Doctors Without Borders ‘outraged’ after 15th staffer killed in Gaza; IDF says strike targeted Hamas operative

The medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) voices “sorrow and outrage” following the death of a colleague in Gaza.

Abed El Hameed Qaradaya, 43, succumbed to shrapnel injuries sustained on Thursday, amid an attack that killed MSF colleague Omar Hayek and injured several others, the organization says.

MSF says the attack was carried out by Israeli forces. It says its staff were waiting for a bus to the charity’s field hospital at the time, and were all were wearing MSF vests.

In response to a query by the Times of Israel, the IDF says the strike on October 2 targeted a Hamas operative in central Gaza.

“Reports were received of a local Palestinian employee of an international organization who was killed, along with several local employees who were injured,” the military says, adding that “the details of the incident are under investigation.”

The IDF says that it took steps to mitigate civilian harm in the strike, while stressing that Hamas “embeds itself in the civilian population and exploits it as a human shield for terror purposes.”

It is with profound sorrow and outrage that we confirm the death of our colleague Abed El Hameed Qaradaya. https://t.co/XxUOPKHr3I

— MSF International (@MSF) October 5, 2025

El Hameed is the 15th MSF staff member killed in the near two-year conflict, and the third in less than 20 days.

“His loss is immense and has a tragic impact on his loved ones, MSF and the health system in Gaza,” the Geneva-based NGO said in a statement.

“For 18 years, Abed El Hameed was a cornerstone of MSF’s physiotherapy department in Gaza. He was a unique and invaluable specialist in both physiotherapy and occupational therapy.”

MSF said he innovated and adapted tools, and was the driving force behind opening a 3D physiotherapy department.

In June 2024, after another MSF staffer, Fadi al-Wadiya, was killed in an IDF strike, the military said he was an Islamic Jihad operative involved in developing the terror group’s missiles. MSF denied the accusation, then the IDF published a photograph of Wadiya in a PIJ uniform.