PART I
Introduction
The most insidious front in the Hamas war to destroy the Jewish state has been the propaganda front to project the terrorist group’s own genocidal goals onto its victims and to demonize Israel and Jews on the world stage. It uses the strategy of antisemites throughout history—attributing their own racism, brutality, and mass atrocities onto their Jewish victims.1
Hamas’ propaganda campaign is not restricted by geographic boundaries and is fought by multiple forces, of which one of the most successful is that of medical professionals. The success of the medical propaganda campaign is based on the perceived authority of physicians by virtue of their years of intensive education and their association with the Hippocratic Oath, the historical physician’s code of ethics of which non-maleficence—the obligation to do no harm—is paramount. Physicians are therefore viewed as credible, honest, and ethical witnesses, with the expertise to determine what is unknowable to most others.
The Hamas campaign, from the start, has utilized anti-Israel activists and activist groups from both the local and international medical communities to discredit and vilify the Jewish state internationally. These activists disseminate, promote, and lend prestige and authority to even the most outrageous accusations, falsely presenting themselves as eyewitnesses to crimes and transgressions they testify were committed by Israel.
Their strategy involves creating a feedback loop and bubble of dishonesty that is amplified in radio and television interviews, newspaper columns, and medical journals. The loop begins with deceptive testimony that can include one or more falsehoods (including their identification as eyewitnesses able to determine blame), omission of key information, and inductive inferences based on false premises or questionable data. Essential to the campaign are the medical journals and mainstream media outlets that offer the propagandists a platform to spread disinformation, and which present them as “experts” while erasing their extremist politics that take precedence over any ethical code of honesty. Their articles and interviews, in turn, are quoted and cited by fellow activists both as authentication of the false narrative that shifts blame onto Israel and as background and context for further deceptive claims that bolster the false narrative. As the feedback loop is reinforced, the bubble grows larger, with dissenting views dismissed. This testimony eventually becomes accepted as authoritative truth by mainstream sources which propagate it further.
This paper focuses on one of the most prominent international medical humanitarian groups in the world and provides a case study of an episode that occurred early on in the Hamas-Israel war that began with Hamas’ infiltration of Israel and massacre of civilians. The case study exemplifies how Hamas propaganda launders, validates, and disseminates its false narratives through medical groups to create the building blocks of the genocide canard against Israel.
Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders)
Background
Founded in France, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)—also known in English as Doctors Without Borders—bills itself as an “international, independent medical humanitarian organization” that “observes neutrality and impartiality in the name of universal medical ethics.”2 Along with the International Red Cross and Red Crescent movement, it is among the largest and best-known such groups in the world. But far from exhibiting neutrality or impartiality in the Hamas-Israel conflict, many, if not most, of those working in Gaza seem to be in complete alignment with the Hamas narrative.
In the immediate aftermath of the Hamas massacre and hostage-taking on October 7, 2023, MSF executives chose not to denounce the Hamas attacks. In fact, a statement put out later that month by the organization rationalized Hamas’ actions as something to be blamed on Israel.3
Decades of repression and conflict, and an Israel-imposed blockade from 2007 on the Gaza Strip, Palestine, exploded on 7 October 2023 when Hamas attacked Israel on a large scale. In response, Israel launched massive attacks on Gaza…
The statement was followed by an immediate shift in focus to subsequent Israeli military actions, and it remains4 on the MSF website as the official response to the savagery perpetrated by Hamas, followed by a growing list of allegations against Israel.
The only hint of any rebuke to Hamas came in an X post5 and press release6 on October 12, 2023, five days after the massacre. Noting the “brutal mass killing of civilians perpetrated by Hamas,” this message, too, was coupled with a condemnation of Israel’s response and followed by multiple posts that directly echoed Hamas, accusing Israel of committing “indiscriminate bloodshed” and “collective punishment” and demanding an immediate ceasefire.
Since then, MSF representatives have made the rounds of Western mainstream media outlets to slander Israel, accusing it of war crimes and calling for ceasefire—a call that notably does not include the surrender of the ruling Hamas terrorist entity that has continued to threaten7 8 additional massacres until the Jewish state is destroyed.
MSF never campaigned for the unconditional release of hostages held in Gaza, nor had the organization ever highlighted their medical situation. They neither campaigned for their humane treatment by Hamas, nor for them to receive adequate medical care.
Above all, MSF representatives did not campaign against or criticize Hamas for endangering and victimizing Palestinian civilians in Gaza by employing them as human shields,9 using hospitals10 and the tunnels underneath11 to imprison hostages,12 to function as weapons depots,13 and as command and control centers.14 15 On the contrary, the group joined Hamas’ efforts to deny these facts as they amplified the terrorist group’s disinformation.
Indeed, MSF’s bigotry became so overt that in December 2023, Alain Destexhe, a Belgian politician and physician who previously served as Secretary-General of MSF, published an investigative report16 examining the social media posts of the group, its official spokespeople, and its healthcare workers following the October 7th massacre by Hamas. Calling into question the neutrality and independence of the international organization that he had once been part of, Destexhe noted that “a significant proportion of its staff seem to share the Hamas position and support the terrorist attacks of 7 October.” He pointed to “the proximity between some MSF staff and Hamas” that “raises questions about possible links between MSF in Gaza and extremist groups” and concluded that “the information provided by MSF, which often repeats without proof the words of its local Palestinian employees, should therefore be no more credible than that of Hamas.”
