Region | Palestinian Territories
Red Cross says Israel broke international law in Gaza
The International Committee of the Red Cross says it has been refused permission by Israeli forces to reach a site where they found four small children alive next to their mothers' bodies in a Gaza home hit by Israeli shelling.
- Agencies
- Published: 15:34 January 8, 2009
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Geneva: The International Committee of the Red Cross says it has been refused permission by Israeli forces to reach a site where they found four small children alive next to their mothers' bodies in a Gaza home hit by Israeli shelling.
The neutral aid group says a total of 15 dead were recovered from two houses in the Zaytun neighborhood of Gaza City Wednesday.
The ICRC chief for Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories Pierre Wettach has described the incident on Thursday as "shocking."
"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 Palestinian Red Crescent to assist the wounded," he said.
In unusually strong terms, the Geneva-based agency said it believed Israel had breached international humanitarian law in the incident.
"The ICRC believes that in this instance the Israeli military failed to meet its obligation under international humanitarian law to care for and evacuated the wounded. It considers the delay in allowing rescue services access unacceptable," the group said.
Israel's ambassador in Geneva denied the accusations. Aharon Leshno-Yaar told the Associated Press that "Once the military activity was over then it was possible for humanitarian teams to evacuate the wounded."
He said Israel respects international humanitarian law and is working with aid groups to allow the wounded to be removed and in some cases transferred to hospitals in Israel.
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