By KUNA,
Geneva : The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) demanded Thursday that the Israeli military grant its ambulances and those of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) safe passage and access immediately to search for any other wounded people in Zeytun, Gaza.
Until now, the ICRC has still not received confirmation from the Israeli authorities that this will be allowed.
The ICRC, in a statement, said that it believed that in this instance of Zaytun neighborhood the Israeli military failed to meet its obligation under international humanitarian law to care for and evacuate the wounded.
It considered the delay in allowing rescue services access unacceptable.
The organization described the situation in the Zaytun neighborhood of Gaza City as shocking, saying its rescue teams found four small children next to their dead mothers in one of the houses.
The ICRC said they were too weak to stand up on their own. One man was also found alive, too weak to stand up. In all there were at least 12 corpses lying on mattresses.
In another house, the ICRC/PRCS rescue team found 15 other survivors of this attack, including several wounded.
In yet another house, they found an additional three corpses.
Israeli soldiers posted at a military position some 80 meters away from this house ordered the rescue team to leave the area, which they refused to do.
There were several other positions of the Israeli Defense Forces nearby, as well as two tanks.
ICRC’s head of delegation for Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories Pierre Wettach said that this was a shocking incident.
“The Israeli military must have been aware of the situation but did not assist the wounded. Neither did they make it possible for us or the Palestine Red Crescent to assist the wounded,” he added.
Large earth walls erected by the Israeli army had made it impossible to bring ambulances into the neighborhood, and thus the wounded had to be taken to the ambulances on a donkey cart.
In total, the ICRC/PRCS rescue team evacuated 18 wounded and 12 others who were extremely exhausted. Two corpses were also evacuated.
The ICRC/PRCS will recover the remaining corpses on Thursday.
The ICRC was informed that there are more wounded sheltering in other destroyed houses in this neighborhood.