Yet this information is at the very root of MSF’s false accusations that Israel is “systematically dismantling” the health system in Gaza,17 perpetrating “indiscriminate” and “unconscionable” violence on the Gaza population and inflicting “collective punishment,”18 carrying out an “ethnic cleansing,”19 and committing “genocide”20 allegations that are purportedly based on staffers’ “first-hand observations.”21
Amplified in MSF press conferences and reports,22 they have become staples in the ongoing campaign to vilify Israel as genocidal. It is a campaign predicated upon (1) erasing Hamas’ responsibility in the ongoing war and (2) employing testimony from Hamas-aligned activists to assign blame to Israel.
PART II
CASE STUDY: October 17, 2023 Explosion at Gaza’s Al-Ahli Hospital
On October 17, 2023, Hamas declared through its health ministry that an Israeli airstrike had targeted a hospital filled with civilians who had come there for treatment or shelter, killing nearly 500 Palestinians. Israeli spokesmen immediately denied involvement, arguing that the IDF had conducted no strikes in the vicinity of the hospital. An IDF investigation23 pointed to evidence of a misfired rocket by a Hamas-affiliated terrorist group, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, as responsible for the explosion, with the point of impact being outside the hospital building in the nearby parking lot/courtyard24—as opposed to the building itself, which sustained no significant damage. The evidence included overhead imagery and intercepted Hamas communications, indicating the terrorist organization was aware that the blast resulted from a misfired rocket even as it blamed Israel for targeting civilians and killing nearly 500 people.
U.S. intelligence sources concurred25 that Israel was not responsible for the blast, as did French,26 Canadian,27 and British intelligence services,28 as well as individual munitions experts who independently analyzed evidence supporting Israel’s assessment.
Estimates of the number of lives lost in the incident also yielded far lower numbers than the Hamas claim. A U.S. intelligence report cited by Reuters29 estimated the death toll as “probably at the low end of the 100 to 300 spectrum,” while AFP cited a senior European intelligence official who estimated the death toll as 10–50 people.30
Hamas Press Conference Features MSF Physician
Ghassan Abu Sittah, a Palestinian-British physician who introduced himself as an MSF representative present at the Al-Ahli hospital at the time of the blast, participated in a press conference called by Hamas’ Health Ministry not long after the event to provide his “eyewitness” testimony.31
Abu Sittah’s words extended well beyond a firsthand description of injuries witnessed to what can only be construed as Hamas war propaganda. He used his platform as a “firsthand witness” to determine blame—Israel and its supporters—and intent—to massacre Palestinian children—as well as to threaten those who recognized and accepted the justification and necessity of Israel’s war on Hamas.
The MSF physician seemed to be reciting directly from a standard Hamas script that counts any explosion, any Palestinian injury, and any Palestinian death—whether due to Israeli or Palestinian action—as resulting from Israeli “war crimes.” According to this script, the actions and culpability of Hamas are erased. Abu Sittah railed:32
This is a war crime that the world has seen coming. Israel has been warning the entire world that it was going to attack Palestinian hospitals and it did exactly that. Every Western politician who has declared unconditional support for Israel’s war efforts on the Palestinian people has the blood of these children on their hands. That unconditional support is what led us to this massacre. The impunity that Israel believes it has from its Western allies is what has led to this massacre. No other country feels the impunity to target hospitals and get away with it. What happened today is a war crime and if the Israelis get away with it again, then more war crimes will be committed and more hospitals will be targeted.
MSF Amplifies Hamas Disinformation
MSF International wasted no time bolstering the Hamas disinformation that was broadcast through one of its members. The organization’s X page immediately labeled the attack an Israeli-perpetrated massacre:33
We are horrified by the recent Israeli bombing of Ahli Arab Hospital in #Gaza City, which was treating patients and hosting displaced Gazans. Hundreds of people have reportedly been killed. This is a massacre….
The group amplified the implication that Israel had deliberately targeted civilian patients and health workers:34
Nothing justifies this shocking attack on a hospital and its many patients and health workers, as well as the people who sought shelter there. Hospitals are not a target. This bloodshed must stop…
And it quoted Abu Sittah’s supposed firsthand evidence:35
“We were operating in the hospital, there was a strong explosion, and the ceiling fell on the operating room. This is a massacre,” says Dr Ghassan Abu Sittah, MSF doctor in Gaza.
These three statements were combined in an MSF press release.36
Medical and Public Health Journals Promote MSF–Hamas Propaganda
The British Medical Journal lost no time in publishing an article by health journalist Elisabeth Mahase to weigh in on the blast. Abu Sittah’s testimony of a “massacre” targeting patients at the hospital was quoted to lend weight to the Hamas allegations against Israel in what was presented as competing, equally compelling claims by “Palestinian authorities” (with no specification of “Hamas”) vs. “the Israeli military.”37 This article was subsequently cited by multiple public-health journals:38, 39, 40, 41 each citation lending further legitimacy to the false narrative.
