Anadolu staff
01 June 2024•Update: 01 June 2024
ISTANBUL
At least 33 Red Crescent employees have been killed in the Gaza Strip since Israel started its deadly war on the besieged enclave nearly eight months ago.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) wrote on X: “Scenes from the funeral of our colleague, Mohammed Jihad Abed, an employee in the Disaster Risk Management Department, who was killed when occupation forces bombed his home last night in Rafah.”
“This brings the total number of PRCS members killed since the beginning of the aggression on Gaza to 33, including 19 who were killed while performing their humanitarian duties,” it added.
On May 29, two paramedics affiliated with the Palestinian Red Crescent were killed in an Israeli army attack on an ambulance en route to evacuate Palestinians at the Abu al-Said Junction in Tel al-Sultan in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah.
The Palestinian Red Crescent stressed that Israel "intentionally targeted healthcare workers."
Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip in retaliation for an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas which killed about 1,200 people.
The Israeli army has attacked and raided 160 healthcare facilities in the Gaza Strip, resulting in the closure of 55 health centers and 33 hospitals.
Nearly 36,400 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Israel began its onslaught nearly eight months ago. The majority of those killed have been women and children, with more than 82,400 others injured, according to local health authorities.
Vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins amid Israel's crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.
Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which in its latest ruling has ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in Rafah where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war.
* Writing by Ikram Kouachi
