In a period of 24 hours on the 15th and 16th of September, MSF teams treated 11 people, including 5 children, wounded by airstrikes. \u200b
In the week prior, MSF teams treated 22 people with shrapnel wounds or injuries from explosions. Once again, Israeli forces are showing that nowhere is safe in Gaza. \u200b
On the 16th September, our teams at Al Zawayda field hospital treated 8 people wounded in an Israeli airstrike, 3 were children.
The previous day, 15th September, an Israeli strike hit a displacement camp in Khan Younis. Our teams at Al Attar healthcare clinic treated 3 people, including 2 children.
These attacks are part of a continuing pattern across Gaza:
On 13 September, an MSF bus carrying 10 humanitarian staff in Gaza City was damaged by an Israeli airstrike on a targeted vehicle just two metres away. One MSF staff member was injured in the strike.
The bus was clearly identified as an MSF vehicle, with a large MSF sticker visible on its roof. \u200b Once again, Israeli forces have shown a blatant disregard for the safety of humanitarian and medical personnel.
Testimony from Dr Awni Al Jaafarawi, MSF doctor, about the airstrike:
The worst feeling you can experience is becoming used to bad experiences to the point where you start considering every extraordinary event as normal.
After a 24-hour shift, while we were heading home or to whatever was left of it, I was looking out the window when, out of the blue, a flash of fire, the smell of gunpowder, screams, and shattered glass came through my window.
A car had been targeted.
For a moment, everything stopped. I instinctively checked myself for injuries, then checked whether anyone else had been hurt.
We keep struggling, day after day, while knowing that in a fraction of a second, you could be injured or even killed.
On the morning of 11th September, 11 people with injuries from explosions or shrapnel wounds arrived at MSF’s Al Attar healthcare centre in Khan Younis following an Israeli forces airstrike close to a displacement camp nearby. Of these, two people were transferred to Nasser hospital for specialised care.
Airstrikes from Israeli forces continue every day in Gaza. Each day Palestinians are killed or wounded.
Between 6th and 9th September, Israeli forces issued 18 evacuation orders and 8 orders to shelter affecting humanitarian sites and struck a building less than 70 metres from an MSF clinic.
Nowhere is safe in Gaza. Civilians, healthcare workers and humanitarian staff must be protected. Clearly marked medical and humanitarian vehicles must be spared from attacks.