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PRCS: The Killing of Eight of Our Medics is A Tragedy Against Humanitarian Work
Gaza-30/3/2025
PRCS: The Killing of Eight of Our Medics is A Tragedy Against Humanitarian Work
Gaza-30/3/2025
The Palestine Red Crescent Society is devastated by the killing of eight of its medics in Rafah. They were targeted by the Israeli occupation forces while performing their humanitarian duties as they were heading to the Hashashin area of Rafah to provide first aid to a number of people injured by Israeli shelling in the area. A ninth medic remains missing. PRCS also recovered the bodies of six members of the civil defense and one UN staff from the same area. The martyred medics are: Mustafa Khafaja, Ezz El-Din Shaat, Saleh Muammar, Refaat Radwan, Muhammad Bahloul, Ashraf Abu Libda, Muhammad Al-Hila, and Raed Al-Sharif.
This massacre of our team is a tragedy not only for us at the Palestine Red Crescent Society, but also for humanitarian work and humanity. The occupation’s targeting of Red Crescent medics, despite the protected status of their mission and the Red Crescent emblem can only be considered a war crime punishable under international humanitarian law, which the occupation continues to violate before the eyes of the entire world. The world has thus failed to take serious steps to prevent the occupation from continuing these flagrant violations of international law and conventions against health and humanitarian workers. The PRCS demands that the perpetrators of this war crime be held accountable, that an immediate and urgent investigation be conducted to ensure justice for the victims of this massacre, and that the fate of missing medic Asaad Al-Nasasra, whose whereabouts remain unknown, be revealed. With the killing of the eight medics, the number of PRCS martyrs in the Gaza Strip has risen to 27, targeted by the occupation while performing their humanitarian duty since the start of the war on the Gaza Strip in October 2023.
The PRCS reiterates its call on the international community, represented by the United Nations and all its agencies and institutions, the states parties to the Geneva Conventions, and all international human rights and humanitarian organizations, to fulfill their legal obligations by urgently taking the necessary measures to compel the occupying state, "Israel," to immediately cease committing further grave violations against Palestinian medical and humanitarian personnel in particular, as well as against Palestinian civilians more broadly. They must fully comply with the principles and provisions of international humanitarian law and human rights law applicable to the occupied Palestinian territory, and work to put a definitive end to the occupying state's impunity.
Gaza-30/3/2025
The Palestine Red Crescent Society is devastated by the killing of eight of its medics in Rafah. They were targeted by the Israeli occupation forces while performing their humanitarian duties as they were heading to the Hashashin area of Rafah to provide first aid to a number of people injured by Israeli shelling in the area. A ninth medic remains missing. PRCS also recovered the bodies of six members of the civil defense and one UN staff from the same area. The martyred medics are: Mustafa Khafaja, Ezz El-Din Shaat, Saleh Muammar, Refaat Radwan, Muhammad Bahloul, Ashraf Abu Libda, Muhammad Al-Hila, and Raed Al-Sharif.
This massacre of our team is a tragedy not only for us at the Palestine Red Crescent Society, but also for humanitarian work and humanity. The occupation’s targeting of Red Crescent medics, despite the protected status of their mission and the Red Crescent emblem can only be considered a war crime punishable under international humanitarian law, which the occupation continues to violate before the eyes of the entire world. The world has thus failed to take serious steps to prevent the occupation from continuing these flagrant violations of international law and conventions against health and humanitarian workers. The PRCS demands that the perpetrators of this war crime be held accountable, that an immediate and urgent investigation be conducted to ensure justice for the victims of this massacre, and that the fate of missing medic Asaad Al-Nasasra, whose whereabouts remain unknown, be revealed. With the killing of the eight medics, the number of PRCS martyrs in the Gaza Strip has risen to 27, targeted by the occupation while performing their humanitarian duty since the start of the war on the Gaza Strip in October 2023.
The PRCS reiterates its call on the international community, represented by the United Nations and all its agencies and institutions, the states parties to the Geneva Conventions, and all international human rights and humanitarian organizations, to fulfill their legal obligations by urgently taking the necessary measures to compel the occupying state, "Israel," to immediately cease committing further grave violations against Palestinian medical and humanitarian personnel in particular, as well as against Palestinian civilians more broadly. They must fully comply with the principles and provisions of international humanitarian law and human rights law applicable to the occupied Palestinian territory, and work to put a definitive end to the occupying state's impunity.
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