Israeli forces severely beat an ambulance driver in the northern West Bank, reports the Jenin branch of the Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees. Soldiers stopped the ambulance while it was enroute to the village of Sair for a free medical day. They knocked the driver to the ground and beat him, causing injuries to his face and head.
A UPMRC spokesperson indicated that Israeli impediments to the work of Palestinian ambulance crews are common.
He said that to disrupt the humanitarian duties of medical crews in such a way flagrantly violates the most elementary of international human rights law.
Medical Relief is calling for international intervention to stop Israeli attacks on Palestinian medical crews, adding that doctors, nurses and drivers are often prevented from performing their duties or passing checkpoints, are fired upon, arrested, injured and killed. In accordance with the Fourth Geneva Convention, any one of those acts is illegal.
