Gaza – Ma’an – The Civil Defense in Gaza said that it had monitored the evaporation of the bodies of 1,760 martyrs due to internationally banned weapons.
Civil Defense indicated that the bodies of 2,210 martyrs had disappeared from various graves in the Gaza Strip.
He added, “The occupation forces do not allow our crews to respond to distress calls, and our headquarters and vehicles have been subjected to Israeli artillery and air bombardment.”
He pointed out that 82 of our cadres were martyred by Israeli occupation fire.
He pointed out that the occupation refuses to coordinate the entry of our crews into the bombed areas, and that the occupation is besieging the Palestinians in an area that is less than 11% of the area of ??the Gaza Strip.
Civil Defense confirmed that 10,000 martyrs are still under the rubble and we have not been able to retrieve them due to the prevention of the entry of the necessary equipment.
He called for providing our basic needs of fuel, equipment and spare parts to continue our
work.
In detail, the Civil Defense statement was as follows:
Since the beginning of the genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, we in the Civil Defense have made dozens of contacts with the relevant international institutions and bodies to work on providing the humanitarian services needs of fuel, equipment and spare parts that contribute to the sustainability of the work of the Civil Defense vehicles, which were directly damaged by the aggressive war on the Gaza Strip, as the efficiency of our vehicles before the genocidal war was estimated at only 37%, and our crews have so far provided tasks equivalent to the work of the Civil Defense before the war, equivalent to 40 years of work.
We emphasize that the role of international organizations is to assist humanitarian intervention agencies and provide all the capabilities to continue their work, as we have observed many challenges in the work of humanitarian organizations, which raises questions about carrying out their roles in accordance with the United Nations
charters and the Fourth Geneva Conventions and their annexes.
During the genocide war, we received 87,000 distress calls. The General Directorate of Civil Defense responded to 72,000 calls, resulting in more than 255,000 missions, including firefighting, rescue, firefighting, first aid, and evacuation of civilians. It was unable to respond to 15,000 distress calls, due to fuel shortages, targeting of civil defense equipment and capabilities, the occupation’s closure of many areas where citizens are present, and the occupation’s refusal to allow our crews to respond to the relief of those affected within the areas that the occupation has militarily closed, as the occupation uses heavy fire and drones and targets areas surrounding the areas where our crews work, or refuses the coordination operations that we conduct through the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Our crews carried out 72,000 rescue missions and 11,530 firefighting missions due to the Israeli occupation army’s use of incendiary shells, b
urning homes with their inhabitants inside, and burning industrial and economic facilities.
82 civil defense officers were martyred at the hands of the “Israeli” occupation, and more than 270 were injured, including officers who were injured more than once and then returned to work. This means that 40% of our crews were exposed to physical danger, and all of them were exposed to psychological harm and the loss of a first- or second-degree relative or their homes.
Our headquarters were also completely destroyed, directly bombed, bulldozed and partially damaged in a manner that violates the Geneva Conventions’ annex on the protection of civil defense agencies, in addition to our vehicles being targeted by artillery, bombarded and burned by the ‘Israeli’ occupation, as we lost (11) fire engines, a rescue vehicle, (2) rapid intervention vehicles, (4) tanker vehicles, (8) ambulances, (1) hydraulic ladder and (12) administrative vehicles, in a manner that confirms that the occupation intends to stop humanitarian
work and our interventions that contribute to saving lives and protecting lives, as the occupation increases the suffering of citizens by preventing our humanitarian interventions and targeting our crews.
There are also (7) fire engines that were damaged and can be repaired if the capabilities are available, as well as (3) rescue vehicles, (3) ambulances, and (1) water tanker that can be returned to service if the occupation allows the entry of appropriate spare parts.
Throughout the genocide war, our crews were able to retrieve 35,580 martyrs out of 40,000 who arrived at the hospitals. The occupation prevented the retrieval of 14,420 martyrs, as 4,420 of these martyrs were retrieved by citizens, while 10,000 remained under the rubble. Civil Defense ambulance crews also transported 8,973 martyrs.
Our teams also recovered 82,800 wounded and injured people out of more than 92,000 injured people, and Civil Defense ambulance teams transported 21,240 injured people.
