Gaza proves the international community won’t protect aid workers

The war in Gaza has proved that humanitarian and medical aid workers are not protected by the international community, as the international rules-based system continues to collapse.

Whilst Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits his good friend Donald Trump in the White House, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has called for an independent and international inquiry into the “deliberate killing” of 15 medical workers in an attack in Gaza on March 23^rd.

Israel originally claimed that they had targeted and killed three Hamas militants who were travelling in the Red Crescent ambulances after “several uncoordinated vehicles were identified advancing suspiciously toward [Israeli army] troops without headlights or emergency signals.”

Unfortunately for Israel, mobile phone footage, filmed by one of the paramedics who was killed, showed the vehicles did have their lights flashing as they travelled to attend wounded people. Additionally, all staff were wearing high-visibility clothing and humanitarian uniforms.

The footage continues for more than five minutes with the paramedic, named as Refat Radwan, heard saying his last prayers and apologizing to his mother for putting himself in danger. The voices of Israeli soldiers are heard approaching the vehicle before the footage ends.

The soldiers proceeded to bury the bodies in sand to protect them from wild animals, according to an Israeli official, but the Red Crescent has said they discovered the bodies in a “mass grave in a brutal and degrading manner that violates human dignity.”

“We call on the world to form an independent and impartial international commission of inquiry into the circumstances of the deliberate killing of the ambulance crews in the Gaza Strip,” said Younis Al-Khatib, the president of the Red Crescent in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Whilst Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer said that six of those killed were Hamas fighters, al-Khatib dismissed the accusation, saying Israel has failed “to prove even once in 50 years that the Red Crescent or its crews carry of use weapons.”

Whilst this event proves the deliberate covering up of war crimes by the Israeli government, it is not the first time Israel has been accused of deliberately targeting aid workers in the Gaza Strip before blaming Hamas for using them as human shields or covers for their terrorism.

Reported recently by Maghrebi, the United Nations said there’s been a 137% increase in aid worker deaths in 2023 whilst 2024 has been described as the “worst year” on record.

In the war between Israel and Hamas, more aid workers have lost their lives than in all other conflicts combined going back over several decades, strongly suggesting an impunity with which Israel carries out military offensives in the Gaza Strip.

According to UNRWA, at least 408 aid workers, including more than 280 UNRWA staff, have been killed by Israeli forces since the war began on October 7^th, 2023.

Whilst the Israeli army has admitted, now, that it’s soldiers “made mistakes” over killing 15 emergency workers on March 23^rd, the ramifications of Israel’s attitude towards aid workers have been undeniable.

Maghrebi has also recently reported that the UN announced it would reduce its aid “footprint” in Gaza following the increased danger from military offensives. The institution said it would temporarily remove one-third of its staff after an Israeli tank strike killed one staffer and wounded five others in a UN compound, despite all parties to the conflict knowing the location of the compound.

Ultimately, as the humanitarian crisis worsens as Israeli continues its indiscriminate killing in the Gaza Strip, their consistent targeting of emergency aid workers, and the consequent removal of workers by their institutions, will only worsen the crisis.

And, as the war rages and hundreds continue to die, Netanyahu will likely encounter no consequence for the foreseeable future with a friend in the White House and others in Europe.

Al Jazeera, BBC, Asharq Al-Awsat, Maghrebi