Media Platforms MSF Doctor’s Propaganda
Abu Sittah’s testimony became a key component of early reporting on the tragedy, cited not only by overtly biased media like the Turkish state-run Anadolu Agency42 and similar outlets, but also by mainstream outlets including ABC News,43 the Irish Examiner,44 The Independent, The Guardian, AFP, and USA Today Online.45 BBC Radio, TV, and articles, the Spanish and Portuguese desks of EFE, as well as news agencies in Canada, Mexico, Spain, Nicaragua and Brazil also carried Abu Sittah’s testimony. London’s Mail Online devoted an entire article to his distorted version of events, heavily privileging his accusations over Israel’s account.46
Despite Overwhelming Evidence to the Contrary, Abu Sittah and MSF Continue to Spread Falsehoods
Abu Sittah’s early interviews emphasized “the ceiling [that] fell on the operating room,” representing, he claimed, a deliberate Israeli “massacre.”47 He never recanted even after it was ascertained that the blast occurred in the courtyard, the result of an errant Palestinian missile (although in later interviews and testimony, he spoke somewhat less about the ceiling). He persisted in portraying the event as an Israeli-perpetrated one, invoking as evidence the illogical claim that Israel’s directive to evacuate hospitals that served as a Hamas strongholds evidenced Israel’s intention to massacre innocent Palestinian civilians. He repeated this line again and again apparently without considering that it proved just the opposite—that Israel was trying to protect innocent civilians. Had Israel’s goal actually been to “massacre” civilians, then it would not have directed their evacuation in advance.
In a 2024 interview with Middle East Eye,48 a site criticized for anti-Israel bias, Abu Sittah again denied evidence of a Palestinian misfire employing the oft-used claim by Palestinian propagandists that Palestinian missiles are not destructive.49 Notwithstanding the documentation of many hundreds of deaths and injuries from Palestinian missiles deliberately launched into Israel, or misfired in Gaza in the past four years, Abu Sittah brazenly declared:
Palestinian missiles have never ever killed 483. They’re home-made missiles. They don’t have that kind of destructive power.
The activist-physician plowed ahead with his campaign, using his authoritative platform as an MSF physician and purported witness to accuse Israel of dismantling Gaza’s healthcare system and committing genocide.50 He appeared in both Palestinian venues and at healthcare/medical forums, including at a Harvard-sponsored event.51,52,53 54 And he campaigned in medical journals.55 The activist-physician also took charge of a platform at the Institute for Palestine Studies56 to purportedly “document and provide comprehensive information on the most horrific assault on health in the history of the Palestinian struggle.” The irony was unmistakable: Abu Sittah—who had long abandoned honesty and factual rigor in favor of demonizing Israel—was now entrusted to curate what was billed as an “archival record for researchers and historians.” That contradiction seemed lost on those who deferentially granted him the platform for his activism.
MSF followed its physician’s lead, refusing to retract its press release and remove its X posts even after international intelligence confirmed there had been no Israeli airstrike, no massacre, and no targeting of civilians by Israel. The group continued to cite the incident as part of its list of “strikes, raids and incursions”57 allegedly demonstrating Israel’s targeting of Palestinian healthcare, adding only a slight disclaimer. Despite acknowledging uncertainty, MSF still implied Israeli culpability, based on Abu Sittah’s distortion of Israel’s advance warnings to evacuate hospitals used by Hamas for military purposes.
MSF and Abu Sittah Deny Hamas Role
Substantial evidence has emerged confirming Hamas’ exploitation of multiple Gaza hospitals—including Al-Quds, Indonesian, Rantisi, Sheikh Hamad, Kamal Adwan, Nasser, and particularly Al-Shifa Hospital—for military purposes.58, 59 These facilities and the tunnels underneath them were used to store weapons,60 61 house command centers62 63 shelter Hamas’ fighters and provide a base for combat ,64 and to hold hostages.65, 66 67
International law prohibits the use of hospitals to shield military targets. John Spencer, chair of urban warfare studies at the Modern War Institute at West Point and codirector of its Urban Warfare Project, points out that if a hospital is used for hostile purposes—such as hiding combatants, storing weapons, serving as an observation post, or coordinating with military forces—it loses its protected status and may lawfully be targeted, as affirmed by the U.S. Department of Defense Law of War Manual.68
The wounded, medical and transport staff remain protected and any military response must follow the laws of armed conflict, including proportionality and all feasible precautions—such as issuing warnings and allowing time to evacuate, which is exactly what the Israeli military did. As Spencer concludes, Israel has indeed complied with legal obligations regarding hospitals, issuing warnings before taking action and exceeding legal requirements by aiding evacuations, supplying hospitals, and supporting alternative medical care during operations.69
Resting on the erasure of Hamas’ illegal acts and war crimes,70 71 Abu Sittah promoted the canard that Israel systematically targeted hospitals, doctors and patients as part of a deliberate effort to dismantle Palestinian healthcare, which became a keystone in the slanderous falsehood that Israel perpetrated a genocide.72 73 74
Following Abu Sittah’s lead, MSF’s former US Executive Director Avril Benoit publicly denied evidence of Hamas’ exploitation of hospitals. When asked about this directly in a December 2023 PBS interview where she placed all blame for Gazan suffering on Israel. with no mention of Hamas’ role in the fighting, Benoit responded:75
Our staff have not seen evidence that hospitals are being used in the way that the Israeli government continues to allege to provide political cover for what can also be considered war crimes.
