The ongoing assaults and violations and by groups of fanatic illegal paramilitary colonizers in the occupied West Bank have escalated further, now encompassing the obstruction of emergency medical services.
This development compounds the already devastating toll of repeated armed invasions, arson attacks, property destruction, tree uprooting, and land bulldozing targeting Palestinian villages and towns.
In recent weeks, Palestinian ambulance crews have documented multiple video-recorded incidents in which colonizers attempted to block emergency vehicles, preventing them from reaching the wounded and critically ill, particularly during or immediately following attacks by Israeli forces and colonizer militias.
On Thursday, the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) released footage showing a colonizer deliberately obstructing one of its ambulances rushing to Turmus Ayya, northeast of Ramallah in the central West Bank, where colonizers had launched an attack and local reports indicated casualties.
A similar pattern emerged Wednesday evening when PRCS teams attempted to reach Kafr Malik village, near Ramallah, where an armed mob of colonizers, accompanied by Israeli troops, staged another raid.
That assault resulted in the killing of three Palestinians, Mershid Nawaf Hamayel, 35, Lotfi Sabry Ba’erat, 18, and Mohammad Maher An-Naji, and several injuries.
PRCS spokesperson Nibal Farsakh stated that field teams are increasingly struggling to access the wounded or provide life-saving care amid a dramatic rise in attacks by Israeli forces and colonizers across the West Bank, including refugee camps, towns, and cities. These escalations have paralleled the expansion of military checkpoints and roadblocks.
“There are ongoing attacks, by both occupation troops and colonizers, intended to obstruct medical aid,” Farsakh said, “The disruptions we faced in Kafr Malik and Turmus Ayya have become increasingly common in recent months, endangering our medics and the lives of patients.”
She noted that since October 7, 2023, when the genocide in Gaza began, the frequency and intensity of these violations have grown.
Farsakh emphasized that Israeli occupation authorities are breaching international humanitarian law by delaying or denying ambulance access, even when travel routes have been coordinated in advance through the International Committee of the Red Cross.
According to Farsakh, the obstructions go far beyond logistical barriers: they include direct assaults on medical personnel, gunfire aimed at paramedics, physical attacks, and the arbitrary detention of emergency staff.
She concluded by reaffirming that the obstruction of medical services and attacks on ambulances constitute grave breaches of international humanitarian law, particularly Article 18 of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, requires the protection of medical personnel and civilians during armed conflict.
