Doctors Without Borders/ Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is still pressuring the United States and the Obama Administration to investigate U.S.-led airstrikes that were carried out against a critically placed hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, that offered vital medical care in the war-torn country to anyone needing it, including militants.

The decimation of the hospital cut off emergency access to trauma care for hundreds of thousands of people in northern Afghanistan, reports MSF, which has launched a petition demanding Obama to consent to an independent investigation.

Sign the petition here.

MSF Launches Petition Drive for #Afghanistan Attack Investigation http://t.co/85fXvjTx4c pic.twitter.com/d2U95QnaGU

— Doctors w/o Borders (@MSF_USA) October 15, 2015

Add your voice to #MSF petition: Demand @BarackObama consent to an #independentinvestigation http://t.co/O9beMsnHBg pic.twitter.com/Mdy41HzHC0

— Doctors w/o Borders (@MSF_USA) October 15, 2015

The U.S.-led airstrikes are a blatant violation of international humanitarian law and seemingly intentional, as the hospital’s exact GPS coordinates were given to the U.S. and their Afghan allies numerous times and as recently as a few days before the attack.

The airstrikes killed pharmacists, doctors and other medical staff, as well as three children. In all, 22 people were killed and more than 36 were injured.

An inside look by @andrewquilty at the remains of the @MSF_USA hospital bombed in Afghanistan http://t.co/E4xkyfQAAf pic.twitter.com/ioIRHwckMG

— Foreign Policy (@ForeignPolicy) October 14, 2015

A detailed account painfully provided by a MSF nurse present in the Kunduz trauma hospital during the attack describes the horror that ensued on October 3, when U.S. airstrikes continued bombing the hospital for more than an hour, despite frantic calls to Washington begging them to cease fire. They did not.

“He staggered in with massive trauma to his arm. He was covered in blood, with wounds all over his body.”

“It was absolutely terrifying,” said nurse Lajos Zoltan Jecs.

“I was sleeping in our safe room in the hospital. At around 2am, I was woken up by the sound of a big explosion nearby. At first I didn’t know what was going on. Over the past week we’d heard bombings and explosions before, but always further away. This one was different, close and loud.”

Trying to make sense of what was happening while in shock; Jecs soon heard her name being called. It was an Emergency Room nurse who was covered in blood and severely wounded. She and others tried to help with the limited medical supplies they had, which lacked morphine, preventing them from stopping his pain.

“We went to look for survivors. A few had already made it to one of the safe rooms. One by one, people started appearing, wounded, including some of our colleagues and caretakers of patients.

“We tried to take a look into one of the burning buildings. I cannot describe what was inside. There are no words for how terrible it was. In the Intensive Care Unit six patients were burning in their beds,” she said.

“We looked for some staff that were supposed to be in the operating theater. It was awful. A patient there on the operating table, dead, in the middle of the destruction.

“It was crazy. We had to organize a mass casualty plan in the office, seeing which doctors were alive and available to help. We did an urgent surgery for one of our doctors. Unfortunately he died there on the office table. We did our best, but it wasn’t enough,” said Jecs.

Obama’s consent needed for independent investigation

The International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission (IHFFC), the only body designated to investigate violations of international humanitarian law, has offered its services to MSF, which now requires consent from the Obama Administration in order move forward with an investigation.

“Respect for the laws of war is what protects our staff and patients in conflict zones throughout the world,” said Jason Cone, executive director of MSF-USA.

We need to know if the rules of war have changed for teams on the frontlines http://t.co/ymgLxHmI0P pic.twitter.com/Ix6JPl6XkS

— Doctors w/o Borders (@MSF_USA) October 14, 2015

Consent without delay @BarackObama: IHFFC investigation is waiting http://t.co/zjjO6yzCAS #IndependentInvestigation pic.twitter.com/bxzfDJ6fSR

— Doctors w/o Borders (@MSF_USA) October 14, 2015

“There must be an independent and impartial investigation to establish the facts of this horrific attack on our hospital. We call on President Obama to consent to the International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission investigation without delay.”

We need to understand what happened & why. What protects staff, patients in conflict zones? http://t.co/56s1okWEeH pic.twitter.com/CxEMltVnO8

— Doctors w/o Borders (@MSF_USA) October 15, 2015

“Consenting to the inquiry is a critical step for President Obama to demonstrate the U.S. government’s commitment to the Geneva conventions, and that U.S. forces recognize and respect medical facilities as protected spaces under international humanitarian law,” said Cone.

Additional sources:

DoctorsWithoutBorders.org

Change.org

DoctorsWithoutBorders.org

Evil.news