At least 14 bodies have been recovered in southern Gaza, including the bodies of eight doctors, one week after Israeli soldiers fired on ambulances.
The International Federation of Red Cross Societies and the Red Crescent said that the bodies recovered after « seven days of silence » and having a denied access to the Rafah area where they were last seen. The doctors met together with those of six members of the Gaza Civil Defense Agency and a United Nations Agency employee, said Palestine Red Crescent Society in a Ax published statement Sunday.
One of its doctors remained missing, the organization said.
IFRC expressed its outrage after the recovery of medical colleagues who were killed while in the service of Gaza, asking, « When will this be stopped? »
« I am bewildered, » said IFRC Secretary General Jagan Chapagain in a statement. « These workers dedicated to ambulance responded to injured people. They were humanitarian. They had emblems that should have protected them; their ambulances were clearly marked. They should have returned to their families; no. »
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He emphasized that, according to the rules of international humanitarian law, civilians, humanitarian and health services must protect.
« Instead of another call to all parties to protect and respect humanitarian and civilians, I ask myself a question: When will this stop? » Chapagain said. « All parties must stop the slaughter. »
Earlier this month, the Office of the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged to increase military force against Hamas like Israel resumed strikes in Gaza After a removal of the fire of two months.
The Israeli military acknowledged that their troops had opened fire to the ambulance. He told AFP in a statement this week that his forces had « opened fire to Hamas vehicles and eliminated various Hamas terrorists ».
« A few minutes later, additional vehicles advanced suspiciously to the troops, » they responded by firing to suspicious vehicles, « he said.
IFRC said last week’s attack on Rafah was the only fatal attack in his colleagues anywhere in the world since 2017. The number of Volunteers and staff of PRCSs killed since the war between Israel and Hamas began in October 2023 is now 30 years old, according to the World Federation.
The Ministry of Health in Hamas-Run Gaza said on Saturday that at least 921 people have been killed in Palestinian territory since Israel resumed its large-scale strikes.
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