PRCS: Attacks Against Our teams And Vehicles Must Stop

Al-Bireh, November 25, 2020 – An extremely grave incident took place on November 24, 2020, at the Tayaseer checkpoint in the northern Aghwar. A number of Israeli occupation soldiers attacked a PRCS ambulance and its team as they provided First Aid to a person who had sustained rubber-coated bullet wounds in the abdomen. Several soldiers boarded the ambulance and attempted to arrest the wounded person by force. The soldiers were not accompanied by medical personnel. Furthermore, stun and tear gas grenades were fired at the ambulance while emergency medical techniciens were providing emergency medical services to the wounded person.

PRCS believes that such practices constitute a blatant violation of IHL provisions, and in particular of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, which oblige the Occupying Power to facilitate the work of National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. They also go against International Customary Law which has over the decades also called for facilitating the work of medical missions.

In light of the above, PRCS calls on Israeli occupation authorities to put an end to such violations and to fully respect the provisions of International Humanitarian Law.