On the occasion of World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day (May 8), the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) issues an urgent appeal to the international community to provide protection for medical teams and humanitarian workers in Palestine.

Since the beginning of this year, PRCS has lost eight of its Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs), who were targeted by Israeli forces in Rafah in March while carrying out their humanitarian duty to rescue the wounded. This attack was one of the deadliest, claiming the lives of 15 humanitarian workers, including PRCS personnel.

The continued deliberate targeting of humanitarian workers by the occupation seeks to dismantle health, medical, and emergency services. It is part of a systematic policy pursued by Israeli forces to destroy the health sector’s infrastructure in its entirety, leading to the near-total collapse of the health system in Gaza. This has exacerbated the suffering of thousands of wounded and sick people and has made life in Gaza nearly impossible—amounting to a policy of collective punishment that contradicts the most basic humanitarian principles.