What is the cost of killing humanitarians?
COMMENT
| On May 3, we at Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) woke to shock, grief, and outrage.
Our hospital in Old Fangak, South Sudan, had been attacked: a helicopter gunship destroyed the pharmacy, shelling followed, and drones bombed the market.
Patients and staff fled as shrapnel tore through the hospital. It was terrifying and a clear violation of international humanitarian law.
These same emotions ran through us with the news of two other horrific mass attacks that killed medical workers in recent weeks.
On March 23, the Israeli military in Gaza killed 15 people, including eight staff from the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS). Eight days later, their bodies and destroyed vehicles were discovered in a mass grave.
Videos showed the attack was deliberately carried out on clearly identified medical staff and...
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The Sun
7 hours ago
- The Sun
Medical NGO blames new US aid group for deadly Gaza chaos
RAFAH, PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES: Medical charity Doctors Without Borders said Sunday that people it treated at a Gaza aid site run by a new US-backed organisation reported being 'shot from all sides' by Israeli forces. The NGO, known by its French name MSF, blamed the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation's aid distribution system for chaos at the scene in the southern Gaza town of Rafah. Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli fire killed 31 Palestinians at the site. Witnesses told AFP the Israeli military had opened fire. The GHF and Israeli authorities denied any such incident took place but MSF and other medics reported treating crowds of locals with gunshot wounds at the Nasser hospital in the nearby town of Khan Younis. 'Patients told MSF they were shot from all sides by drones, helicopters, boats, tanks and Israeli soldiers on the ground,' MSF said in a statement. MSF emergency coordinator Claire Manera in the statement called the GHF's system of aid delivery 'dehumanising, dangerous and severely ineffective'. 'It has resulted in deaths and injuries of civilians that could have been prevented. Humanitarian aid must be provided only by humanitarian organisations who have the competence and determination to do it safely and effectively.' MSF communications officer Nour Alsaqa in the statement reported hospital corridors filled with patients, mostly men, with 'visible gunshot wounds in their limbs'. MSF quoted one injured man, Mansour Sami Abdi, as describing people fighting over just five pallets of aid. 'They told us to take food -- then they fired from every direction,' he said. 'This isn't aid. It's a lie.' The Israeli military said an initial inquiry found its troops 'did not fire at civilians while they were near or within the humanitarian aid distribution site'. A GHF spokesperson said: 'These fake reports have been actively fomented by Hamas,' the Islamic militant group that Israel has vowed to destroy in Gaza.
Malay Mail
7 hours ago
- Malay Mail
‘They told us to take food, then they fired': MSF blames US-backed group for Gaza aid chaos, deadly shootings
RAFAH, June 2 — Medical charity Doctors Without Borders said Sunday that people it treated at a Gaza aid site run by a new US-backed organisation reported being 'shot from all sides' by Israeli forces. The NGO, known by its French name MSF, blamed the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation's aid distribution system for chaos at the scene in the southern Gaza town of Rafah. Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli fire killed 31 Palestinians at the site. Witnesses told AFP the Israeli military had opened fire. The GHF and Israeli authorities denied any such incident took place but MSF and other medics reported treating crowds of locals with gunshot wounds at the Nasser hospital in the nearby town of Khan Younis. 'Patients told MSF they were shot from all sides by drones, helicopters, boats, tanks and Israeli soldiers on the ground,' MSF said in a statement. MSF emergency coordinator Claire Manera in the statement called the GHF's system of aid delivery 'dehumanising, dangerous and severely ineffective'. 'It has resulted in deaths and injuries of civilians that could have been prevented. Humanitarian aid must be provided only by humanitarian organisations who have the competence and determination to do it safely and effectively.' MSF communications officer Nour Alsaqa in the statement reported hospital corridors filled with patients, mostly men, with 'visible gunshot wounds in their limbs'. MSF quoted one injured man, Mansour Sami Abdi, as describing people fighting over just five pallets of aid. 'They told us to take food — then they fired from every direction,' he said. 'This isn't aid. It's a lie.' The Israeli military said an initial inquiry found its troops 'did not fire at civilians while they were near or within the humanitarian aid distribution site'. A GHF spokesperson said: 'These fake reports have been actively fomented by Hamas,' the Islamic group that Israel has vowed to destroy in Gaza. — AFP
The Star
20 hours ago
- The Star
30 killed, over 150 injured as Israeli forces fire on aid seekers in Southern Gaza
Smoke billows following an Israeli strike on a house west of Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip, on Saturday, June 1, 2025, amid the war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas militant movement. -- Photo by BASHAR TALEB / AFP ANKARA, June 1 (Bernama-Anadolu): At least 30 Palestinians were killed and more than 150 others wounded on Sunday after Israeli forces opened fire on civilians seeking aid in Al-Mawasi, west of Rafah in southern Gaza, Anadolu Ajansi reported. According to eyewitnesses, large crowds had assembled early in the morning at the aid distribution centre of the "Gaza Humanitarian Foundation'. As people approached the site, Israeli military vehicles opened fire and drones dropped explosives, resulting in mass casualties, they added. Medical sources confirmed that the bodies of at least 30 people and dozens of injured were transported to Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis and to the International Committee of the Red Cross field hospital in the city. In a preliminary report, the Gaza Health Ministry stated that a total of 179 people were brought to local hospitals, including 21 confirmed dead, five in a state of clinical death, and 30 in critical condition, after Israeli forces opened fire on a crowd gathered at an aid distribution point in the Al-Alam area of Rafah. A medical official described the situation around the distribution centre as "extremely dangerous,' noting that ambulances had difficulty reaching the wounded due to ongoing gunfire. Some victims were evacuated using carts. Simultaneously, Israeli forces also opened fire on civilians approaching another American aid centre near the Netzarim corridor in central Gaza. According to medical sources at Al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat camp, at least one Palestinian was killed and 20 others were injured when Israeli forces fired on crowds near the entrance to Al-Bureij camp. The Government Media Office in Gaza said on Sunday that Israel is "using humanitarian aid systematically and maliciously as a weapon of war to blackmail starving civilians and forcibly gather them in exposed killing zones.' Sunday's deaths bring the number of Palestinians killed near aid distribution sites to 39 in less than a week, with over 220 injured during the same period, according to an Anadolu tally based on Palestinian sources. The American aid initiative, launched under the name "Gaza Humanitarian Foundation' about a week ago, has faced widespread criticism and rejection from Palestinian communities and international humanitarian organisations. Many have questioned the motives behind the project, which operates outside the UN aid framework and fails to meet international humanitarian standards. Since March 2, Israel has kept all border crossings shut, cutting off the entry of food, medicine, fuel, and other essential supplies for Gaza's 2.4 million residents. Israel has pursued a devastating offensive in Gaza since October 2023, killing nearly 54,400 Palestinians, most of them women and children. Aid agencies have warned about the risk of famine among the enclave's more than 2 million population. -- BERNAMA-ANADOLU
