CAIRO, May 12. /TASS/. Over 1,400 employees of humanitarian organizations working in the blockaded Gaza Strip and members of emergency medical teams have been killed since the beginning of the Israeli military operation until now, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) reported.
"The number of humanitarian workers and emergency medical team members killed in Gaza so far exceeds 1,400," Al Jazeera quoted a PRCS spokesman as saying. According to him, "since the beginning of this year, eight medics who were part of the ambulance crews of the Palestinian Red Crescent became victims of Israeli shelling in the enclave," and in total, "since the beginning of the Israeli aggression, the organization has already lost 48 employees working in the enclave."
Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7, 2023, when Hamas militants staged a surprise attack on Israeli territory from Gaza, killing residents of Israeli border settlements and taking over 250 hostages, including women, children and the elderly. Hamas described its attack as retaliation for the aggressive actions taken by Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. In response, Israel declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip, home to 2.3 million Palestinians before the crisis, launching air strikes on Gaza as well as some parts of Lebanon and Syria before starting a ground operation in the Palestinian enclave.