Gaza: Mahmoud Basal, spokesman for the Palestinian Civil Defense in Gaza, said that the video footage revealing the details of the incident in which Civil Defense teams and Palestinian Red Crescent paramedics were martyred in Rafah, southern Gaza, shows that the Israeli occupation army carried out an unprecedented and brutal execution of medical and civil defense personnel.
According to Qatar News Agency, Basal affirmed that the details revealed in the video clearly indicate that what took place was a full-fledged war crime, premeditated and deliberate, adding that it demonstrated a complete disregard for the lives of humanitarian and medical teams. He stressed that the footage proves the occupation does not hesitate to target even humanitarian mission teams.
The video, found on the phone of a Palestinian medic whose body was discovered in a mass grave alongside 14 of his colleagues, revealed that the ambulances and civil defense vehicles targeted by the Israeli army on Mar. 23 were clearly marked and illuminated, with emergency lights activated at the time of the strike.
He noted that the footage disproved the Israeli army's narrative, in which they falsely claimed the vehicles approached suspiciously without clear markings. The footage proves the opposite.
Basal emphasized that the execution of humanitarian teams in Rafah adds to Israel's documented record of targeting medical personnel, civil defense teams, and paramedics throughout the genocidal war waged by Israel on Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023.
In his statement to QNA, he detailed, with figures, the crimes committed by the occupation against humanitarian service teams since the beginning of the aggression. He said that 111 members of the civil defense teams were martyred by Israeli gunfire, while 26 others were arrested by the Israeli army.
He further noted that 15 civil defense headquarters and centers were targeted and bombed by Israel, along with 142 ambulances and 54 fire trucks, rescue vehicles, rapid intervention units, or civil defense vehicles that were attacked by the occupation.
According to Basal, 1,402 members of the medical and healthcare teams have been martyred, and 362 others have been detained. Three doctors were executed in Israeli prisons under torture. He explained that 34 hospitals were either burned, attacked, or rendered out of service due to bombing, while about 80 health centers ceased operations as a result of Israeli targeting during the assault. More than 162 health institutions were targeted overall.
He stressed that the execution of the civil defense teams in Rafah constitutes a blatant violation of all international conventions, particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits targeting medical and humanitarian personnel and mandates their protection in all circumstances. He called for an urgent and independent international investigation into the execution of medical and civil defense teams, the prosecution of Israeli war criminals before the International Criminal Court, the dispatch of fact-finding missions to targeted sites, and visits to mass graves where Israel has hidden chapters of terror and systematic genocide against civilians in general and humanitarian teams in particular. He emphasized the need for proper international legal action to pursue Israel for its ongoing crimes.
He also called for the immediate protection of humanitarian teams operating in Gaza, including medical personnel, civil defense units, emergency responders, and all those working in humanitarian service delivery.
Israel resumed its aggression on Gaza on Mar. 18, following a two-month pause under a ceasefire agreement that began on Jan. 19. However, the occupation violated the ceasefire terms throughout those two months, continuing its bombardment of various areas in Gaza, resulting in deaths and injuries. Israel also refused to implement the humanitarian protocol and intensified its blockade on Gaza, which is enduring an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe.