“We did what we could”

© Mohammed Abed / AFP

FROM OCTOBER 7 TO NOVEMBER 11

“We did what we could”

Curator: Clothilde Mraffko

On 20 October 2023, when Israel ordered the evacuation of the Al Awda hospital in the north of the Gaza Strip, some Palestinian healthcare workers decided to stay with their patients, despite the danger. One of them, an MSF doctor, wrote the following words on the duty roster, a sort of testament: ‘We did what we could. Remember us’.  He was killed a month later, on 21 November, during the siege of the hospital by the Israeli army. MSF staff were one of the few witnesses to Israel’s all-out war on Gaza since the Hamas massacres of 7 October 2023. The enclave is under lock and key, with no access for foreign observers.
MSF is putting on a multimedia exhibition to tell the story of the siege, the bombings, the attacks and the horror of daily life in Gaza through the experience of its healthcare workers, on the front line of this conflict. More than 37,000 Palestinians have been killed, including more than 200 aid workers. Like the rest of the civilian population, MSF employees are living through the terror of the fighting and bombings. They are bereaved, displaced and starving. They bear witness to Israel’s war on hospitals and tell of the daily life that makes their mission almost impossible: the massive influx of patients, the displaced people who take refuge there, the shortages of medicines and food, the evacuation orders and the attacks on the health facilities themselves.

This exhibition was created in association with :

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Musée Mémorial de la Bataille de Normandie
2, Boulevard Fabian Ware

Open daily from 10 am to 12.30 pm and from 2 pm to 6 pm
Free admission