2023-11-04 15:23:00
Photo: AFP.
And Israeli attack on an ambulance convoy in the Gaza Strip which left 15 dead and 60 injured sparked international condemnation and raised concern for the safety of health workers in Palestinian territory.
Israel admitted having targeted the ambulances although it noted that they were used “by a Hamas terrorist cell”, something that was denied by the authorities of the enclave, who claim that the vehicle was transporting wounded people to Egypt.
“I am horrified by the reported attack in Gaza on an ambulance convoy outside Al Shifa hospital”the UN Secretary General said in a statement, António Guterres.
“The images of the bodies strewn on the street outside the hospital are heartbreaking,” he added.
Israel continues its ground operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, with incursions into the south, after refusing to establish the “humanitarian pauses” demanded by the United States to distribute aid to Palestinian civilians pic.twitter.com/t0tTwPpppN
— Télam Agency (@AgenciaTelam) November 4, 2023
The UN chief assured that does not forget “the terrorist attacks committed in Israel by Hamas”but recalled that “for almost a month, civilians in Gaza, including children and women, have been besieged, denied aid, killed and bombed from their homes.”
Photo: AFP.
For its part, the Palestinian Red Crescent said that “the convoy consisted of five ambulances,” including one from the Ministry of Health of the Palestinian territory controlled by Hamas and another from the same NGO.
According to this organization, the bombing occurred at a distance of two meters from the hospital entrance. A second ambulance was attacked “about a kilometer from the hospital”, causing several injuries, the Red Crescent added.
The Israeli Army reported in a statement that its aircraft “attacked an ambulance that was identified by the forces as being used by a Hamas terrorist cell, near their positions in the combat zone.”
Hamas responded that these claims “about the presence of fighters inside the attacked ambulances are false and are new lies (…) used to justify their crimes.”
The movement’s spokesman, Ashraf al Qidreh, said that The ambulance was part of a caravan that “transported several wounded people to be hospitalized in Egypt”.
Photo: AFP.
The Red Crescent offered the same deadly balance and recalled that “the deliberate attack of medical teams constitutes a serious violation of the Geneva Convention.”
The Israeli Army accused Hamas on October 27 of “waging war from the hospitals” of the Gaza Stripsomething that the Islamist group denies.
In front of the Al Shifa hospital, where thousands of people have taken refuge from Israeli bombing, there were numerous bodies and several injured people next to a damaged ambulance, according to the AFP news agency.
AFPTV images show civilians carrying bloodied wounded. Other people are lying on the ground, visibly thrown against cars parked on the side of the road by the shock wave.
Photo: AFP.
The director of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesussaid on the social network “completely shocked by reports of attacks on ambulances”.
“We reiterate: patients, health personnel, facilities and ambulances must be protected at all times. Always,” he added.
Utterly shocked by reports of attacks on ambulances evacuating patients close to Al-Shifa hospital in #Gazaleading to deaths, injuries and damage.
We reiterate: patients, health workers, facilities, and ambulances must be protected at all times. Always.
Ceasefire NOW.…
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) November 3, 2023
The UN Humanitarian Affairs Coordinator, Lynn Hastings, declared herself “alarmed” for an operation directed against “patients who were going to be evacuated” to safe places.
The war between Israel and Hamas began on October 7, when Islamist commandos killed more than 1,400 people, most of them civilians, and took about 240 people hostage to Gaza, according to Israeli reports.
The retaliatory bombings launched since then, reinforced by ground operations since a week ago, have killed almost 9,500 people in Gaza, including more than 3,800 children, according to Hamas.
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