UNITED Nations rights chief Volker Turk has called on the world to halt Gaza’s descent into a “new, unseen level” of “humanitarian catastrophe”, amid Israel’s total blockade on aid and relentless attacks on the territory.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has begun its second day of hearings into Israel’s humanitarian obligations to Palestinians, more than 50 days into Israel’s total blockage on aid entering the Gaza Strip.
South Africa’s representative Zane Dangor has told the ICJ that “under the world’s watchful eye, Palestinians are being subjected to atrocity, crimes, persecution, apartheid and genocide” in Gaza.
This is as a palestinian paramedic who survived a deadly Israeli attack on a group of first responders in southern Gaza last month has been released from Israeli detention, the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) says.
Assaad al-Nassasra, an ambulance driver, was among at least 10 Palestinian detainees who were released into the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, the PRCS said.
The agency shared footage on social media that showed a visibly emotional al-Nassasra, dressed in a bright red PRCS jacket, embracing his colleagues after 37 days in Israeli detention.
His exact whereabouts had been unknown after the Israeli military opened fire on Palestinian first responders in the Rafah area of southern Gaza on March 23, killing 15 health workers in an attack that drew widespread outrage and calls for an independent investigation.
“He had been arrested while performing his humanitarian duty during the massacre of medical teams in the Tel Al-Sultan area of Rafah Governorate,” the PRCS said.
The PRCS reported last month that Israeli forces opened fire on the medics, who were driving in ambulances to assist wounded Palestinians at the site of an earlier Israeli attack.
The agency said it lost contact with its team and Israeli forces blocked access to the site of the incident.
When United Nations and Palestinian officials were able to reach the area a week later, they found a mass grave where bulldozed ambulances and bodies were buried.
Eight PRCS workers were killed along with six Palestinian Civil Defence team members and one UN employee, the PRCS said.
Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 52,365 Palestinians and wounded 117,905 others, according to the enclave’s Health Ministry. The Gaza Government Media Office updated the death toll to more than 61,700, saying thousands of people missing under the rubble are presumed dead. An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel during Hamas-led attacks on October 7, 2023, and more than 200 were taken captive.
