The NGO Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) denounced on Wednesday “with the greatest firmness” an Israeli strike against one of its residences in the south of the Gaza Strip, fatal to two members of the family of one of its employees.
An Israeli tank fired late Tuesday on a house housing some of its employees and members of their families in Al-Mawasi, in Khan Younes, the scene in recent weeks of ground fighting, shooting and air raids, said an Israeli statement. MSF.
“This attack killed the daughter-in-law and wife of one of our colleagues, and injured six people, including five women and children. The building, clearly identified with the MSF logo, was “targeted by gunfire,” said the NGO, specifying that 64 people were there at that time.
Then, ambulances coming to rescue the victims “were delayed for more than two hours by shelling in the area” before being able to reach the scene and transfer the injured to a field hospital in Rafah, at the southern tip of the Gaza Strip.
“We are shocked and deeply saddened by this deadly attack,” said Meinie Nicolai, MSF general director, currently traveling in the Gaza Strip.
“Today in Gaza, the horrible reality is that no place is safe and that the promises of safe zones are in vain and the mechanisms aimed at sparing buildings are ineffective,” she added, assuring that the GPS coordinates of the place, on which a large NGO flag was hung, had been transmitted to the Israeli army which had “acknowledged receipt”.
Questioned by AFP about this affair, the Israeli army declared having fired, “during operations in Khan Younes”, on a building “identified” as sheltering “terrorist activities”, but that after the fact ” Reports reported the deaths of two civilians not involved in these alleged activities.
“The Israeli army regrets any harm caused to civilians and is doing everything in its power to operate precisely on the battlefield,” added the military, claiming to have initiated a “review” into this incident.
The war was sparked by an attack launched on October 7 in southern Israel by Hamas commandos infiltrated from the Gaza Strip. More than 1,160 people were killed, the majority civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data.
In retaliation, the Israeli army launched an offensive aimed at “wiping out” the Palestinian armed movement and which has so far left 29,313 dead in Gaza, the vast majority of them civilians, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health.