Gaza: Israeli forces kill former MSF colleague Abdullah Hammad
Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF) mourns and condemns the loss of Abdullah Hammad, killed by Israeli forces on 3 July. He is the twelfth colleague killed in Gaza since October 2023.
Israeli forces deliberately targeted a group of people, including Abdullah, without warning as they waited for aid trucks.
At least 16 people were killed in total, according to medical teams at Nasser Hospital. The group had been desperately hoping to collect flour from an aid truck in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, next to a desalination plant in the area, where a similar incident took place on 17 June.
Abdullah was a hygienist who worked in Al Mawasi clinic for a year and a half until 30 June. MSF is appalled and deeply saddened by this atrocious tragedy.
At this time our thoughts are with Abdullah’s family, including his sister Zainab, and his two brothers, Karam and Bahaa, who also work for MSF. We mourn his death with all our MSF colleagues in Gaza and stand with them during this extremely difficult time.
In addition to the loss of Abdullah, MSF has already lost 11 colleagues since October 2023. We demand an end to this bloodshed.
Aitor Zabalgogeazkoa, MSF Emergency Coordinator in Gaza, said:
“On 3 July, Israeli forces committed yet another massacre, targeting a group of people hopelessly trying to collect bags of flour off an aid truck in southern Gaza.
This appalling tragedy killed at least 16 people, including former MSF colleague Abdullah Hammad. The actual number of people killed is likely to be much higher as Israeli forces refused to allow dead bodies to be retrieved from the site.
The Israeli forces then ordered people who were trying to collect flour to leave immediately.
The level of desperation for food inside Gaza is now beyond comprehension. Humanitarian agencies’ ability to respond to the gaping needs is restricted to the bare minimum. Israeli authorities are limiting movements and supplies and have devised a new militarised way to distribute food that is degrading and deadly.
The systemic and deliberate starvation of Palestinians for over 100 days is pushing people in Gaza to breaking point. This carnage must stop now.”
Content warning:
The photograph below, taken shortly after the attack, shows Abdullah being carried into Nasser Hospital in an attempt to save his life.
It is shared at the explicit request of his brothers.
AbdAllah*, another MSF colleague who survived the Israeli attack on people seeking aid in Khan Younis in southern Gaza on 3 July, said:
“We went to Khan Younis as we heard there would be aid trucks there. There were already a lot of people there. Five trucks were parked to let people come in and take what they could.
Then the [Israeli] tanks started advancing and we could see a lot of snipers in the area too. Suddenly shots started coming from every direction. Whoever got a bag of flour got shot in the head. The bags of flour were all over the ground. Covered in blood. There were so many bodies on the ground.
After that, a quadcopter came to where we were hiding under the rubble of one of the houses. [The quadcopter] told us to put our hands up and come out. It said “you are not allowed to take flour. Keep walking and don’t pick up any of the dead or wounded from the ground. Some people stayed, we could still hear the tanks firing. Young men, dying for a bag of flour.”
*Name has been changed to protect the colleague's identity.
MSF and the Israel – Gaza war
An unprecedented humanitarian crisis is unfolding in Gaza. MSF teams have worked to treat the wounded and supply overwhelmed hospitals as indiscriminate airstrikes and a state of siege threaten millions of men, women and children.