(Jerusalem) The Palestinian Red Crescent accused the Israeli army on Monday of “using” a “humanitarian aid truck” on Saturday to infiltrate the Nuseirat camp, in the center of the Gaza Strip, during of an operation leading to the release of four Israeli hostages.
“The occupying forces have deceived people by hiding under the protection of aid that civilians desperately need,” the statement continued.
“This endangers the safety of humanitarian teams,” says the Red Crescent, as such a precedent raises the risk that aid workers will now be viewed with suspicion, said Nebal Farsakh, spokesperson for the Red Crescent at the AFP.
Asked by AFP about these accusations, the Israeli army referred to a message published on aboard humanitarian aid trucks.
Captured by Hamas on October 7 at the Nova electro festival and detained in the Gaza Strip since then, Almog Meir Jan (22), Noa Argamani (26), Andrey Kozlov (27) and Shlomi Ziv (41) were released on Saturday during a military operation in a refugee camp, triggering scenes of collective joy across Israel.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a statement on Monday that the number of victims “has far exceeded the limited capacities of hospitals” in the region.
In January, Israeli special forces agents disguised as hospital workers shot dead three Palestinians inside Avicenna Hospital in Jenin, in the northern occupied West Bank, with the army saying they belonged to a “terrorist cell of Hamas.”
The war was sparked on October 7 by the attack by Hamas commandos infiltrated from Gaza in southern Israel which resulted in the deaths of 1,194 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli figures.
The same day, 251 people were taken as hostages, 116 are still detained in Gaza, of whom 41 died according to the Israeli army.
In response, the Israeli army launched a deadly offensive in the Gaza Strip that left 36,731 dead, mostly civilians, according to data from the Hamas government’s Health Ministry for Gaza.