Eighth MSF staff member tragically killed in Gaza

Israeli forces killed Hasan Suboh, 41, on the night of October 24 after an airstrike hit his relative’s house, where he was staying in Khan Younis. According to the Ministry of Health, this attack hit several houses and killed 38 people, including 14 children and four members of Hasan’s family. 

Hasan joined MSF as a skilled laborer in April 2019. He is remembered by his colleagues as a talented mechanic, kind, gentle, and always smiling. In this tragic moment, our thoughts are with his wife and seven children, and all of our colleagues mourning his death. 

Hasan’s tattered MSF vest, which he wore all the time, was found under the rubble. This vest symbolizes Hasan's commitment to helping people in distress, but more globally it also symbolizes health care and humanitarian assistance. To see it destroyed is representative of how Israel, the US government, and the rest of Israel’s allies have disregarded the protection of health care workers in Gaza, ripping apart the rules of war. The claim that humanitarian workers and civilian lives are protected has once again been exposed as a lie for all the world to see. 

This attack happened only two weeks after the killing of another MSF staff member, Nasser Hamdi Abdelatif Al Shalfouh, on October 10. Nasser died after being injured by shrapnel following relentless attacks by Israeli forces in Jabalia, northern Gaza. He is the eighth MSF staff member killed in Gaza since the beginning of the war.  

We denounce these killings in the strongest possible terms and are outraged by the fact that in over one year of war, Israel has acted with total impunity. Israel’s repeated direct attacks, which do not distinguish between military objectives and civilians, must be investigated independently. 

All over Gaza, people continue to be killed and injured by relentless fighting and bombings. Israel's all-out war on the Palestinians of Gaza and its complete disregard of civilian lives must stop now.