On Sunday, May 16, 2021, Israeli airstrikes on Gaza killed at least 42 people, including 10 children, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health, and damaged a Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) trauma and burns care clinic, the international medical humanitarian organization said today. No one was injured in MSF’s clinic, but the bombing destroyed a sterilization room and damaged a waiting area. The clinic was forced to close.
An MSF staff member who was at the clinic during the airstrikes described a scene of utter horror: huge explosions shook the neighborhood and women and children ran out onto the street screaming and crying.
“The situation has already been horrible this week, with the number of civilian casualties rising daily, but when I saw the damage to the area and the MSF clinic the morning after the attack, I was speechless,” said Dr. Mohammed Abu Mughaiseeb, MSF’s deputy medical coordinator in Gaza. “Everything was impacted—houses, roads, trees. The clinic, where we see over 1,000 children a year with burn and trauma injuries, was missing a wall and debris was lying everywhere. The clinic is now closed not just because of the damage to its structure but also because the road to access it has been destroyed and the area is still unsafe.”
