The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has called for the protection of medical facilities and personnel as a convoy of four ambulances transporting patients from Al Shifa hospital in Gaza city arrived at the Rafah crossing at the border with Egypt on Monday. The convoy was accompanied by two vehicles belonging to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
The head of the ICRC’s office in Gaza, William Schomburg, while receiving the convoy said it is an immense relief to know that the patients are safe and will receive urgent medical care.
Schomburg was quoted in a statement as saying, “I can’t emphasize enough how crucial it is that hospitals, medical personnel, and patients are protected amid this violence. There are thousands of critically injured people in Gaza. It is an obligation under international humanitarian law to spare them from harm.”
The statement noted that as the humanitarian situation in Gaza is rapidly deteriorating, the ICRC urgently calls on the parties to uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law and do everything in their power to avoid any harm to medical facilities, vehicles, and personnel. “Thousands of critically wounded civilians can no longer access hospitals that are increasingly unable to function due to damage and a lack of supplies,” the ICRC said.
“Accepting violence against healthcare facilities, now when their role is so critical, will come at an unacceptable cost in human life,” Mr Schomburg added. “The wounded and sick must be protected in all circumstances.”
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is a neutral, impartial and independent organization with an exclusively humanitarian mandate that stems from the Geneva Conventions of 1949. It helps people around the world affected by armed conflict and other violence, doing everything it can to protect their lives and dignity and to relieve their suffering, often alongside its Red Cross and Red Crescent partners.