Ambulance driver killed while aiding Palestinians injured in attack by Israeli settlers in the West Bank

CNN
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A Palestinian Red Crescent Society ambulance driver was killed Saturday while transporting injured Palestinians during an attack by settlers in the West Bank, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.

The 50-year-old driver, Mohammed Awad Allah Mohammed Musa, was killed when the ambulance was hit by gunfire, the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) told CNN. Israeli settlers fired, he added.

In another incident, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) stopped another ambulance crew at the entrance to Thabet Thabet Hospital in Tulkarm, West Bank, PRCS reported.

In photos shared by the organization, the ambulance team is seen sitting inside an IDF vehicle while surrounded by IDF soldiers. The PRCS claims the crew was arrested and questioned while attempting to carry out “humanitarian work”.

CNN has contacted the Israeli military for comment.

Earlier on Saturday, the Israeli military said security forces had killed “10 terrorists” during an ongoing operation in the Nur Shams refugee camp, just east of Tulkarem in the occupied West Bank.

It said in a statement that “IDF forces and Israeli Border Police are continuing extensive counterterrorism activities in the Nur Shams region. So far, security forces have eliminated 10 terrorists in encounters, apprehended eight wanted suspects, discovered explosive devices and explosive routes, and conducted searches of structures.

Eight IDF soldiers and a Border Force officer were lightly or moderately injured.

The Palestinian Health Ministry condemned both the detention of the ambulance crew and “the deliberate killing of an ambulance driver…on Saturday evening, while he was carrying out his humanitarian duty by transporting injured people by settler fire near the town of Al-Sawiya, south of Nablus.

The ministry said in a statement that it “urgently calls on international health organizations, human rights institutions and the International Committee of the Red Cross to act urgently to curb the escalation practices of the occupation and settlers against treatment centers and medical teams, and to allow them to fulfill their humanitarian duty.

“Targeting doctors, ambulances, treatment centers and medical personnel, hindering their movements and preventing them from reaching the injured, constitutes a blatant and clear violation of international humanitarian law and standards and international treaties,” the ministry said.