Christopher Lockyear, Secretary General of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), repeated this denial when he briefed the United Nations Security Council on the Gaza war and called for an immediate ceasefire. Accusing Israel of “dismantl[ing] hospital after hospital” and of waging “a war of collective punishment, a war without rules, a war at all costs,” he dismissed the inconvenient facts that stood in the way of his vilification of Israel and denied the obvious:76
The excuse given is that medical facilities have been used for military purposes, yet we have seen zero independently verified evidence of this.
MSF has similarly ignored and denied terrorist affiliations of its staffers. For example, Fadi Jihad Mohammed Al Wadiya, an MSF physical therapist who doubled as a rocket maker for the terrorist group Palestinian Islamic Jihad was killed in an Israeli drone strike on June 25, 2024. The Israeli Air Force identified Al Wadiya as a Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative responsible for the development of its missile program and released photos of him in PIJ uniform with fellow PIJ terrorist operatives.77
MSF, for its part, expressed outrage, mourning him as an innocent victim of Israeli brutality, and denying his association with the Palestinian terrorist group:78
Killing a healthcare worker while on his way to provide vital medical care to wounded victims of the endless massacres across Gaza is beyond shocking; it’s cynical and abhorrent.
MSF expressed similar outrage and vituperation about an Israeli strike on Al Awda Hospital, linked to the PFLP terrorist group, in which MSF staffers and physicians accused of affiliation with that terrorist group were killed.79 MSF ignored the evidence of terrorist affiliations and counted its staffers as innocent victims of an Israeli strike it portrayed as a war crime.80
Reaching Out to International Bodies and Beyond
Based on the partisan and distorted reports of its staff, MSF appealed to the United Nations Security Council on Feb. 22, 2024.81
In April 2025, the group weighed in on ICJ proceedings by issuing a statement condemning Israel.82
Abu Sittah gave testimony to the War Crimes Unit of Scotland Yard,83 and to the International Criminal Court.84
He was a featured speaker at a London event hosted by Amnesty International UK,85 an organization with a history of anti-Israel animus and employing falsehoods to vilify the Jewish state.86
He also sought to influence Human Rights Watch (HRW) a group perhaps even more obsessive87 in its attempts to delegitimize the Jewish state88 to the point that its founder and former chairman publicly dissociated himself from that NGO’s agenda.89 When that group suggested, in a rare burst of honesty a month after the Al Ahli blast, that the Oct. 17, 2023 explosion actually “resulted from an apparent rocket-propelled munition, such as those commonly used by Palestinian armed groups, that hit the hospital grounds,”90 Abu Sittah furiously lashed out at the group calling it “unreliable” with “baseless” claims that “serv[ed]the enemy” by contradicting Hamas propaganda.91
Conclusion
The case of MSF and Dr. Ghassan Abu Sittah exemplifies how supposed eyewitness claims, framed as ethical and factual testimony, are deployed to erase Hamas’ responsibility for violence and to legitimize baseless accusations against Israel. While Abu Sittah and the MSF may have been among the first to support and promote Hamas propaganda, the willing acceptance of their tales by the media without adequate challenge and by the professional journals which platformed their claims have only inspired other activist-physicians and Palestinian-affiliated medical organizations to brazenly follow suit, with new, ludicrous inventions of alleged war crimes by Israel that contribute to the genocide canard.92, 93, 94, 95
Hamas has thus been able to thus sanitize its own atrocities and present Israel as the aggressor, creating a feedback loop of disinformation amplified through media, medical journals, and international humanitarian platforms. This systematic distortion not only misleads global audiences but also recruits new adherents to a fabricated moral narrative, solidifying a false canard of genocide that advances Hamas’ broader strategic goals while undermining both truth and accountability.
