Global Red Cross condemns death of Palestinian medics in Israeli strike in Gaza

By Anadolu staff

ISTANBUL (AA) - The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) on Thursday condemned an Israeli airstrike on an ambulance that killed four Palestinian medics in the central Gaza Strip.

Israeli fighter jets struck an ambulance in Deir al-Balah city on Wednesday, killing four members of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society and two patients.

“These deaths are shocking and completely unacceptable,” IFRC said in a statement.

“Under International Humanitarian Law, ambulances, healthcare workers and their patients must be respected and protected.”

It called for “unwavering respect for the Red Crescent emblem and the crucial humanitarian services it represents.”

Several ambulances and health care facilities were repeatedly targeted by Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

Israel has pounded the Palestinian enclave since a cross-border attack by Hamas which Tel Aviv says killed around 1,200 people.

At least 23,357 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and 59,410 others injured, according to Palestinian health authorities.

About 85% of Gazans have been displaced, while all of the population is food insecure, according to the UN. Hundreds of thousands of people are living without shelter, and ⁠less than half of the aid trucks are entering the territory than before the start of the conflict.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar