MAP strongly condemns the killing and disappearing of PRCS paramedics and other first responders in Gaza, which is part of a consistent pattern by Israeli forces of targeting health workers and facilities. There must be thorough, prompt and independent investigations into apparent serious violations of international humanitarian law, and perpetrators must be held fully accountable.
On 23 March, ten PRCS paramedics and six Civil Defence first responders were targeted when responding to treat Palestinians wounded after an Israeli airstrike in Rafah. One PRCS ambulance came under fire by Israeli forces, and three additional ambulances were dispatched to support the mission, before Israeli forces besieged the area and contact was lost. One paramedic was released by Israeli forces on 23 March, but until 29 March, Israeli forces refused to coordinate or permit access for rescue teams to the site to search for those that remained.
On 29 March, PRCS teams, accompanied by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and Palestinian Civil Defence teams accessed the area to find the ambulances, one fire-truck and a UN vehicle had been struck, crushed and partially buried, and the body of a Civil Defence worker beneath his fire-truck. On 30 March, rescue teams returned to the site and recovered the bodies of eight PRCS staff, six Civil Defence workers and one UN staff member buried in a mass grave. The Head of UN OCHA oPt, Jonathan Whittall, described finding the paramedics had been in killed their uniforms, wearing their gloves as they sought to carry out their lifesaving duties. A ninth PRCS paramedic is still missing and is believed to have been detained, according to the PRCS.
Fikr Shalltoot, MAP’s Gaza Director, said “The killing of 15 emergency responders, including eight Palestine Red Crescent Society staff, is yet another unconscionable attack on health and humanitarian operations in Gaza, and the latest in Israel’s systematic dismantling of the healthcare system. That they were killed while wearing their uniforms, in clearly marked vehicles, carrying out life-saving duties, is further evidence of an attempt by Israeli forces to wipe-out critical healthcare in Gaza. The international community cannot stay silent in the face of these atrocities.”
