The ICRC urges respect for medical services
Press Release, 2 April 2002
2 April 2002
Press Release
The ICRC urges respect for medical services
Tel Aviv 02 April 2002 (ICRC) - The ICRC is deeply concerned at the
flagrant lack of respect for medical services during the unprecedented
increase in violence in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories
over recent weeks. The ICRC condemns any attacks against medical staff
and installations, and reiterates its call for respect of medical services
by all parties involved.
In such a time of increasing violence, the unobstructed
work of medical services caring for the wounded and sick is of utmost importance.
Both the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) and Magen David Adom (MDA)
have been working courageously and tirelessly in order to fulfil their
humanitarian mission - which binds all people and cultures - caring for
all the victims of violence without distinction.
Regrettably, these services have been increasingly
targeted over the past weeks. The ICRC is outraged over recent attacks
against the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) of both the PRCS and the MDA.
On 31.03., seven persons, out of which four were MDA staff, were injured
in a suicide attack near a medical centre in Efrat settlement close to
Bethlehem. Only three weeks ago, three Palestinian EMS staff, two of them
from the PRCS, were killed, and several others seriously injured when their
ambulances came under fire by Israeli troops in Jenin and Tulkarem.
The ICRC is alarmed at increasing restrictions being
imposed by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) on both the medical services
of the PRCS, and the humanitarian mission of the ICRC, inside the occupied
Palestinian territories. Delays of up to eight hours at checkpoints, refusal
to allow safe passage and quick access to victims, harassment of several
PRCS ambulance staff are seriously hampering the delivery of urgently needed
medical and humanitarian assistance.
The ICRC calls once again on the Israeli and Palestinian
authorities to adhere to their obligations under IHL and to ensure respect
for the medical mission in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.
Last update : 02/04/2002
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