The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) stated this Tuesday that one of its convoys transporting humanitarian aid in Gaza was the target of a shooting attack, which left one person injured.
“A group of five trucks and two ICRC vehicles were transporting vital medical supplies (…) to the Al Quds hospital of the Palestinian Red Crescent, when it was hit by gunfire,” the organization explained in a statement.
“Two trucks were damaged and one driver was slightly injured,” the ICRC added, stressing that it was “deeply concerned” by the situation.
For William Schomburg, head of the ICRC sub-delegation in Gaza, these “are not conditions in which humanitarian personnel can work.”
“We are here to provide urgent assistance to civilians in need. [Para] Ensuring that life-saving aid reaches medical facilities is a legal obligation under international humanitarian law,” he stressed.
The ICRC stressed, according to the statement, that after the incident with the humanitarian convoys “they changed their route and arrived at the Al Shifa hospital, where they delivered medical supplies.”
Later, he accompanied “six ambulances transporting seriously injured patients to the Rafah crossing,” on the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, he explained.
The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas carried out a surprise attack against Israel on October 7 that left more than 1,400 dead, mostly civilians, and around 5,000 injured, in addition to more than 200 hostages, according to Israeli authorities.
Israel’s retaliation against the Gaza Strip began soon after, with cuts to food, water, electricity and fuel supplies and daily shelling, followed by a ground offensive that completed the siege of Gaza City last Thursday.
The war between Israel and Hamas has already left more than ten thousand dead in the Gaza Strip, including more than four thousand children, more than 25,400 injured and around 1.5 million displaced, according to the latest balance sheet by local authorities. controlled by Hamas.
Source: TSF
