Since final week, 9 Crimson Crescent crew members have been lacking after they got here beneath Israeli fireplace in Rafah.
The president of the Palestine Crimson Crescent Society (PRCS) has condemned Israel for concentrating on its paramedics as they “fulfil their humanitarian mission”.
Throughout a information convention in Ramallah, occupied West Financial institution on Sunday, Younis al-Khatib stated the search to seek out 9 lacking crew members in Gaza is ongoing.
The PRCS misplaced contact with a crew on March 23, after they got here beneath heavy Israeli fireplace in Rafah, in southern Gaza.
“These souls aren’t mere numbers. If this incident [happened] wherever else, the entire world would have moved heaven and earth to reveal this conflict crime,” al-Khatib stated.
He added that, two days in the past, a rescue crew was in a position to attain the scene the place the crew members went lacking with the assistance of the UN Workplace for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and was in a position to retrieve the physique of a crew member, which had been buried.
Nevertheless, rescue groups had been unable to research whether or not the remaining crew members had been alive.
“There are a variety of situations for what occurred… After multiple week of dropping communication with our crew – both they’ve been killed or detained by the Israeli occupation forces,” al-Khatib stated.
‘Suspicious autos’
Final week, the Israeli army advised the AFP information company that it had fired on ambulances and fireplace vans – calling them “suspicious autos” – that arrived at a scene the place it was finishing up assaults.
Hamas political bureau member Basem Naim slammed the assault on the ambulance and stated the “focused killing of rescue employees – who’re protected beneath worldwide humanitarian regulation – constitutes a flagrant violation of the Geneva Conventions and a conflict crime”.
OCHA chief Tom Fletcher stated since Israel broke the ceasefire in Gaza on March 18 and resumed its conflict on the enclave, Israeli air assaults have hit “densely populated areas”, with “sufferers killed of their hospital beds, ambulances shot at, first responders killed”.
Gaza’s Ministry of Well being introduced on Saturday that since Israel resumed its assaults, at the least 921 individuals have been killed within the territory, including to the greater than 50,000 killed since October 7, 2023.
Israel launched its conflict after the Hamas assault on southern Israel on October 7, throughout which 1,139 individuals died and about 250 had been taken captive into Gaza.
