Israel has been accused of concentrating on support staff in Gaza after the stays of 15 individuals, together with eight medics working for the Palestine Crimson Crescent Society (PRCS), had been recovered following what the help organisation known as a “conflict crime”.
The PRCS stated in an announcement on Sunday the group, who got here beneath hearth greater than per week in the past, had been attacked “by the Israeli occupation forces whereas performing their humanitarian duties”.
It stated it additionally recovered the our bodies of six civil defence members and one UN worker from the identical space, whereas a ninth medic “stays lacking”.
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It named the medics, calling them “martyred”, and stated the “bloodbath” was a tragedy “for humanitarian work and humanity”.
The “concentrating on” of support staff “regardless of their protected standing and the Crimson Crescent emblem can solely be thought of a conflict crime”, the assertion stated.
The Israeli navy stated on Monday that an inquiry had discovered that troops had opened hearth on automobiles together with ambulances and hearth vehicles that approached a place with out prior coordination and with out headlights or emergency indicators.
Palestinians collect the our bodies of the medics at a hospital in Khan Younis. Pic: Reuters
The medics got here beneath Israeli hearth whereas on a rescue mission. Pic: Reuters
Palestinians collect round a physique as they mourn medics, who got here beneath Israeli hearth whereas on a rescue mission. Pic: Reuters
A number of members of the militant teams Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad had been killed, it stated.
In an announcement, the IDF stated it condemned “the repeated use of civilian infrastructure by the terrorist organisations within the Gaza Strip, together with using medical amenities and ambulances for terrorist functions”.
Israel’s navy didn’t remark immediately on the deaths of the Crimson Crescent staff however later instructed Reuters it had allowed the our bodies to be recovered from the realm, which it described as an energetic fight zone.
The our bodies had been present in sand within the south of the Gaza Strip in what Jonathan Whittall, Gaza head of the UN Workplace for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, known as a “mass grave”, marked with the emergency mild from a crushed ambulance.
Mr Whittall posted photos and video of Crimson Crescent groups digging within the sand for the our bodies and staff laying them out on the bottom, coated in plastic sheets.
Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN company for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), stated on X on Monday that the our bodies had been “discarded in shallow graves” in what he known as “a profound violation of human dignity”.
In an announcement late on Sunday, the Worldwide Committee of the Crimson Cross stated it was “appalled” on the deaths of volunteers “risking their very own lives to supply help to others. It didn’t allocate blame for the assaults.
The group went lacking on 23 March, after Israel resumed an all-out offensive towards Hamas earlier this month.
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Greater than 400 support staff have been killed in Gaza because the begin of the Israel-Hamas conflict, Mr Lazzarini stated.
In accordance with the UN, a minimum of 1,060 healthcare staff have been killed within the 18 months since Israel launched its offensive in Gaza after Hamas fighters stormed southern Israel on 7 October 2023.
The UN is lowering its worldwide workers in Gaza by a 3rd due to security issues.
Palestinian well being authorities say greater than 50,000 individuals have been killed since Israel launched its marketing campaign in Gaza in response to the 7 October assault, when Hamas militants crossed the border into southern Israel, killing greater than 1,200 individuals, and taking some 250 hostage.
