Gaza Red Crescent says 9 workers missing after Israeli fire at ambulances

AFP | Gaza City, Palestinian Territories
Email : editor@newsofbahrain.com

The Palestine Red Crescent Society said yesterday that the fate of nine crew members in the Gaza Strip remains unknown nearly a week after Israeli forces had hit ambulances.

The Israeli military said troops had opened fire on ambulances after identifying them as "suspicious vehicles," in an incident on Sunday in southern Gaza that Hamas authorities condemned as a "war crime," reporting at least one person killed.

The gunfire in Rafah city's Tal al-Sultan neighborhood came just days into a renewed Israeli offensive in the southern area, close to the Egyptian border, after the military resumed its bombardments of Gaza on March 18 following an almost two-month-long truce.

The Red Crescent in a statement accused Israeli authorities of refusing to allow search operations to locate the missing workers.

"For the seventh consecutive day, the fate of nine Palestine Red Crescent EMTs remains unknown after they were besieged and targeted by Israeli forces in Rafah," it said.

"We condemn Israel's deliberate obstruction of search efforts and hold it fully responsible for the lives of our team members," the statement added.

The emergency response service said that "initial reports from the crew at the time of the incident confirmed they came under heavy gunfire from Israeli forces, resulting in multiple injuries."

The Israeli military told AFP in a statement that its forces had "opened fire toward Hamas vehicles and eliminated several." The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said that at least 921 people have been killed in the Palestinian territory since Israel resumed its large-scale strikes.