06 Apr 2023; MEMO: Even as Israeli occupation forces attacked Palestinian worshippers at Al-Aqsa Mosque for the second night in a row, they also attacked medical staff on duty in the occupied city of Jerusalem. The allegation has been made by the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS).
According to the PCRS, the occupation forces attacked one of its ambulances and an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) stationed at the Bab Al-Asbat area, near Al-Aqsa Mosque. The vehicle was hit with batons, and the technician was pushed violently and attacked, resulting in the door of the ambulance slamming against his leg, which injured him seriously. In addition, the occupation forces shot a sound bomb at the ambulance, breaking the mirror on the driver's side.
Moreover, following attacks on worshippers at Al-Aqsa, rubber-coated bullets were fired directly at a PRCS mini-ambulance while it was carrying an injured Palestinian. The PCRS added that four of its medical teams and five mini-ambulances were prevented from entering Al-Aqsa compound to reach the people wounded in the assault by the Israeli security forces.
"International Humanitarian Law strictly prohibits targeting medical missions, including EMTs and ambulances," said the PRCS. "It also stresses the obligation to protect medical personnel, prevent them from any attack or obstruction, and facilitate and not interfere with their work. In the same context, the PRCS emphasises the prohibition of attacks on the wounded and sick and preventing them from, or arbitrarily restricting their access to, medical services."
Despite the desperate calls for support due to the escalating number of assaults imposed by the occupation forces, the PCRS medical staff were also denied access to the severely wounded trapped in the Old City's Bab Al-Amoud area, Damascus Gate.
"We call on the international community and all state parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 applicable to the occupied Palestinian territory as well as all relevant legal and humanitarian organisations to immediately intervene and take effective measures to hold the Israeli occupation authorities accountable for their escalating violations and to comply with international humanitarian law, and provide protection for medical missions and civilians," concluded the PRCS.
