Attacks on Civilians and Hospitals Must Stop

Abstract

On Oct 3, 2015, a US airstrike hit Médecins Sans Frontières' (MSF's) Kunduz Trauma Centre in Afghanistan; 42 lives, including 14 MSF hospital staff, were lost.1 The 92-bed hospital was the only facility with essential trauma care capabilities for hundreds of thousands of people living in northern Afghanistan; those who continue to live amid conflict will critically miss it. The attack was a violation of international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions, a war crime, and an incursion on the sanctity of humanitarian action globally.