21-year-old Gazan paramedic killed by Israeli forces while treating injured at border

June 2, 2018 2:00 P.M. (Updated: June 2, 2018 2:16 P.M.)

Razan Ashraf al-Najjar (Photo courtesy of Ihab Omar al-Fasfous)

GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Israeli forces shot and killed a 21-year-old Palestinian woman paramedic on Friday, as she was treating injured protesters during ongoing demonstrations along the Gaza border with Israel, in the southern Gaza Strip.

The Gaza Ministry of Health reported that 21-year-old Razan Ashraf al-Najjar, from the Khan Younis-area town of Khuzaa, was shot in the stomach as Israeli forces deployed near the border fence opened fire on a group of five paramedics, including al-Najjar, as they were aiding injured protesters near the fence.

Ths spokesperson of the ministry, Ashraf al-Qidra, added that more than 100 protesters were injured on Friday, 40 of them with live ammunition, while the others suffered from tear-gas related injuries.

Al-Najjar was one of at least two medics who had been killed by Israeli forces since the “Great March of Return” began in Gaza on March 30th. Since then, 119 Palestinians have been killed, including journalists and children.

The weeks-long civilian protest was initially planned to end on May 15, the 70th anniversary of the Nakba, or “catastrophe,” when over 750,000 Palestinians were forcibly expelled from their homes and made refugees with the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948.

However, protests have continued since, and are expected to continue into the coming weeks.

Tensions have remained high in Gaza, as Israeli forces have launched dozens of airstrikes on the small coastal enclave, killing at least four Palestinians, while armed political groups in Gaza launched dozens of rockets into Israel territory, injuring no one.

Red Crescent declares ‘state of emergency’ after attacks on staff

Oct. 4, 2015 5:02 P.M. (Updated: Oct. 4, 2015 8:01 P.M.)

 

(Palestine Red Crescent Society)

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — The Palestine Red Crescent Society on Sunday declared a state of emergency across the occupied Palestinian territory following an upsurge in violence by Israeli soldiers and settlers, including 14 attacks on the society’s ambulances in just three days.The society said in a statement that it was declaring a level 3 state of emergency and putting all its staff, teams and volunteers on standby.The society decried Israeli violations of international humanitarian law, saying that in a 72-hour period, it had faced 14 attacks against its staff and vehicles “in a serious escalation of violations against PRCS, its teams and the humanitarian services they render.”Most recently, the statement said that Israeli soldiers attacked one of the society’s ambulances while tending to injured Palestinians during clashes in front of al-Quds University’s Abu Dis campus earlier Sunday.Two days earlier, the statement said that Israeli forces attacked an ambulance in al-Issawiya village in occupied East Jerusalem, before they “proceeded to arrest an injured Palestinian from inside the ambulance.”Also on Friday, the windshield of another ambulance was smashed by settlers in Burin village in Nablus, preventing it from “discharging its humanitarian duty.”The society said that on Saturday, five paramedics “were beaten up by soldiers in Jerusalem,” while Israeli forces also attacked an ambulance crew with batons in Jerusalem’s Old City.The statement said Israeli soldiers also “severely beat another ambulance crew in Jabal Al Taweel (Al-Bireh), wounding two paramedics,” afterward detaining a wounded Palestinian from the ambulance.The Palestine Red Crescent Society, which is a full member of the International Movement of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, said that the incidents were “a blatant violation” of international humanitarian law.The society called on the international community, including the UN General Assembly and Security Council, to “shoulder their responsibilities by taking the necessary steps to make Israeli occupation authorities comply” with international law.The Palestine Red Crescent Society was founded in 1968, to cater to Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territory. Following the 1993 Oslo Accord, the newly established Palestinian Authority Ministry of Health mandated the society to provide an ambulance service to the Palestinian population.Recent days have seen a surge of violence across the occupied Palestinian territory.

Tensions had been steadily mounting in recent weeks due to Israeli restrictions on Palestinians seeking to enter the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East Jerusalem.A string of deadly attacks on Israelis, including a shooting that left two settlers dead in the West Bank on Thursday, and a stabbing in Jerusalem that claimed two Israelis’ lives on Saturday, prompted further clashes.Dozens of Palestinians have been reported injured in recent days, including many shot with live rounds.

Paramedic killed east of Khan Younis, Gaza Strip

According to a Ma’an article, shortly after midnight, a Palestinian paramedic Muhammad Matar al-Abadlah, 32, was killed while he was helping victims in eastern Khan Younis district.

