Doctors Without Borders said Thursday that it would evacuate staff from six hospitals in Yemen, following the deaths of more than a dozen people in the bombing of a hospital earlier this week.
The Saudi-led-coalition airstrike killed 19 people and wounded about 20 others Monday at a hospital in Yemen's northern Hajja province.
Doctors Without Borders, the humanitarian medical organization known by its French acronym MSF, said that it repeatedly gave coordinates of hospitals to military parties involved, but the Saudi-led coalition nevertheless conducted "indiscriminate" bombings and gave "unreliable reassurances."
MSF said it would withdraw staff from six hospitals in Yemen's northern governorates of Saada and Hajjah.
“This latest incident shows that the current rules of engagement, military protocols and procedures are inadequate in avoiding attacks on hospitals and need revision and changes,” said Joan Tubau, MSF general director. “MSF asks the Saudi-led coalition and the governments supporting the coalition, particularly the U.S., U.K. and France, to ensure an immediate application of measures to substantially increase the protection of civilians.”
Monday, MSF decried the "tragic consequences" of the attack on a "fully functional hospital full of patients," saying it was the fourth such attack against an MSF facility in the past 12 months.
