PRCS responds to the results of the Israeli occupation investigation about Tal -Al Sultan massacre

The occupation army has released the results of its investigation of the massacre of 14 rescue team members including 8 PRCS EMTs in Tal Al-Sultan, Rafah. These results only come to assert the occupation’s persistence in shielding the truth from the world and in consolidating its double standards of assessment by enshrining an unacceptable dichotomy in its treatment of organizations on the ground based on identity. The occupation considered the behavior of its soldiers to be acceptable in relation to the deliberate killing of the ambulance and civil defense teams, while it considered the behavior of its soldiers in relation to the killing of the UNRWA staff member to be unacceptable within the context of the same incident.

The results of the occupation’s investigation hold the usual fallacious allegations of rescue teams in Gaza being part of Hamas in order to justify the war crime of targeting medical missions in general, and the war crime of attacking teams and vehicles carrying the protected emblems of the Geneva Conventions in particular. In addition, the results state that relevant organizations were informed of the incident immediately after it took place in order for them to arrive to the location and to retrieve the bodies of the teams. The PRCS has been public and transparent in its follow-up of this incident in coordination with the ICRC which has supported the PRCS’ calls to the international community to act to allow rescue teams to reach the location of the incident. The PRCS only received coordination through the ICRC to enter the location after 7 days of the incident.

The occupation’s policy of systematic distortion of the truth is apparent which is distinguishable by its bias towards its soldiers and in protecting them from international accountability. The PRCS invites the international community to compare the results of the occupation’s investigation with the clear evidence refuting its results; if the teams were really targeted by mistake, why does the occupation continue to hold EMT Asad Al-Nasasra captive? The occupation’s usual resort to claiming that protected missions were targeted by mistake in an abhorrent attempt to void its responsibilities from its recurrent violations of international humanitarian law must not be met with silence.

We call on the international community to abstain from validating the results of the occupation’s fabricated investigation. We also invite the international community to support the PRCS as it currently works with relevant international organizations and mechanisms in efforts to conduct an independent investigation to reveal the truth behind this perpetrated crime.