The “Israeli” occupation has obstructed the
recovery of 7,552 injured people who were injured in different areas in the Gaza Strip, in a manner that violates the right to life and the right to save lives and violates the Fourth Geneva Convention and its annexes related to the protection of citizens, as the occupation refused to coordinate the entry of our crews and prevented us from supplying fuel, which caused difficulty in our reaching the place.
We also confirm that there are 10,000 missing persons under the rubble and buildings destroyed by the occupation, as our crews have not been able to retrieve them until now due to the siege imposed by the occupation and the targeting of cranes, bulldozers, excavators and rams by the occupation army in a manner that violates the right to access the remains of the martyrs and honor them by burying them according to the special guidelines for dealing with bodies. In addition, the Civil Defense Authority has monitored approximately 1,760 martyrs whose bodies evaporated and we have not found any trace of them be
cause the occupation used internationally prohibited weapons that cause the bodies to evaporate and their data was not recorded in the records of the relevant government agencies. There are approximately 8,240 citizens who were forcibly disappeared by the occupation and we do not know their fate until now, as well as the presence of 2,210 bodies that disappeared from various cemeteries in the Gaza Strip, and the bodies of martyrs who were lost from areas threatened by the “Israeli” occupation. Our crews have also succeeded in evacuating 25,430 families from dangerous areas in the Gaza Strip.
The occupation’s dropping of nearly 85,000 explosive devices on the Gaza Strip has destroyed more than 80% of the urban structure and 90% of the infrastructure, including 17% unexploded weapons, which are considered dangerous waste and pose a threat to the lives of citizens due to the occupation’s neutralization of the explosive waste management team, and pose a direct threat to the lives of citizens and the martyrdom of
more than 90 children as a result of tampering with the occupation’s waste, which resembles food cans.
The Israeli occupation army is besieging Palestinian citizens in an area it claims is humanitarian and safe, which is equivalent to 10.5% of the area of ??the Gaza Strip, in a manner that violates all norms and works to repeatedly displace citizens, disregarding international legitimacy decisions and violating the right to housing. The occupation has committed 21 massacres in areas it claimed were humanitarian and directed citizens towards them, resulting in 347 martyrs and 766 wounded.
We in the Civil Defense have observed many challenges and question marks in the duties assigned to international humanitarian organizations, which raised questions about ignoring their role towards about two million and four hundred thousand citizens living under death in the Gaza Strip for ten months, as according to the United Nations charters and the Geneva Conventions and their annexes, these organizations are required
to work on:
1. Providing our basic fuel needs. Here, we denounce what the Israeli occupation claims through the spokesman of their Ministry of Army that local humanitarian institutions in the Gaza Strip are supplied with fuel through international organizations, and we confirm that this is false.
2. ? Assisting in the success of coordination operations with the International Committee of the Red Cross for the arrival of civil defense crews to humanitarian locations where civilians, wounded and bodies of martyrs are being held, as the Red Cross is responsible for working with the parties to the conflict to implement the Geneva Conventions in this regard.
3. It also requires these international organizations to ? assist in providing civil defense vehicles and equipment to replace damaged vehicles and vehicles bombed by the Israeli occupation forces.
4. It also requires them to intervene to secure roads and streets that impede access
to distress calls. 5. ? It also requires them to provide safe ways for civ
il defense vehicles to reach water sources and channels used in firefighting missions.
6. Also working to provide spare parts for civil defense equipment and vehicles, to allow the humanitarian intervention teams to continue working.
Accordingly, what the civil defense is being subjected to in the Gaza Strip is a disgrace to the international institutions that are now certainly retreating from their assigned role, and their interventions are clearly and intentionally declining, and this is likely to affect the lives of civilians who were injured and martyred due to the decline in the role of the organizations in pressuring the occupation and hindering us from providing our humanitarian services.
We appeal to the International Committee of the Red Cross and demand that they play their role in accordance with the Geneva Conventions and coordinate the escort of civil defense vehicles to combat zones to protect lives, so that the number of human casualties does not increase and become fatal.
We appeal to the
UN Commissioner-General to quickly intervene to provide our basic fuel needs and not to cause the death of citizens who were injured due to the lack of fuel.
We also call on the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator to work to meet our needs for equipment, spare parts and fuel that are directly related to the right to life, the right to health and the right to save life and soul.
Source: Maan News Agency
