Doctors Without Borders mourns loss of colleague in Gaza

By Ilayda Cakirtekin

ISTANBUL (AA) - Doctors Without Borders (MSF) on Friday mourned the killing of its tenth colleague in Gaza since the start of the Israeli war.

“Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) is shocked and saddened by the killing of our colleague Alaa Abd-Elsalam Ali Okal by an Israeli airstrike on his apartment building in Deir Al Balah, central Gaza, Palestine,” MSF said in a statement.

It confirmed that he was killed on March 18 following the resumption of Israeli attacks, where hundreds more were injured in “this abrupt end to the ceasefire.”

“We condemn the killing of our colleague and call yet again for the respect and protection of civilians,” said the statement.

More than 700 Palestinians have been killed and over 900 injured in a surprise aerial campaign by Israel on Gaza since Tuesday, shattering a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement that took hold in January.

Nearly 50,000 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and over 112,000 injured in a brutal Israeli military onslaught on Gaza since October 2023.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.