1.^ CAMERA. “The Anti‑Semitic Rhetoric of Anti‑Zionists.” CAMERA. March 8, 2023. https://www.camera.org/article/the-anti-semitic-rhetoric-of-anti-zionists
2.^ Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). “Who We Are.” MSF. Accessed October 29, 2025. https://www.msf.org/who-we-are
3.^ Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). “Gaza‑Israel War.” MSF. Archived October 14, 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20231014022330/https:/www.msf.org/gaza-israel-war
4.^ Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). “Gaza‑Israel War.” MSF. Accessed October 29, 2025.. https://www.msf.org/gaza-israel-war
5.^ Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) [@MSF]. “[Tweet].” X, October 12, 2023.. https://x.com/MSF/status/1712467932482322832?lang=e
6.^ Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). “Indiscriminate Violence and Collective Punishment in Gaza Must Cease.” ReliefWeb, October 12, 2023. https://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/msf-indiscriminate-violence-and-collective-punishment-gaza-must-ceas
7.^ MEMRI. “Hamas Official Ghazi Hamad: ‘We Will Repeat October 7 Attack Time and Again Until Israel.’” MEMRI. Nov, 1, 2023.. https://www.memri.org/reports/hamas-official-ghazi-hamad-we-will-repeat-october-7-attack-time-and-again-until-israel
8.^ MEMRI. “Head of Hamas Youth Department Mohammad Al‑Najjar on Iran TV: ‘October 7 Will Be Repeated Attacks.’” MEMRI. Jan. 29, 2025. https://www.memri.org/reports/head-hamas-youth-department-mohammad-al-najjar-iran-tv-october-7-will-be-repeated-attacks
9.^ Associated Press, ‘European Union Condemns Hamas for Using People as Human Shields,’ AP News, November 13 2023. https://apnews.com/article/european-union-condemn-hamas-human-shields-2c0d1c04cb38fc4acce37d8d624e1a3f
10.^ Israel Defence Forces. “Hamas Operations in Hospitals.” IDF. Accessed October 20, 2025. https://www.idf.il/en/mini-sites/hamas-operations-in-hospitals
11.^ The New York Times. “Interactive: Gaza Tunnels and Hamas.” New York Times, February 12, 2024. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/02/12/world/middleeast/gaza-tunnel-israel-hamas.html
12.^ ABC News. “US Intelligence: Hamas Using Gaza’s Al‑Shifa Hospital.” ABC News, Nov. 14, 2023. https://abcnews.go.com/International/us-intelligence-hamas-gazas-al-shifa-hospital-hold/story?id=104887035
13.^ Reuters. “Israel Raids Gaza’s Al‑Shifa Hospital.” Reuters, November 15, 2023. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israel-raids-gazas-al-shifa-hospital-2023-11-15
14.^ The New York Times. “Gaza Hospital and Hamas.” New York Times, January 2, 2024. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/02/us/politics/gaza-hospital-hamas.html
15.^ Reuters. “Israeli Military Says Hamas Hiding Tunnels, Operations Centres in Gaza Hospital.” Reuters, October 27, 2023. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israeli-military-says-hamas-hiding-tunnels-operations-centres-gaza-hospital-2023-10-27
16.^ Destexhe, Alain. “Doctors Without Borders: An Accomplice of Hamas?” Dec. 18, 2023. Google Drive. Accessed October 29, 2025. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RnHNK5fKVegDO6m0jqpXX6VpFJ_Pz1nV/view
17.^ Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). “Strikes, Raids, and Incursions: A Year of Relentless Attacks on Healthcare in Palestine.” MSF. https://www.msf.org/strikes-raids-and-incursions-year-relentless-attacks-healthcare-palestine
18.^ Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) [@MSF]. “[Tweet].” X, Nov. 4, 2023. https://x.com/MSF/status/1720751062603169829
19.^ Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). “Displacement Orders Are Psychological and Physical Warfare: Israeli Campaign of Ethnic Cleansing in Gaza.” MSF. Accessed October 29, 2025. https://www.msf.org/displacement-orders-are-psychological-and-physical-warfare-israeli-campaign-ethnic-cleansing-gaza
20.^ Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). “Gaza: Open Letter to EU Heads of State.” MSF. June 16, 2025. https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/latest/gaza-open-letter-eu-heads-stat
21.^ Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). “Gaza: Inside the War — MSF Documents Israel’s All‑Out War Against Palestinians in an Interactive Timeline.” Doctors Without Borders Canada. May 1, 2025. https://www.doctorswithoutborders.ca/gaza-inside-the-war-msf-documents-israels-all-out-war-against-palestinians-in-an-interactive-timeline
22.^ Gaza: Inside the War. “Homepage.” Gaza: Inside the War. Accessed October 29, 2025. https://gazainsidethewar.com/en
23.^ Israel Defense Forces. “Al-Ahli Al-Ma’amadani Hospital: Initial IDF Aftermath Report, October 18, 2023.” Israel Defense Forces, October 18, 2023. https://www.idf.il/en/mini-sites/israel-at-war/all-articles/al-ahli-al-maamadani-hospital-initial-idf-aftermath-report-october-18-2023
24.^ Ibid,
