Ramallah (UNA/WAFA) – The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) on Monday issued an urgent appeal to the international community to provide protection for medical personnel and humanitarian workers in Palestine, on the occasion of World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day, which falls on May 8 of each year.
The association stated that it has lost eight of its paramedics since the beginning of the year. They were targeted by the Israeli occupation forces in Rafah during March while performing their humanitarian duty to rescue the wounded. This was one of the most horrific attacks, claiming the lives of 15 humanitarian workers, including Palestinian Red Crescent crews.
It explained that the number of its martyrs since the beginning of the aggression on the Gaza Strip has risen to 48 martyrs from medical and humanitarian personnel, including 30 who died while performing their humanitarian duty while wearing the Red Crescent badge in Gaza and the West Bank. The total number of martyrs from humanitarian work and medical personnel in the Strip has reached more than 1400.
She said that the Red Crescent emblem, which is supposed to provide protection to its bearers, has been transformed into a shroud for the bodies of volunteers and staff targeted while carrying out their humanitarian duties, amid international silence and a continued failure to hold perpetrators accountable or ensure effective protection for field workers.
She pointed out that the Israeli occupation forces, in their repeated violations of international humanitarian law, directly bombed and targeted the association's hospitals, ambulances, headquarters, and crews, in flagrant violation of all international norms and agreements.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) reiterated its call for holding accountable all those responsible for targeting its personnel. It urged the international community and UN organizations to take urgent action to ensure effective protection for humanitarian workers in Palestine, oblige the occupying authorities to respect the Red Crescent emblem, protect medical and relief personnel, and facilitate their work and safe access to affected communities and areas. It also called for the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure, as stipulated in international humanitarian law.
It called for the immediate release of three of its members, whom the occupation has continued to forcibly disappear for over a year, along with dozens of medical personnel working in Gaza who were arrested while carrying out their humanitarian work.
She stressed that the occupation's continued deliberate targeting of humanitarian workers aims to undermine health, medical, and emergency services. This targeting is part of the systematic policy pursued by the occupation forces to destroy the infrastructure of the entire health sector, which has led to a near-total collapse of the health system in the Gaza Strip, exacerbating the suffering of thousands of wounded and sick people and contributing to making life in Gaza almost impossible. This amounts to a policy of collective punishment that contradicts the most basic humanitarian principles.
She stated that the occupation's systematic targeting of the medical system and humanitarian workers has gone beyond condemnation, and that statements alone are no longer sufficient. She emphasized that the time has come to take concrete and serious measures to ensure the safety of humanitarian workers wherever they are.
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