Twenty-two people were killed in gunfire near the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) buildings in Gaza, the humanitarian organization said on Friday (21 June).
projectiles “A large plane landed a few meters away from the International Committee of the Red Cross offices and residences on Friday afternoon”wrote the ICRC in the evening on the social network “The strike damaged the structure of the ICRC office, which is home to hundreds of displaced civilians living in tents”The system explains more.
“The incident resulted in a huge influx of victims to the nearby Red Cross Field Hospital.” WHO “22 dead and 45 injured”.
The ICRC condemns “One of many serious incidents” In recent days. “Unidentified bullets have already hit ICRC structures” He adds.
The health ministry of the government of the Gaza Strip, ruled by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, reported 25 dead and 50 wounded, blaming the Israelis. “Targeted tents of displaced civilians in Al-Mawasi”In the south of the Gaza Strip, the area near Rafah.
“Extremely dangerous firing on humanitarian structures, known to the parties to the conflict and clearly marked with the Red Cross symbol, endangers the lives of civilians and Red Cross personnel.”As the ICRC underscored in its message Friday evening.
For his part, an Israeli military spokesman told Agence France-Presse (AFP).“Preliminary investigation suggests that there is no indication of a strike by Al[armée israélienne] Al-Mawasi said in the humanitarian zone that the incident was “under investigation”.
Take all possible precautions
The ICRC recalls that under international humanitarian law, parties to a conflict have an obligation to “All possible precautions” To prevent loss of life among the civilian population, injury to civilians or damage to civilian objects, including humanitarian installations.
The Israeli army intensified its attacks in the Gaza Strip on Friday, killing at least 30 Palestinians – according to medics – before the strike near the ICRC office – and exchanged fresh cross-border fire with Lebanese Hezbollah.
The war in Gaza, sparked by a bloody October 7 attack by Hamas against Israeli soil, has killed 1,194 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli data. Of the 251 abducted that day, 116 are still being held in Gaza, and 41 of them have died, the Israeli military said.
According to the Gaza government’s Ministry of Health, 37,431 people, mostly civilians, have been killed so far in Israel’s attacks on the Gaza Strip.