Spain strongly condemns Israeli strike on medical NGO office in Gaza

OVIEDO, Spain

Spain on Wednesday strongly condemned an Israeli drone strike that hit the Gaza offices of the humanitarian group Doctors of the World, killing eight people, including four children.

The Foreign Ministry said the strike targeted a building “whose location had been reported to Israeli military authorities as a facility of a humanitarian organization,” and called the attack a likely violation of international humanitarian law.

Spanish Health Minister Monica Garcia also decried the attack on the facility, which she said housed the Spanish delegation of Doctors of the World.

“The international community must stop the genocide and bring [Benjamin] Netanyahu before a tribunal,” she posted on the social network BlueSky.

Doctors of the World said the missile struck its Gaza office on Tuesday, which had been registered with Israeli authorities and declared deconflicted – a designation meant to protect it from military attacks.

While no staff were working at the time due to Eid celebrations, the missile killed four children, a teenager and three adults who were on the top floor, the organization said.

Doctors of the World added that it had yet to receive an explanation from the Israeli authorities coordinating humanitarian aid.

The office is located in Deir El Balah, an area that hosts numerous non-governmental organization offices and had remained relatively untouched by bombings and destruction in Gaza, the organization said.

“This zone is also sheltering displaced populations from the north of the Strip and the Khan Yunis area, highlighting the humanitarian importance of the Doctors of the World office at that location,” it added.

Doctors of the World, also known as Medecins du Monde, provides emergency and long-term medical care to vulnerable communities around the world.