “They cannot receive the care they need. These patients need to be urgently and safely evacuated to other hospitals that are still functioning, although all hospitals in Gaza have been operating beyond their capacity since October due to ongoing shortages, attacks and an extremely high workload. “.

While attacks on medical facilities constitute a serious violation of international humanitarian law, “they have become systematic in recent weeks,” the organization concluded. Therefore, it reiterates its call for an “immediate ceasefire in Gaza, now more than ever, for the lifting of the siege and the protection of facilities and health personnel.” (Belgian)