[News] Civilians Trapped Under the Rubble: Medical and Rescue Teams Denied Access to IOF-deployed Areas

Sun Dec 17 19:00:15 EST 2023

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*Civilians Trapped Under the Rubble: Medical and Rescue Teams Denied 
Access to IOF-deployed Areas *

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), Al-Haq and Al Mezan 
Center for Human Rights demand an end to the devastating human rights 
and humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, where thousands of 
Palestinians are stranded in areas where the Israeli occupying forces 
(IOF) are deployed, unable to move amid Israel’s indiscriminate and 
relentless targeting and bombings of Palestinian civilians and civilian 
objects. The gravity of the situation is underscored by the Israeli 
military’s persistent denial of access to the Civil Defense (Gaza’s 
primary search-and-rescue force), the Palestine Red Crescent Society and 
the International Committee of the Red Cross teams to the IOF-deployed 
areas, hindering the crucial delivery of medical aid and/or the 
evacuation of injured or killed Palestinians. According to the Civil 
Defense in the Gaza Strip, the total number of reports 
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of missing persons due to Israel’s bombardment of the northern and 
southern areas of the Gaza Strip has exceeded 8,000.

When medical and rescue teams have tried to reach those areas, both with 
and without prior coordination with the Israeli occupying authorities, 
they have been targeted. The Palestinian Civil Defense has been badly 
hit, with 35 workers killed 
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and over 100 others injured since 7 October 2023. On 15 December 2023, 
three Civil Defense workers, along with Al-Jazeera’s cameraman, Samer 
Abu-Daqqa, were targeted and killed by the Israeli military while trying 
to evacuate a family trapped in one of the houses being targeted by the 
IOF near the Farhana school in the middle of Khan Younis city. Notably, 
this attack occurred even after permission to enter the area had been 
granted by the IOF, demonstrating the grave risks faced by those 
involved in life-saving medical and rescue work. The Ministry of Health 
in Gaza reported 
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that since 7 October 2023, at least 286 health workers have been killed 
and that 57 ambulances have been hit and damaged. Several health workers 
have also been subject 
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to arbitrary detention.

Palestinian rescue teams are hampered by the absence of essential 
equipment, or fuel to operate that equipment, which is crucial for 
rescuing individuals or recovering bodies from buildings that have been 
targeted with their inhabitants still inside. Further, many Palestinians 
wounded by Israeli fire or airstrikes or trapped under the rubble endure 
prolonged suffering and eventually die because of Israel’s intentional 
denial of access to assistance. Al-Jazeera’s cameraman, Samer Abu Daqqa, 
was left 
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injured, bleeding and without treatment for over five hours before he 
succumbed to his wounds because the IOF refused to allow any rescue 
teams to reach him.

In several cases documented by our organizations, civilians were killed 
and wounded by Israeli fire while attempting to assist the injured. 
Below is a testimony provided by one of PCHR’s field workers describing 
an incident that involved some of his family members in the Al-Satar 
Al-Gharbi area in Khan Younis:

/‘On 7 December 2023, my brother, Imad Abdel Ghafour, called while 
trapped in a house in the Al-Satar Al-Gharbi area in Khan Yunis, where 
the IOF had been operating militarily on the ground for two days. He 
urgently sought assistance in sending an ambulance because my other 
brother, Samir Abdel Ghafour, had been injured while trying to provide 
help to his neighbour, who was screaming. My family went to the Red 
Crescent and Red Cross, requesting their intervention, but they told 
them that this was not possible because of the presence of the IOF in 
the area and the lack of coordination. Later, communication with Imad 
was completely cut off and he no longer answered his mobile phone. In 
the evening of the same day, a neighbour informed me that there were 
four martyrs in the street, including Samir and his son, who tried to go 
out to help him, along with two other neighbours, and that they were 
exposed to gunfire from the IOF. /

/‘He also said that Israeli warplanes bombed three houses belonging to 
Samir and two of his brothers in the area. Until this moment, we do not 
know the fate of those who were inside these houses. If they were 
injured, they may have succumbed to their wounds, and the raids may have 
killed them directly. Even if they have survived, they have been without 
any food or water for many days. All our attempts to find out what 
happened to them failed. There are around 27 people [who were present in 
these three houses], and they include elderly people, children, and 
women. No one can reach the area.’ /

Our organizations have monitored and documented incidents in which 
injured Palestinians, trapped in IOF-deployed areas, have succumbed to 
their wounds and died due to Israel’s refusal to allow ambulances to 
reach them. Tarek Beseiso, a father of two children who were killed and 
another who was injured in the Al-Remal neighbourhood of Gaza City, told 
PCHR’s lawyer:

/‘My son, Ahmed, 16 years old, was killed by a raid on our house on 
Thursday, 7 December 2023, and my two other children, Mohammed, 8 years 
old, and Sarah, 17 years old, were wounded. We buried Ahmed in our 
neighbours’ garden, which had been targeted before our home, as there 
was no way we could reach any cemetery. Today, Mohammed succumbed to his 
wounds and passed away. For five days, we saw Mohammed dying in front of 
us and were not able to take him to any hospital due to the constant 
bombing. For five days, all the international and local institutions and 
organizations were unable to evacuate him because his house is situated 
in the Al-Rimal neighbourhood, where the occupying forces continued to 
commit their heinous crimes against civilians and prevent civil defence 
vehicles and ambulances from reaching the area. We appeal to you to help 
us evacuate our girl, Sarah, to any hospital before she dies of her 
wounds.’/

These two instances are emblematic of hundreds, if not thousands, of 
similar cases across the Gaza Strip. In these dire circumstances, 
civilians find themselves unable to access any kind of medical treatment 
for their injuries, while rescue teams are unable to reach areas to 
provide help to the wounded, including those under the rubble, or to 
retrieve the bodies of those killed. In certain areas, thousands of 
Palestinian bodies remain under the rubble and on the streets, 
inaccessible and unretrieved. This not only leaves their families in 
anguish, unable to ascertain their whereabouts and grieve properly but 
also presents a significant risk of the spread of serious diseases among 
the population.

