Israel has been accused of concentrating on help employees in Gaza after the stays of 15 folks, together with eight medics working for the Palestine Pink Crescent Society (PRCS), have been recovered following what the help organisation referred to as a “struggle crime”.
The PRCS mentioned in an announcement on Sunday the group, who got here beneath fireplace greater than every week in the past, have been attacked “by the Israeli occupation forces whereas performing their humanitarian duties”.
It mentioned 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 mentioned the “bloodbath” was a tragedy “for humanitarian work and humanity”.
The “concentrating on” of help employees “regardless of their protected standing and the Pink Crescent emblem can solely be thought-about a struggle crime”, the assertion mentioned.
The Israeli navy mentioned on Monday that an inquiry had discovered that troops had opened fireplace on automobiles together with ambulances and fireplace vehicles that approached a place with out prior coordination and with out headlights or emergency alerts.
Palestinians collect the our bodies of the medics at a hospital in Khan Younis. Pic: Reuters
The medics got here beneath Israeli fireplace whereas on a rescue mission. Pic: Reuters
Palestinians collect round a physique as they mourn medics, who got here beneath Israeli fireplace whereas on a rescue mission. Pic: Reuters
A number of members of the militant teams Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad have been killed, it mentioned.
In an announcement, the IDF mentioned it condemned “the repeated use of civilian infrastructure by the terrorist organisations within the Gaza Strip, together with using medical services and ambulances for terrorist functions”.
Israel’s navy didn’t remark immediately on the deaths of the Pink Crescent employees 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 have 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, referred to as a “mass grave”, marked with the emergency gentle from a crushed ambulance.
Mr Whittall posted footage and video of Pink Crescent groups digging within the sand for the our bodies and employees laying them out on the bottom, coated in plastic sheets.
Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN company for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), mentioned on X on Monday that the our bodies had been “discarded in shallow graves” in what he referred to as “a profound violation of human dignity”.
In an announcement late on Sunday, the Worldwide Committee of the Pink Cross mentioned it was “appalled” on the deaths of volunteers “risking their very own lives to offer 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 in opposition to Hamas earlier this month.
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Greater than 400 help employees have been killed in Gaza for the reason that begin of the Israel-Hamas struggle, Mr Lazzarini mentioned.
In accordance with the UN, at the very least 1,060 healthcare employees 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 decreasing its worldwide workers in Gaza by a 3rd due to security considerations.
Palestinian well being authorities say greater than 50,000 folks 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 folks, and taking some 250 hostage.