IOF soldiers violate ceasefire, fire at ambulance cars

[ 26/07/2014 – 11:49 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)– Israeli occupation forces (IOF) violated the humanitarian ceasefire on Saturday morning and fired at Palestinian citizens and ambulance cars while trying to enter Khuza’a town to the east of Khan Younis. Eyewitnesses said that after the 12-hour ceasefire went into effect at 0800 this morning, Palestinian citizens and ambulance cars tried to enter the beleaguered Khuza’a town but were confronted with Israeli bullets, which forced them and the ambulance cars to leave the area. Citizens questioned the role of the Red Cross that should have coordinated the entry of those ambulance crews to evacuate bodies strewn in the town’s streets and started to decompose. Palestinian medical teams managed to retrieve the bodies of dozens of victims, who were killed by Israeli gunfire in the border areas. Around one thousand Palestinians were killed and around six thousand others were wounded in the Israeli air, land, and sea attacks on the Gaza Strip that started 20 days ago.

Meet rescuer Ayman Shahwan

Originally posted here

For 15 years, Ayman Shahwan has raced his ambulance through the death and destruction of Gaza’s seemingly unending war with Israel.

Braving the threat of air strikes and shelling, he has ferried scores of wounded men, women and children — and presumably fighters — to hospital from the wreckage of bombed-out Gaza homes. Often, he arrives to the grim aftermath of body parts that he must also collect for the authorities to identify.

“Sometimes you think this could be the end of your life. But you have to do this because there is no one else who will,” Mr Shahwan, 42, said during a short break at Gaza City’s Tel Al Hawa neighbourhood ambulance station.

Meet rescuer Mohamad Shalouf: “I ran like I never did before”

“The Israeli occupation sows death and PRCS seeds life” by Raed Al Nems

originally posted on the PRCS website

Following a call to rescue a family whose home was bombarded on the 15th of November in Zu’rob neighborhood (South of Rafah, Gaza Strip), Mohamad Shalouf and his colleagues, were faced with a large number of injured Palestinians, mostly children.

Mohamad (27), who has been working as a volunteer with PRCS for the past 3 years, had heard all about the Israeli attack on the Strip back in 2008, but he never thought that he would find himself in the same situation, under Israeli bombardments, having to rescue victims from under the rubble. Not once did he imagine coming to the rescue of an entire family trapped under what remained of its home.

Warning shots reportedly fired at Al Wafa hospital, Gaza. Full attack threatened.

There are reports that Al Wafa rehabilitation hospital in the east of Gaza has been targetted with ‘warning pockets’ by the Israeli army, threatening a full attack. Eight international activists are heading there now in an attempt to protect it. Follow @jncatron on Twitter for live updates from the scene. Al Wafa was attacked with white phosphorous and machine gun fire in 2009, read a full report with pictures here.

 

update: Seven international activists are now at Al Wafa with staff and patients

Photo from Manu Abu Carlos

Gaza under attack – a UK paramedic’s perspective

 

originally posted here

July 9, 2014: Reading back through this blog will give you a glimpse into the healthcare system in Gaza, particularly the emergency services. During my three months as a UK paramedic visiting Gaza, I felt like I got a decent understanding of the situation that my Palestinian counterparts work in. I saw the mismatched selection of donated ambulances and equipment they work with, the empty shelves in ambulances where basic medical supplies should be stocked and saw bombed out ambulances, now hoisted onto the roof of the Red Crescent ambulance station in Gaza City as a reminder of the systematic targeting of rescue workers during previous Israeli offensives.

Photographs of damage to the Palestine Red Crescent Society EMS center in Jabaliya due to the Israeli shelling on the Gaza Strip

 

 

Originally posted on Palestine Red Crescent Society

Damage to Red Crescent Society EMS Centre

 

Originally posted on Palestine Red Crescent Society 

 

July 9: Injuries and damages in the Palestinian Red Crescent Society EMS center in Jabaliya due to the Israeli shelling on the Gaza Strip

(Al Bireh – 09/07/2014): During the Israeli airstrike on the Gaza Strip, a number of shells hit the PRCS EMS center in Jabaliya at 9:30 pm Wednesday night. Nine of the PRCS EMTs and volunteers were slightly injured, while three EMTs suffered from bruises and fractures and were transferred to the PRCS Al Quds hospital in Gaza city. Moreover, three ambulances were completely destroyed and are now out of service and the building itself was damaged
The PRCS center was evacuated and its team and ambulances were transferred to the EMS center in Gaza city from where they will respond to the humanitarian needs of the Palestinians in Jabaliya.