According to our field researchers, any bodies that could be retrieved 
from beneath the rubble due to the efforts of those on the scene had to 
be buried in the closest available locations – such as gardens, 
marketplaces and roadway medians (central reservations). This serves as 
yet another stark demonstration of Israel’s complete disregard for the 
lives of Palestinian people and its blatant disrespect for the dignity 
of the deceased.

It is bad enough that Israel has killed more than 18,000 Palestinians – 
the vast majority of them are women and children – wounded over 50,000 
Palestinians, displaced around 1.9 million Palestinians and erased 
entire neighbourhoods from the map. Those who are injured in areas where 
the IOF are deployed must endure further suffering before ultimately 
succumbing to their wounds.

Under international humanitarian law, the wounded and sick, whether 
military or civilian, needing medical attention and who are not, or no 
longer, taking part in hostilities, must be respected, protected and 
cared for in all circumstances.^^[1] <#_ftn1> This includes the 
provision of adequate medical care as far as is practicable and with the 
least possible delay.

Failing to take action, whether by letting wounded persons die due to 
lack of care that could have saved their lives or by allowing protected 
persons to starve to death, amounts to wilful killing and/or causing 
great suffering or serious injury to the body or to health. Such actions 
are deemed war crimes, constituting grave breaches of the Geneva 
Convention,^4 and fall under the jurisdiction of the Rome Statute of the 
International Criminal Court.^^[2] <#_ftn2> In certain circumstances, 
the denial of medical treatment may constitute cruel or inhuman 
treatment, an outrage upon personal dignity – in particular, humiliating 
and degrading treatment – or even torture if the necessary criteria are 
met.^^[3] <#_ftn3>

Moreover, Israel has a duty not to impede the provision of care by 
preventing the passage of medical personnel. Israel must facilitate 
access to the wounded and sick and provide the necessary assistance and 
protection to medical personnel.

In light of Israel’s repeated and persistent denial of access to medical 
and rescue teams in IOF-deployed areas, and of the IOF’s targeting of 
ambulances and medical personnel, recognized as protected persons under 
international humanitarian law, we  call on the international community, 
and particularly Third States, to:

  * Promptly intervene and mobilize to enforce an immediate ceasefire,
    and to push Israel to reinstate the supply of water, food,
    electricity and fuel, as well as medical and humanitarian aid,
    necessary for the survival of the protected population;
  * Act in line with their obligations under the Genocide Convention, in
    the face of the unfolding genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, by
    unilaterally and collectively taking all feasible action to urgently
    and definitively ensure that Israel refrains from further incitement
    to genocide and from the perpetration of conduct prohibited under
    Article II of the Convention;
  * Publicly call on and exert pressure on Israel to adhere to its legal
    obligations, including permitting medical and rescue teams –
    including those from the Civil Defense, the Palestine Red Crescent
    Society and the International Committee of the Red Cross – to reach
    and access the areas where the IOF are positioned so that they can
    evacuate the wounded, offer and provide aid to those who are alive
    under the rubble and expedite the removal of killed Palestinians to
    prevent the spread of diseases;
  * Demand that Israel immediately ceases the targeting of medical
    personnel, ambulances and rescue teams, and allows them to carry out
    their crucial work without targeting or hindrance;
  * Pressure and demand Israel to immediately and unconditionally allow
    unimpeded access and entry of fuel into Gaza to enable the medical
    and humanitarian teams to carry out their work;
  * Urge Israel to allow the immediate and unconditional transfer of
    patients from Gaza to receive healthcare treatment;
  * Provide the Gaza Strip with the necessary ambulances, machines,
    equipment and medical supplies to cope with the massive influx of
    casualties;
  * Impose sanctions and implement a mandatory and comprehensive arms
    embargo nationally or multilaterally against Israel;
  * Take effective measures to ensure accountability for Israel’s war
    crimes, crimes against humanity, and the unfolding genocide,
    including by fulfiling their legal obligation under Article 146 of
    the Fourth Geneva Convention to prosecute those responsible for
    grave breaches of the Convention; and calling on the Prosecutor of
    the International Criminal Court to expedite the investigation into
    the Situation in Palestine with full resources and onsite visits; and
  * Address the root causes underpinning Israel’s successive military
    offensives on the Gaza Strip, as acts of violence employed to
    maintain and entrench the settler colonial apartheid regime.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
^^[1] <#_ftnref1> 1949 First Geneva Convention (GC I) Art. 12; 1949 
Second Geneva Convention (GC II), Art. 12; 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention 
(GC IV), Art. 16; 1977 First Additional Protocol (AP I), Art. 10; 1977 
Second Additional Protocol (AP II), Art. 7.
^^[2] <#_ftnref2> Rome Statute, Article 8(2)(a)(I) & Article 8(2)(a)(II)).
^^[3] <#_ftnref3> /See, /ICRC, “Respecting and protecting healthcare in 
armed conflicts and in situations not covered by international 
humanitarian law- Factsheet”, 21 May 2021, available at: 
respecting-and-protecting-health-care-armed-conflicts-and-situations-not-covered 
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Palestine
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