25.^ Patrick Reevell, “U.S. Initial Independent Review Shows Evidence Bomb Strike Did Not Hit Gaza Hospital,” ABC News, October 24, 2023. https://abcnews.go.com/International/us-initial-independent-review-shows-evidence-bomb-strike/story?id=104126146
26.^ “France Says Its Intelligence Indicates Gaza Hospital Blast Caused by Palestinian Rocket,” Associated Press, October 22, 2023. https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-france-intelligence-7be0d59b9ceb58bbf2f03c5dc8222356
27.^ Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces. “Statement from the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces on the Recent Strike at Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza.” Government of Canada, October 21, 2023. https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/news/2023/10/statement-from-the-department-of-national-defence-and-the-canadian-armed-forces-on-the-recent-strike-at-al-ahli-hospital-in-gaza.html
28.^ Patrick Wintour, “Gaza Hospital Blast Caused by Militant Rocket, Says UK Intelligence,” The Guardian, October 23, 2023. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/23/gaza-hospital-blast-caused-by-militants-rocket-uk-intelligence-sunak-israel-palestine
29.^ “US Intel Says Gaza Hospital Death Toll Likely between 100 and 300,” Reuters, October 19, 2023. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/us-intel-says-gaza-hospital-death-toll-likely-between-100-300-2023-10-19
30.^ “Hôpital à Gaza: Incertitudes sur le Nombre de Victimes,” Le Point, October 19, 2023. https://www.lepoint.fr/monde/hopital-a-gaza-incertitudes-sur-le-nombre-de-victimes-19-10-2023-2540039_24.php
31.^ Anadolu English, “Gaza’s Health Ministry Holds Press Conference in Rubble of Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital,” Anadolu Agency, October 18 2023, https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/gaza-s-health-ministry-holds-press-conference-in-rubble-of-al-ahli-baptist-hospital/3024183
32.^ Anadolu English, “Ministry of Health in Gaza Held a Press Conference at Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital Among the Bodies,” YouTube video, 1:21, October 18 2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snac2Kxwfpc&rco=1
33.^ Médecins Sans Frontières, “@MSF/status/1714363236315779572,” X (formerly Twitter), October 17 2023, https://x.com/MSF/status/1714363236315779572
34.^ Médecins Sans Frontières, “@MSF/status/1714363240539398216,” X, October 17 2023, https://x.com/MSF/status/1714363240539398216
35.^ Médecins Sans Frontières, “@MSF/status/1714363238240973125,” X, October 17 2023, https://x.com/MSF/status/1714363238240973125
36.^ Médecins Sans Frontières, “Médecins Sans Frontières Response to the Bombing of Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City,” ReliefWeb (via MSF), October 17 2023, https://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/medecins-sans-frontieres-response-bombing-ahli-arab-hospital-gaza-city
37.^ Elisabeth Mahase, “Gaza: ‘Unprecedented’ Bombing of Hospital Leaves Hundreds Dead and Injured,” BMJ 383 (2023): p. 2423, https://www.bmj.com/content/383/bmj.p2423.full
38.^ Helmi Ben Saad et al., ” Urgent humanitarian appeal: Protecting the lives of women and children in the Gaza Strip (Palestine),” Journal of Public Health Research 13, no. 1 (February 5, 2024).
39.^ Samer Abuzerr et al., ” Healthcare collapse and disease spread: a qualitative study of challenges in Gaza strip,” BMC Public Health 25 (2025): 589.
40.^ Mohammed Alkhaldi et al., ” Suboptimal Attainment of Global Goals of Human Rights, Universal Health Coverage and Sustainable Development Goals in Gaza During 2023–2024,” Risk Management and Healthcare Policy 17 (December 19, 2024): 3207–3216.
41.^ Samina Salim, ” The burden of trauma in the life of a refugee,” Frontiers in Public Health 12 (July 17, 2024): 1298544.
42.^ Anadolu Agency. “Factbox: Israeli ‘Crematorium’ of Civilians at Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital.” Anadolu Agency, October 20, 2023. https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/factbox-israeli-crematorium-of-civilians-at-al-ahli-baptist-hospital/3365401
43.^ ABC News. “Deadly Blast at Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza: What We Know.” October 18, 2023. https://abcnews.go.com/International/deadly-blast-al-ahli-arab-hospital-gaza-what-we-know/story?id=104068695
44.^ Nidal Al-Mughr and Paul Hosford. “Hundreds Killed in Air Strike on ‘Crammed’ Gaza City Hospital.” Irish Examiner, October 18, 2023.
45.^ USA Today. “Israel-Hamas War Live Updates.” October 17, 2023. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2023/10/17/israel-hamas-war-live-updates/71212615007
46.^ Elena Salvoni. “‘I Heard a Screech of Missiles… Then the Ceiling Fell’: British Doctor Describes Moment Blast Ripped Through Gaza Hospital Before He Started Treating Horrifically Injured Patients.” MailOnline, October 18, 2023.
