The Red Crescent suspends its medical missions in the Gaza Strip for 48 hours

RAMALLAH: The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) today has announced the complete suspension of its medical missions in the Gaza Strip for a period of 48 hours. PRCS said that such a step comes as a result of the Israeli occuaption forces`s failure to ensure the safety and security of the society's crews and the sick and wounded individuals who are in the society's hospitals, centers and ambulances. PRCS said in a statement that it will evaluate this situation during the next two days to reach a conclusion that will enable it to protect its crews and vehicles, and ensure that they are not exposed to the risk of death or injury. Earlier yesterday, the Society evacuated a number of patients from Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Yunis to Rafah hospitals due to their urgent need for advanced surgical medical intervention in coordination with the United Nations Office of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), after obtaining approval from the Israeli occupation forces. It said, 'despite the occupation forces' knowledge of the names and ID numbers of the staff accompanying the patients, they intercepted each one for more than seven hours and mistreated its members, especially the accompanying Red Crescent medical staff. PRCS further added that Israeli army detained three paramedics, releasing one of them after many hours, stressing that' the society has no information about fate of the others two paramedics.' "This is not the first incident in which the Israeli occupation forces did not respect the coordination made by the United Nations and international organizations with the society" noting that, " they (the occupation army) had previously bombed the association's ambulances on their way to evacuate injured people from different areas in the Gaza Strip, and prevented and obstructed relief aid convoys from reaching the area, especially in the Gaza Strip and its north, and the continued arrest of a number of the association's personnel. PRCS added that this illegal behavior is added to the list of blatant violations of inte rnational humanitarian law committed by the Israeli occupation forces against medical personnel, and the sick and injured. The society urgently called for the occupation forces to release all medical personnel they arrested, including the association's medical and administrative personnel working in the field to perform their humanitarian tasks, to respect the Red Crescent emblem, which is protected in accordance with the provisions of international law. PRCS also called for the need to respect and protect the legal personality of the association, to facilitate its humanitarian mission and to protect the sick and injured who sought refuge in its facilities. Source: Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA