“Crashing Down on Us” 47 I had surgery at around 9 a.m. on November 20. … I told the doctors, “Please operate on my grandson first. Please treat my grandson.” After they did the surgery on my grandson. … [When the airstrike hit], I was in a separate room. … I tried to stand up with one leg and jump. I was hopping with one leg to reach the bunker at the hospital. … I reached the bunker. … I was the last one in. I had to slide my body into the bunker. My leg, which had been operated on that same day, started bleeding. The stitches came undone. After the airstrike, the doctors transferred my grandson, me, and two other patients to another hospital.68 The same hospital was again hit one month later, on December 20, by Myanmar junta jets, indicating a deliberate series of junta attacks on a medical facility protected under the laws of war. A doctor arrived in the wake of the airstrike and told Fortify Rights: I saw the aftermath of the attack near the hospital. … I assume they were targeting the hospital or the [withheld–not a military target]. There is nothing else around here. … There were two severely injured patients from that airstrike—a medical volunteer who had a below-the-knee amputation. The second was hit by shrapnel from the bomb in her chest. … [She] is a midwife from our hospital team. A total of six people were injured. Five out of six are our team members. Two were significant injuries, and the other four were minor injuries.69 Targeting of Rescue and Humanitarian Workers in Karenni State In February 2024, Fortify Rights visited Karenni State and conducted interviews with members of local civil society organizations and humanitarian workers from several humanitarian organizations, including the Karenni Humanitarian Aid Initiative, and Karenni Hope, who shared how the Myanmar military junta conducted air attacks on humanitarian convoys evacuating residents out of Loikaw after the start of Operation 1111—a coordinated offensive against the junta launched by a coalition of ethnic armed organizations in Karenni State on November 11, 2023.70 The founder of Karenni Hope shared with Fortify Rights that the organization was established shortly before Operation 1111 to assist civilians evacuating from areas of conflict, facilitating their transition into internally displaced persons camps, and supporting food distribution and water supply to the camps.71 The founder of Karenni Hope told Fortify Rights how a junta jet attacked their humanitarian convoy: During Operation 1111, on the way back from Loikaw, we had a white flag on our truck. The junta still attacked us. The fighter jet knew it was a convoy of fleeing civilians. They attacked anyway. We clearly had a white flag on our truck. It was two four-wheeled trucks. We were evacuating around 20-30 displaced people [from Loikaw]. It was in the afternoon. … We were driving on the road. One jet was overhead. The residents from Loikaw in the truck were shouting and yelling. The bomb hit the field next to the road we were on. The Myanmar fighter jet was also attacking us with bullets.72 68 Ibid. 69 Fortify Rights interview with Z.I., Demoso Township, Karenni State, Myanmar, February 23, 2024. 70 Fortify Rights interview with E.Z., Demoso Township, Karenni State, Myanmar, February 28, 2024. 71 Fortify Rights interview with E.G., Demoso Township, Karenni State, Myanmar, February 25, 2024. 72 Ibid.

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