Israeli Forces Attack Medical Team While On Duty in Jerusalem

Jerusalem, MINA – Israeli occupation forces on Wednesday, attacked the medical team of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) while on duty in the occupied city of Jerusalem.

PRCS said the Israeli occupation forces carried out an attack on one of the ambulances and an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) in the Ban al-Asbat area.

“The vehicle was hit with batons, and the EMT was pushed and brutally attacked, slamming the ambulance door on his leg, which left him with serious injuries. In addition, the occupying forces directly fired a sound tube at the ambulance, shattering the driver’s side mirror,” PRCS said. in a press statement quoted by Wafa.

In another incident, added PRCS, rubber-coated bullets were fired directly at one of the PRCS mini-ambulances that were carrying injured victims.

The Israeli occupation forces, PRCS said, had also refused four ambulances and five mini-ambulances and their crews to access the Al-Aqsa Mosque grounds, despite the high number of injuries resulting from the attacks.

PRCS EMTs are also prohibited from providing treatment to injured people in the Bab al-Amoud, Old City and al-Issawiya areas.

The PRCS team was only able to treat 12 injured people, due to limited access restrictions.

“International humanitarian law strictly prohibits the targeting of medical missions, including EMTs and ambulances. It also emphasized the obligation to protect medical personnel, prevent them from any attack or obstruction, facilitate and not interfere with their work. In the same context, the PRCS emphasizes the prohibition of assaulting the wounded and sick and preventing them, or arbitrarily limiting their access to medical services,” the statement read.

The PRCS calls on the international community and all state parties to the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention applicable to the occupied Palestinian territories as well as all relevant legal and humanitarian organizations to immediately intervene and take effective measures to hold the Israeli occupation authorities accountable for their increasing violations. (T/RE1)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)