Latest news with #DellaLonga
Saba Yemen
07-05-2025
- Health
- Saba Yemen
International Federation of Red Cross & Red Crescent: Humanitarian situation in Gaza worsens hour by hour
Geneva - Saba: Tomaso Della Longa, spokesperson for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), stated on Wednesday that the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is deteriorating not by the month but hour by hour due to the genocide committed by the Zionist enemy. The remarks came in a press statement addressing the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza as a result of the ongoing genocide and the blockade imposed for over two months, restricting the entry of humanitarian aid and medical supplies for Palestinians. Della Longa described the daily lives of Palestinians in Gaza as a "continuous nightmare" due to starvation, stressing that millions lack basic necessities such as food, water, and healthcare. He emphasized that the Palestinian Red Crescent continues its work with limited resources, adding, "Aid entry into Gaza has been halted for over 60 days—nothing is getting in." He continued, "Only less than half of the Palestinian Red Crescent's ambulances are operational in Gaza, medical equipment in hospitals and clinics is rapidly depleting. The situation is worsening not by the month but hour by hour." Whatsapp Telegram Email Print
Al Jazeera
01-04-2025
- Al Jazeera
Rescue workers Israel killed found in mass grave in Gaza: What to know
Nine Palestine Red Crescent (PRCS) medics in ambulances, as well as some Civil Defence workers, went to help people in Rafah, Gaza, and disappeared on March 23 after coming under attack from Israeli forces. What followed was a week of Israeli obstruction until international teams were finally able to enter the area where the medics and rescue workers disappeared. They found gruesome proof of direct attacks on the humanitarian workers. One medic remains missing. Here's everything we know about how Israel killed these first responders in Gaza: Israeli forces killed them. One ambulance was dispatched to al-Hashaashin, Rafah, to help people injured by Israeli attacks on Sunday, March 23. Israeli soldiers fired on it, injuring the crew. 'In the early hours of Sunday, 23 March, our Palestine Red Crescent colleagues were entering the area of al-Hashaashin, Rafah to save lives and came under fire,' Tommaso Della Longa, spokesperson for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), told Al Jazeera. The PRCS then sent a further three ambulances to help the injured people their colleagues were trying to reach, and to rescue their colleagues who had been attacked. All the teams dispatched to support the initial ambulance did so during daylight hours, the Civil Defence confirmed. PRCS 'lost contact with their colleagues', Della Longa said, and began trying to find were three ambulance officers – who transport the wounded and offer emergency healthcare at times: Ezzedine Shaath, Mostafa Khafaga and Saleh Muamer. There were also five first responder volunteers: Ashraf Abu Labda, Mohammad Bahloul, Mohammed al-Heila, Raed al-Sharif and Rifatt Radwan. Ambulance officer Assad al-Nassasra is still missing. 'We don't know where he is,' Della Longa said. 'The colleagues that were killed and found left behind more than 20 children,' he added. Israel has killed 30 Palestinian Red Crescent volunteers and staff – humanitarian workers protected by international humanitarian law – since October 7. The bodies of 14 murdered people were found in a shallow mass grave, according to the PRCS. Eight were identified as PRCS medics, five were Civil Defense workers, and one was a UN agency employee. They were killed 'one after another', then buried in the sand along with their emergency vehicles, the UN said. 'The available information indicates that the first team was killed by Israeli forces on 23 March, and that other emergency and aid crews were struck one after another over several hours as they searched for their missing colleagues,' a spokesperson for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Palestine said. 'Their bodies were gathered and buried in this mass grave,' OCHA head Jonathan Whittall said from the scene. 'We're digging them out in their uniforms, with their gloves on. They were here to save lives,' he said. 'These ambulances have been buried in the sand. There's a UN vehicle here, …[an] Israeli forces bulldozer has buried them.' The Israeli army's international spokesperson, Nadav Shoshani, said the medics had not been killed deliberately. Referring to Israeli soldiers firing at clearly marked ambulances and UN vehicles, Shoshani wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that 'several uncoordinated vehicles were identified advancing suspiciously toward IDF troops without headlights or emergency signals', not clarifying what was meant by 'uncoordinated vehicle'. Shoshani also claimed without evidence that 'terrorists' were hidden amid the rescue workers and that '[Israeli] forces eliminated a Hamas military operative, Mohammad Amin Ibrahim Shubaki, who took part in the October 7 massacre, along with eight other terrorists from Hamas and the Islamic Jihad.' None of the names reported as having been recovered from the mass grave match the name Shoshani claimed. Soshani did not explain the fact that one body was recovered with his hands bound, according to the Red Crescent in Gaza, and that Israeli bulldozers had tried to bury the vehicles after the fact. Israeli claims of Hamas launching attacks from medical facilities in Gaza were often 'vague' and sometimes 'contradicted by publicly available information', UN human rights chief, Volker Turk, told the United Nations Security Council in Longa said that, for a whole week, the IFRC, PRCS, ICRC and the UN made appeals to Israeli authorities to enter the area to investigate. Israel blocked the requests until finally a mission was able to enter and look for the missing rescue workers. Video from the scene showed searchers digging out several bodies wearing orange emergency vests, some piled on top of each other. One body in a Civil Defence vest was pulled out of the grave only for searchers to realise it was a torso with no legs. IFRC Secretary-General Jagan Chapagain said in a statement: 'These dedicated ambulance workers were responding to wounded people… They wore emblems that should have protected them; their ambulances were clearly marked. They should have returned to their families; they did not. 