Urgent Appeal to Ensure Protection for Humanitarian Workers in Palestine

(Al Bireh- May 12, 2025): 

On the occasion of World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day (May 8), the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) issues an urgent appeal to the international community to provide protection for medical teams and humanitarian workers in Palestine.
 
Since the beginning of this year, PRCS has lost eight of its Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs), who were targeted by Israeli forces in Rafah in March while carrying out their humanitarian duty to rescue the wounded. This attack was one of the deadliest, claiming the lives of 15 humanitarian workers, including PRCS personnel.
 
With this, the number of PRCS personnel killed since the start of the assault on Gaza has risen to 48 medical and humanitarian staff members, including 30 colleagues who were killed while performing their humanitarian duties wearing the Red Crescent emblem in Gaza and the West Bank. The total number of humanitarian and medical workers killed in Gaza has now exceeded 1,400.
 
The Red Crescent emblem, which is meant to provide protection to its bearers, has tragically become a shroud wrapping the bodies of our volunteers and staff who were targeted while performing their humanitarian tasks, amid international silence and continued failure to hold the perpetrators accountable or ensure real protection for field workers.
 
Israeli occupation forces, in their repeated violations of international humanitarian law, have deliberately bombed and targeted PRCS hospitals, ambulances, facilities, and teams—an outright breach of all international norms and agreements.
 
Therefore, the Palestine Red Crescent Society once again demands accountability for all those responsible for targeting its teams and calls on the international community and UN bodies to take urgent action to ensure the real protection of humanitarian workers in Palestine. It also urges the international community to compel the occupying authorities to respect the Red Crescent emblem, protect medical and relief personnel, and facilitate their safe access to affected populations and areas. Furthermore, PRCS calls for the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure, as mandated by international humanitarian law.
 
We also demand the immediate release of three PRCS staff members forcibly disappeared by the occupation for over a year, in addition to dozens of medical personnel working in Gaza who were detained while performing their humanitarian duties.
 
The continued deliberate targeting of humanitarian workers by the occupation seeks to dismantle health, medical, and emergency services. It is part of a systematic policy pursued by Israeli forces to destroy the health sector’s infrastructure in its entirety, leading to the near-total collapse of the health system in Gaza. This has exacerbated the suffering of thousands of wounded and sick people and has made life in Gaza nearly impossible—amounting to a policy of collective punishment that contradicts the most basic humanitarian principles.
 
The systematic targeting of medical infrastructure and humanitarian workers by the occupation has gone beyond condemnation. Statements alone are no longer enough. It is time for concrete and serious measures to ensure the safety of humanitarian workers—wherever they may be.