Every single day, there’s a new Israeli war crime being reported, it seems. This site hasn’t covered the genocide taking place in Palestine for the simple fact that there’s nothing I feel I can add beyond abject horror at what is happening. Then a couple of weeks ago the Israelis hit home in a real big way. It’s not that their horrific actions prior to March 23rd weren’t worthy of derision or despicable, but I never felt they tied into the field of Paramedicine in a way I could discuss. That all changed when butchers from the Israeli Ground Forces saw fit to summarily execute 15 paramedics.
To start with, the medics were from the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (This is true for eight of them, six others were medics with the Palestinian Civil Defense and one was a medic with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency), a group dedicated to providing health and emergency services to all those on Palestinian land. They were responding to a call for help in Tal as-Sultan in Rafah in Southern Gaza. It was nighttime, the medics were being sent for civilians who were trapped after an Israeli bombing strike in Rafah. Despite being in clearly marked ambulances operating their lights/sirens and wearing reflective paramedic uniforms, IGF troops opened fire and murdered the paramedics.
Reports have surfaced that the paramedics were buried in a mass grave still in uniform, still wearing their medical gloves, with their hands tied behind their backs. Video has surfaced (I believe it is worth watching to understand what is happening, but take caution if you don’t want to relive their final moments) that shows the last actions of the paramedics as they are murdered for the act of attempting to do their job and help the injured and ill.
I’m not interested in the opinions of zionists who are jumping through as many hoops as possible to justify the murder of our brothers. It didn’t surprise me to open up an article about the crime and immediately be inundated with countless others in the Paramedicine field jumping to the defense of the IGF and alleging the PRCS medics were actors, terrorists, decoys, etc. I don’t believe any explanation needs to be provided after that video. Fellow paramedics were responding to people in need, they were gunned down, executed, and buried in a mass grave for their efforts. Israel is a colonial settler regime, and it is our job as human beings and proletariats to oppose it at every turn. It doesn’t matter if you’re Muslim, Catholic, Jewish, Buddhist, or any identifier under the sun, the zionist regime needs to be opposed; we owe that much to our fallen comrades.
Lead image courtesy of Unknown – WikiMedia Commons