47.^ BBC News. “London Doctor in Gaza Says Hospital Ceiling Fell in After Blast.” October 18, 2023. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-67142786
48.^ Middle East Eye / Real Talk, “British-Palestinian Surgeon: ‘This Is What I Saw in Gaza’ (Part 1),” YouTube video, 47:08, posted December 21, 2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1w7RDWueiM
49.^ Hollander, Ricki, and Alex Safian, PhD. “Diana Buttu: Palestinian Rockets Don’t Explode!” CAMERA (Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis). January 21, 2009.https://www.camera.org/article/diana-buttu-palestinian-rockets-don-t-explode
50.^ Saada Allaw and Nour Kelzi, “Ghassan Abu Sitta: Genocide in Gaza,” The Legal Agenda, January 29, 2024, https://english.legal-agenda.com/ghassan-abu-sitta-genocide-in-gaza
51.^ Abu-Sittah, Ghassan. “Testimony from the Heart of Al-Shifa Hospital – Gaza.” Institute for Palestine Studies: Documenting the Targeting and Destruction of the Health Sector in the Gaza Strip. October 27, 2023. https://gazahcsector.palestine-studies.org/en/node/386
52.^ “The Destruction of Gaza’s Health Sector: Confronting Devastation and Forced Displacement.” Lecture at Institute for Palestine Studies (IPS) & Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies, December 5, 2023. https://www.palestine-studies.org/en/node/1654797
53.^ American University of Beirut (AUB) Global Health Initiative. “Wounds of War: The Gaza Experience Through the Eyes of Dr. Ghassan Abu Sitta.” Event hosted December 21, 2023 by the Global Health Institute at AUB, in partnership with the Institute for Palestine Studies and the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies. YouTube video, accessed Oct. 30, 2025. https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=GQ_DSV7OK9E
54.^ François‑Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights and Institute of Community and Public Health at Birzeit University. “A Conversation with Dr. Ghassan Abu‑Sittah.” Webinar, December 11, 2023. Hosted by the Palestine Program for Health and Human Rights and co‑sponsored by the Center for Middle Eastern Studies and the Religion, Conflict, and Peace Initiative, Harvard University. Accessed [insert date]. https://cmes.fas.harvard.edu/event/conversation-dr-ghassan-abu-sitta
55.^ De Vogli, Roberto, Ghassan Abu‑Sitta, Ilan Pappé, Jonathan Montomoli, et al. “Break the Selective Silence on the Genocide in Gaza.” The Lancet, https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140‑6736(25)01541‑7/fulltext
56.^ Institute for Palestine Studies. “Documenting the Targeting and Destruction of the Health Sector in the Gaza Strip.” Accessed October 31, 2025. https://gazahcsector.palestine-studies.org/en
57.^ Médecins Sans Frontières. “Strikes, raids and incursions: Over a year of relentless attacks on healthcare in Palestine.” May 30, 2025. Accessed October 31, 2025. https://www.msf.org/strikes-raids-and-incursions-year-relentless-attacks-healthcare-palestine
58.^ Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center. “Hamas Exploitation of Hospitals for Military-Terrorist Purposes: Shifa Hospital as a Test Case.” December 11, 2023. https://www.terrorism-info.org.il/en/hamas-exploitation-of-hospitals-for-military-terrorist-purposes-shifa-hospital-as-a-test-case
59.^ Jeremy Sharon, “Hamas Government Docs Detail Terror Group’s Use of Gaza Hospitals, Medical Facilities,” Times of Israel, September 12, 2025, https://www.timesofisrael.com/hamas-government-docs-detail-terror-groups-use-of-gaza-hospitals-medical-facilities
60.^ “IDF Publishes Evidence of Weapons found inside Gaza’s Shifa Hospital’s MRI Center,” YouTube video [7:18], posted by shiezoli, Nov. 15, 2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQDawQ4IR2o&t=2s.
61.^ Reuters, “Israeli Military Says Weapons Found in Al-Shifa Hospital,” Reuters, November 15, 2023, https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israeli-military-says-weapons-found-al-shifa-hospital-2023-11-15
62.^ “Hamas HQ Hidden Under Gaza’s Largest Hospital,” YouTube video [10:38], posted by Israel Defense Forces, Oct. 27, 2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ggBF9rnBe0
63.^ “On-the-Record Press Call by NSC Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby and Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economics Mike Pyle to Preview President Biden’s Day Ahead at APEC,” November 16, 2023, via Teleconference, The American Presidency Project, https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/the-record-press-call-nsc-coordinator-for-strategic-communications-john-kirby-and-deputy
64.^ “IDF Video Proof: Hamas Men Seen Firing From Inside Al-Shifa| Watch Gaza Hospital Misused For Terror,” YouTube video [5:12], posted by
65.^ Matthew Rosenberg, Ronen Bergman, Aric Toler, and Helmuth Rosales, “A Tunnel Offers Clues to How Hamas Uses Gaza’s Hospitals,” The New York Times, February 12, 2024, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/02/12/world/middleeast/gaza-tunnel-israel-hamas.html
66.^ Justin Gomez, Luis Martinez, and Shannon K. Kingston, “US Says It Has Intelligence Hamas Has Used Gaza’s Al‑Shifa Hospital to Hold Hostages,” ABC News, November 14, 2023, https://abcnews.go.com/International/us-intelligence-hamas-gazas-al-shifa-hospital-hold/story?id=104887035
67.^ “CCTV footage, tunnels: IDF releases video clips to back up Gaza target claims,” YouTube video, [3:11], posted by France24English, November 20 2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_PW4rzCcvg
68.^ John Spencer, “Hospitals Are Protected Under International Law. But They Cannot Be ‘Off Limits,’” Newsweek, February 21, 2024. https://www.newsweek.com/hospitals-are-protected-under-international-law-they-cannot-off-limits-opinion-1871757
69.^ Ibid.
