Medical staff raise concerns over being blocked from treating Palestinians

The Palestinian Red Crescent in Nablus has reiterated its calls for health centres to open their doors and receive wounded Palestinians, after a number of its ambulances were blocked from entering vital locations due to road cordons imposed by Israeli authorities.

Mamoun Abbas, the official spokesperson for the Palestinian Red Crescent, told Middle East Eye that since the start of the confrontations in Jerusalem earlier this week, its medical teams have faced major problems in accessing key areas with ambulances. 

“We are finding it difficult to move around our ambulances and medical staff. If the Israeli army obstructs roads and prevent them from reaching areas of confrontation, we can’t help people,” he said. 

According to Abbas, despite contacting the International Federation of the Red Cross, and Israeli authorities, the group has not received any justification or any convincing explanation as to why their ambulances were denied access to the scenes. 

Abbas also said that last week, the Israeli army fired live ammunition directly at ambulances while staff were trying to transport a wounded person at the Hawara checkpoint, south of Nablus. 

The Palestininan Red Crescent has continued to record numerous cases of injuries, as a result of rubber coated-steel bullets being shot at people, as well as the beating of their medical staff in Jerusalem. 

“The Occupying forces do not respect humanitarian or international laws,” Abbas said.