'Even in the most complex conflict zones, there are rules [that] could not be clearer – civilians must be protected; humanitarians must be protected. Health services must be protected. 'Our network is in mourning, but this is not enough… I pose a question: 'When will this stop?' All parties must stop the killing, and all humanitarians must be protected.' Della Longa pointed out that half the ambulances in Gaza are no longer functional, either due to sustaining damage or because of the lack of fuel. UN aid chief Tom Fletcher said in a post on X that the first responders 'were killed by Israeli forces while trying to save lives. We demand answers & justice.' US State Department Spokesperson Tammy Bruce told reporters the US expected 'all parties' to comply with international humanitarian law, without clarifying which account of the killings, Israel's or the UN's, she was referring to. Amnesty International's Mohamed Duar, spokesperson for the occupied Palestinian territory, said: 'Despite their protected status under the Geneva Conventions and International Humanitarian Law, Israeli Forces continue to target healthcare workers… Ambulances and hospitals continue to come under fire and be destroyed.' 'There is no respect for humanitarians,' Della Longa told Al Jazeera. Violence is 'not new in Gaza, but the scale and severity of what we see is shocking, horrific and not acceptable'. 'There is a deterioration of respect for international rules,' he said. 'That should not and must not happen.'
Khaleej Times
18-03-2025
- Health
- Khaleej Times
Red Cross says Gaza medical facilities 'overwhelmed' after Israeli strikes
The Red Cross said many Gaza medical facilities were "overwhelmed" on Tuesday following a deadly wave of Israeli strikes, while the World Health Organisation reported medicines running short. The health ministry in the Hamas-run Palestinian territory said the bodies of more than 400 people had been received by Gaza hospitals, after Israel unleashed its most intense strikes since a ceasefire came into effect on January 19. The truce largely halted more than 15 months of fighting in Gaza that began after Hamas's October 2023 attack on Israel. Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) colleagues were reporting that "many medical facilities are literally overwhelmed across Gaza", Tommaso Della Longa, spokesman for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, told a briefing in Geneva. He said PRCS teams had been responding to the attacks overnight and as of 7:00 am local time, "they have responded to 150 fatalities and 179 injured people". "Children were among the casualties," he said. Della Longa said medical facilities were struggling with the number of patients and with the pressure on dwindling medical supplies. "There are shortages of food, supplies and fuel," he said, adding that PRCS teams were assessing the impact of fuel shortages on ambulances and getting first responders to those in need. "No fuel and no aid have entered Gaza since the beginning of March. Fewer ambulances are able to operate and this morning's bombardment has seen ambulances responding across the Gaza Strip, which means fuel supplies have plummeted further," he said. Medicine shortage The six-week truce that started on January 19 enabled the entry of vital food, shelter and medical assistance to the besieged territory. But on March 2, Israel again blocked the flow of aid during an impasse over extending the ceasefire. Della Longa said the truce had not been long enough to replenish stocks. World Health Organisation spokesman Tarik Jasarevic also warned that medicine stocks were becoming depleted. "Unfortunately, because of this shortage of medicines, there is a risk of health workers not being able to provide treatment for different medical conditions (and) not only for trauma injuries," he told the briefing. Jasarevic said many supplies were now "running out". He said the WHO had 16 trucks waiting at El Arish, on the Egyptian side of the Gaza border, while procurement of essential medical supplies was ongoing. Meanwhile, medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said its teams had received a large influx of wounded patients at their field hospital, clinic and at the Nasser Hospital. "The type of injuries were very difficult. From amputation of the limbs to complicated orthopaedic and burn cases," said Mohammed Abu Mughaiseeb, MSF's deputy medical coordinator in southern Gaza. "The hospitals are not able to cope with the situation regarding the mass casualties that they received at once." Claire Nicolet, MSF's emergencies chief, who is currently in Gaza, added: "It was absolutely terrifying for 20 minutes, with bombs all over the place. "The population here is completely afraid. Of course, they saw that this is a full restart of the fighting and they are very scared of what's next." The health ministry in Gaza said in early February that at least 48,000 people had been killed in Israel's military offensive on the occupied Palestinian territory since October 2023. The United Nations considers the ministry's figures reliable.
