Gaza 101: Emergency Rescue
Palestinian Red Crescent Society medics risk everything to save lives
Humanitarian workers in Gaza risk their lives daily to provide aid to Palestinians under dire conditions. This BBC report follows paramedics with the Palestinian Red Crescent in Northern Gaza during the first month of the war, when the area was under the heaviest Israeli bombardment.
Israel dropped 6,000 bombs on Gaza in the first six days of the war. “In the first three days, the number killed and the level of destruction was equal to the previous four or five wars together” says Mohamed Mekkawy, who has volunteered with the Palestinian Red Crescent for ten years. It is difficult to keep up with the sheer number of casualties of Israeli bombardment: “all day long they’ve been targeting civilians, we’ve been getting nothing but women and children.” When Israel cut off communications on 27 October, victims had no recourse to the emergency services. “Today there have been no calls on the ambulance service number 101. Because there are no communications at all, which puts civilian lives in grave danger” reports another volunteer, Alaa Al Halaby. On 22 December, the medics were forced to suspend their operations, having been attacked by the IDF.
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