Marking a year of heartbreak: A letter from MSF USA chief executive officer Avril Benoît

My colleague, Dr. Mahmoud Abu Nujaila, wrote these words on October 20 in Gaza, on a whiteboard used to plan surgeries. He was a 38-year-old physician and father of three who had been working around the clock caring for injured patients, including many children orphaned by the war.  
 
He was killed by a strike on his hospital a month later.  
 
I share this not to make you lose hope, but to bear witness—to honor his story and the patients he cared for. MSF is more than a medical organization. We are an international movement founded by doctors and journalists.

We speak out against suffering that we witness firsthand—and raise our voices for change. MSF calls on all parties to the conflict in Gaza to ensure the protection of civilians. We continue to call for an immediate and sustained ceasefire to save lives. We are so grateful to those of you who have raised your voices with us.  
 
This has been a year of heartbreak. I know many of you feel the same. At MSF USA, many of us have friends, family, and loved ones in Palestine, Israel, or both. All of us have colleagues working in Palestine to deliver lifesaving care. Yet nowhere is safe in Gaza.  
 
MSF has worked in Gaza for 35 years, but the escalation of violence in the past year has been catastrophic. On October 7, 2023, Hamas militants launched horrific attacks within Israel, killing more than 1,200 people and taking 251 people as hostages. In response, Israel launched a horrific military offensive on Gaza that has so far killed more than 41,000 Palestinians, 11,000 of them children. Among those killed in Gaza are six of our colleagues and many more family members.  

A year into this offensive, the Israeli military’s unrelenting airstrikes have reduced much of the Gaza Strip to rubble. 1.9 million people have been forced from their homes—often multiple times.

We grieve every life lost and disrupted by this violence. Yet, even amid this horror, we do what we can to save each life in front of us.  
 
As my colleague Dr. Rasha Khoury, MSF USA’s Board of Directors President, says of her emergency maternal health work around the globe: “What keeps me going is the feeling that if this were my sister or my mother or my daughter, I would want somebody like me to be there holding their hand. I would never want them to be alone.”  
 
That is what it means to be a humanitarian. It is an expression of solidarity—the belief that every human life has value, that we are all connected, and that we must help each other as humans. It is also about hope and resilience.

What brings me hope: Despite it all, over 700 MSF staff are working in Gaza right now, caring for patients in their time of need. We are still there, performing surgeries, caring for mothers and their newborns, providing mental health support, and vaccinating children against polio. We have also opened two field hospitals to respond to growing needs.  
 
Learn more about our work in Gaza and what your support makes possible.  
 
One year on, we remember, mourn, and reflect. We also recommit to acting with empathy and compassion, with you by our side.