RAMALLAH, March 30, 2025 (WAFA) – President of the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) Younes Al-Khatib Sunday held the Israeli occupation authorities fully responsible for the safety and lives of nine crew members besieged for eight consecutive days in Rafah’s Tal Al-Sultan neighborhood.
Addressing a press conference in Ramallah, Al-Khatib said that the fate of the crew members was still unknown after Israeli occupation forces had directly opened gunfire at and injured them in the neighborhood.
The gunfire in Rafah city's Tal al-Sultan neighborhood came just days into a renewed Israeli offensive in the southern area, close to the Egyptian border after Israel unilaterally ended the ceasefire agreement and resumed its bombardments of Gaza on 18 March.
Condemned “deliberate attempts” by the occupying forces to “cripple” rescue attempts, Al-Khatib described the failure to know their fate as a calamity for the PRCS, particularly since occupation forces have been procrastinating in allowing other PRCS rescue teams access to the area.
He affirmed that the targeting of the PRCS crew members, whose ambulances were clearly marked with PRCS insignia, was a premeditated crime whose perpetrators shall be held accountable under humanitarian international law.
“A Palestinian life is not merely a number. The nine missing members of the Red Crescent team and the six missing members of the Civil Defence agency have families waiting for them,” Al-Khatib was quoted as saying.
He called on the international community to pressure Israel, the occupying power, to disclose their fate and immediately allow rescue teams to rescue the nine paramedics.
He revealed that the occupation forces have targeted and destroyed 34 ambulances since the onset of the genocidal aggression on Gaza on October 7, 2023.
The PRCS expressed “shock” at the attack since the ambulances were clearly marked with Red Crescent emblems, which shall be protected under international laws, which, in turn, require the occupation forces to respect the emblem and facilitate the mission of humanitarian personnel, refrain from harming them and even provide medical treatment to them and not jeopardize their lives.
Al-Khatib called for the international community, including the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), to identify the exact location of the missing members.
He also called on them to ensure the protection of medical personnel, take the measures necessary to oblige Israel to immediately halt any further gross violations against Palestinian medial missions, comply with the provisions of humanitarian international law and human rights law, and bring Israel’s impunity to an end.
K.F.