70.^ Fareed Zakaria GPS, “Israel And Hezbollah Exchange Fire at the End of Truce; Israel’s Strategy in Gaza; Interview with British‑Palestinian Doctor Ghassan Abu‑Sittah About Gaza War Zone…” transcript of television program aired December 3 2023 on CNN. https://transcripts.cnn.com/show/fzgps/date/2023-12-03/segment/01
71.^ Nicole Lampert, “Can the Media Trust This Doctor in Gaza?,” UnHerd, December 2 2023, https://unherd.com/2023/12/can-the-media-trust-this-doctor-in-gaza
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73.^ Amy Goodman, “’Genocidal Machine’: Dr. Ghassan Abu‑Sittah on Israel’s Destruction of Gaza’s Hospitals,” Democracy Now!, April 1, 2024, https://www.democracynow.org/2024/4/1/gaza_hospital_destruction_al_shifa
74.^ CPS Annual Lecture 2025 by Dr. Ghassan Abu Sittah: The Biosphere of Genocide – Gaza’s killing machine,” SOAS University of London, May 15, 2025, https://www.soas.ac.uk/about/event/cps-annual-lecture-2025-biosphere-genocide-gazas-killing-machine
75.^ “Hamas Propaganda by Doctors Without Borders, Courtesy of PBS Newshour,” CAMERA website, December 2023, https://www.camera.org/article/hamas-propaganda-by-doctors-without-borders-courtesy-of-pbs-newshour
76.^ Médecins Sans Frontières, “MSF Briefing on Gaza to UN Security Council,” February 22 2024, https://www.msf.org/msf-briefing-gaza-un-security-council
77.^ Emanuel Fabian, “IDF: Slain Gazan Named as Doctors Without Borders Staffer Was Islamic Jihad Rocket Maker,” The Times of Israel, June 26 2024, https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-slain-gazan-named-as-doctors-without-borders-staffer-was-islamic-jihad-rocket-make
78.^ Médecins Sans Frontières, “MSF Colleague Killed in Gaza City,” June 25 2024, https://www.msf.org/msf-colleague-killed-gaza-city
79.^ NGO Monitor, “MSF in Gaza: Terror‑linked Employee and Hospital,” November 23 2023, https://ngo-monitor.org/reports/msf-in-gaza-terror-linked-employee-and-hospital
80.^ Médecins Sans Frontières, “MSF Doctors Killed in Strike on Al‑Awda Hospital in Northern Gaza,” November 21 2023, https://www.msf.org/msf-doctors-killed-strike-al-awda-hospital-northern-gaza-palestine
81.^ Médecins Sans Frontières, “MSF Briefing on Gaza to UN Security Council,” February 22, 2024, https://www.msf.org/msf-briefing-gaza-un-security-council
82.^ Médecins Sans Frontières, “MSF Statement on New ICJ Proceedings: Israel/Gaza,” April 29, 2025, https://prezly.msf.org.uk/msf-statement-on-new-icj-proceedings-israelgaza
83.^ Ghassan Abu Sitta, “British‑Palestinian Surgeon Presents Testimony to UK War Crimes Unit after Returning from Gaza,” Press TV, December 10 2023, https://www.presstv.co.uk/Detail/2023/12/10/716153/Palestinian‑surgeon‑Ghassan‑Abu‑Sitta‑testimony‑war‑crimes‑investigation‑unit
84.^ “Doctor to Present Gaza War Crimes Testimony at ICC,” Middle East Monitor, January 10 2024, https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20240110-doctor-to-present-gaza-war-crimes-testimony-at-icc
85.^ Amnesty International UK, “Surgeon Working in Gaza Speaks Out | Dr Ghassan Abu Sittah,” YouTube video, 12:34, posted May 1, 2024, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZhYI9N-jBY
86.^ CAMERA, “Amnesty International,” CAMERA, accessed October 26, 2025, https://www.camera.org/article/organization/amnesty-international/
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88.^ Alex Safian, “Human Rights Watch Report Maligns Israel with Lies on Top of Lies,” CAMERA, April 27, 2021, https://www.camera.org/article/human-rights-watch-report-maligns-israel-with-lies-on-top-of-lies/
89.^ Ricki Hollander, “Human Rights Watch Discredited Even by Its Founder,” CAMERA, October 20, 2009, https://www.camera.org/article/human-rights-watch-discredited-even-by-its-founder
90.^ Human Rights Watch, “Gaza: Findings on October 17 al Ahli Hospital Explosion,” November 26, 2023, https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/11/26/gaza-findings-october-17-al-ahli-hospital-explosion
91.^ “Palestinian surgeon slams HRW as unreliable source, says al‑Ahli Hospital report ‘baseless’, ” Press TV, December 6, 2023, https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2023/12/06/715896/Palestine-Israel-surgeon-condemn-HRW-report-al-Ahli-hospital-explosion-baseless
92.^ “Ricki Hollander, “The Dangerous Misinformation of Propagandist Doctors,” CAMERA, October 24, 2024, https://www.camera.org/article/the-dangerous-misinformation-of-propagandist-doctors
93.^ Gilead Ini, “In NY Times, Doctors With Credibility Issues,” CAMERA, October 24, 2024, https://www.camera.org/article/in-ny-times-doctors-with-credibility-issues
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95.^ Ricki Hollander, “More Defamation of Israel at NPR,” CAMERA, July 22, 2025, https://www.camera.org/article/more-defamation-of-israel-at-npr