Palestinian Islamic Jihad confirmed on Tuesday that a physical therapist working for Doctors Without Borders who was killed in an Israeli strike in 2024 was also a commander in the Iranian-backed terrorist group.
Saraya al-Quds, PIJ’s “military wing,” identified Fadi al-Wadiya as a “martyr commander” and said he served as the deputy head of its military manufacturing unit when he was slain on June 25, 2024.
Fadi Jihad Mohammed al-Wadiyya (ID# 802854323, age 33) , a physiotherapist working for Doctors Without Borders, was ID'd by the IDF as a PIJ member shortly after he was killed in a June 2024 airstrike. Today, PIJ confirmed that al-Wadiyya was the deputy head of their military… pic.twitter.com/cAeBGVtgeG
— Gabriel Epstein (@GabrielEpsteinX) February 24, 2026
The Israel Defense Forces in 2024 claimed that al-Wadiya was involved in developing missiles for the Iranian proxy, adding that he was “a source of knowledge” in the fields of electronics and chemistry.
Al-Wadiya “advanced the terror organization’s rocket array, also known as a way to endanger the lives of civilians,” said the IDF, calling it “just another case of terrorists in Gaza exploiting the civilian population.”
However, the Geneva-based Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières) NGO named al-Wadiya as one of its employees, claiming he was targeted by an Israeli drone strike while on his way to “provide vital medical care to wounded victims of the endless massacres across Gaza.”
“This attack is yet another brutal example of the senseless killing of Palestinian civilians and healthcare workers in Gaza,” MSF added.
The NGO did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.
On Jan. 2, the Israeli Foreign Ministry presented evidence revealing that some Doctors Without Borders staffers, including al-Wadiya, were also members of Palestinian terrorist groups operating in the Gaza Strip.
For example, Nasser Hamdi Abdelatif al-Shalfouh worked for the NGO while at the same time serving as a Hamas sniper during “combat and operational activity,” according to the Foreign Ministry statement.
The revelations came as Israel began enforcing a new regulations for NGOs working in Gaza, suspending licenses of groups that “failed to meet required security and transparency standards,” including MSF.
After Jerusalem ordered MSF out of the Gaza Strip by Feb. 28, the group announced it would, “as an exceptional measure,” share with Jerusalem “a defined list of Palestinian staff and international staff names.”
MSF made the decision “solely with the aim of being able to continue providing critical medical care,” the group said in a Jan. 24 statement.
Meanwhile, last month, Doctors Without Borders suspended “non-critical” medical services at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, citing concerns regarding safeguarding its neutrality after Palestinian terrorists were spotted operating from the medical center.
On Oct. 10, the IDF withdrew to the truce-instituted Yellow Line, leaving the hospital in the area where Hamas has been trying to reassert control.
“MSF formally expressed our strong concern to the relevant authorities,” meaning the terrorist organization, after “armed men, some masked” were seen inside the compound by staff and patients, the NGO said.
Since the U.S.-brokered ceasefire went into effect, MSF officials have reported “a pattern of unacceptable acts,” including “the presence of armed men, intimidation, arbitrary arrests of patients and a recent situation of suspicion of movement of weapons,” the group added.
