Healthcare workers, who are among the casualties in the latest violence in the occupied territories, should be allowed to do their work in safety, says World Health Organization director general, Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland.
Dr Brundtland has issued a statement appealing to all sides in the conflict to accept the critical role of doctors, nurses, and paramedics on duty, to respect their neutrality, and to equip them to save lives and relieve suffering.
“I am deeply troubled by the fact that several of the casualties of the fighting have been health workers responding to people's acute needs and distress,” she said.
She said the escalating conflict represented a “new and serious threat” to the health of affected people, not only in injuries, disability, and loss of life, but because of the severe disruption of health services.
“The targeting of civilians in the conflict is a deplorable development. Beyond the immediate death and injuries there is a long term price that will be borne, particularly by children, whose psychological health is being directly affected,” she said.
The Palestinian Red Crescent has suspended ambulance services in Ramallah after emergency vehicles were fired on.
Three ambulance drivers have been killed, according to a statement issued by the ministry of health at the Palestinian National Authority, which has appealed to the WHO and the International Red Cross to intervene.
For further details see www.palestinemonitor.org/
Figure.
AP PHOTO/DIMITRI MESSINIS
Palestinian paramedics jump over a wall in Ramallah to avoid gunfire