At Don’t Panic, we believe creativity should honour truth, especially when the truth risks being forgotten. Our latest collaboration with Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP), Killed Saving Lives, is a public installation that memorialises nearly 1700 Palestinian health workers killed by Israeli forces since October 2023.
Imagery by Rowan Farrell
1,686 names. Ten metres long. One monumental reminder of the fallen heroes of the Palestinian healthcare system. Installed outside Hackney Wick station, the piece places each individual’s name at the centre of the story, because each one is a life, a profession, a family, a future taken.
Why We Made Killed Saving Lives
Nearly two years of systematic attacks on Gaza’s health system have created an unprecedented humanitarian and healthcare crisis. Hospitals have been besieged, bombed and invaded; ambulances targeted; medical workers detained, forcibly disappeared or killed. MAP and Don’t Panic felt that the scale of the loss and the humanity of those killed needed to be emphasised, and worked closely together to devise this work.
The Idea
A vast memorial of names, paired with a stark headline - Killed Saving Lives - confronts London with the reality of what it means to target those whose only mission is to care for others.
The installation is not symbolic. It is literal: every name on the wall belongs to a Palestinian doctor, nurse, paramedic, midwife, technician or volunteer who should still be alive today.
Why It Matters
Killing medical personnel is a violation of international law. The UK government has an obligation to seek accountability for these crimes.
This installation is a reminder: justice is not optional. And the lives of Palestinian healthcare workers must not disappear into statistics.
