“Shrapnel and direct fire” – PRCS closes Al-Mawasi office due to Israeli attacks

From the Palestine Chronicle editorial board

The Al-Mawasi area was attacked despite Israeli forces designating it as a “safe haven” for Palestinians since their ground offensive in Rafah in early May.

Due to Israeli attacks on the area, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has vacated its temporary administrative headquarters in the southern Gaza Strip.

The organization “completely evacuated its temporary administrative headquarters in the Mawasi Khan Younis area as shrapnel fell on the building and it was directly attacked, posing a danger to the staff working inside the building,” the statement said. said on Saturday on X.

The Al-Mawasi area was declared a “safe haven” for Palestinians by the Israeli military following its ground invasion of Rafah in early May.

However, Israeli forces attacked the area after already displaced Palestinians who had sought refuge in Rafah were forced to evacuate to Al-Mawasi.

🚨The Palestinian Red Crescent has completely evacuated its temporary administrative headquarters in the Mawasi Khan Younis area due to shrapnel falling on the building and direct fire, posing a danger to staff working inside.#No goal #Gaza

— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) June 29, 2024

Attack on the ICRC

On June 22, at least 25 Palestinians were killed and 50 others injured when Israeli forces shelled tents housing displaced people.

Witnesses told Anadolu news agency that two Israeli Merkava tanks stationed on a hill opposite the Shakoush area in western Rafah fired artillery shells at a gathering of displaced people near the gate of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) field hospital, causing numerous casualties.

In a statement by the ICRC confirmed that “heavy-caliber bullets had hit just a few meters from his office and residential buildings.”

The attack damaged the structure of the ICRC office, which was “surrounded by hundreds of displaced civilians living in tents, including many of our Palestinian colleagues.”

“Heavy-caliber projectiles” – Israeli tanks fire at tents in Al-Mawasi camp, killing at least 25 people

The organisation added that this “serious security incident is one of several in recent days”, adding that stray bullets had previously reached ICRC structures.

The Al Mawasi area, which stretches 12 kilometers along the Mediterranean coast, has no residential infrastructure, no sewage systems, no electricity lines or communication networks. According to Anadolu, the land consists mostly of agricultural greenhouses or sandy areas.

Health care workers killed

Earlier this month, the PRCS said that up to 33 of its medics and crew members had been killed in Gaza since October 7, including 19 in the line of duty, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.

The British aid organization Medical Aid for Palestine (MAP) said in a statement on Wednesday that 500 health workers had been killed in Gaza during the same period up to June 25.

Palestinian doctors, hospitals and nurses are priority targets of the Israeli military in Gaza

“This equates to an average of two deaths in the health sector per day. This means that one in forty health workers, or 2.5 percent of the personnel working in the Gaza Strip, is dead,” the MAP statement said.

It continues: “More health workers have been killed in Gaza since October than were killed in all conflicts worldwide in 2021 and 2022 combined.”

Current death toll

Israel, which is currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against the Palestinians, has been waging a devastating war against Gaza since October 7.

According to the Gaza Strip Health Ministry, 37,877 Palestinians were killed and 86,969 injured. In addition, at least 11,000 people are missing, believed to have died under the rubble of their homes throughout the Gaza Strip.

According to Israel, 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the flood relief operation in Al-Aqsa on October 7. Israeli media reported that many Israelis were killed by friendly fire that day.

Palestinian and international organizations say the majority of the dead and injured are women and children.

‘Desperate times’ – UNRWA says Gazans lack basic necessities

The Israeli war led to an acute famine, especially in the north of the Gaza Strip, and caused the deaths of many Palestinians, especially children.

The Israeli aggression also resulted in the forced displacement of nearly two million people from across the Gaza Strip. The vast majority of those displaced were forced to the densely populated southern city of Rafah, near the Egyptian border. It was the largest mass exodus from Palestine since the Nakba of 1948.

(PC, Anadolu)