Pink Cross chief describes horrific scenes after Rafah assault

At 15:30 on Friday, the workplace of the Worldwide Committee of the Pink Cross (ICRC) in Gaza was shaken by three explosions close by, says William Schomburg in a video interview with journalists in Geneva.

– After that there was a flood of injured folks searching for assist. There have been piles of corpses and blood in all places, says Schomburg, who heads the ICRC workplace in Rafah. The wall across the workplace suffered solely minor injury, however on the surface 22 folks had been killed.

Marked with the Pink Cross emblem

The ICRC head says the workplace is positioned simply south of a humanitarian zone the Israeli military (IDF) has outlined within the war-torn Palestinian territory.

– All events to the battle are properly conscious of all our buildings, says Schomburg, who doesn’t wish to speculate about the place the grenades that exploded got here from.

– We’re not right here to assign blame. However on the similar time, that is certainly one of a number of instances the place it has been near … and we can’t function on this means. All our buildings and amenities are marked with the Pink Cross emblem, so how will you clarify the assault we skilled? I feel you must ask the events to the battle about that, not us. he continues.

The IDF stated on Saturday {that a} preliminary investigation concluded that it “didn’t perform any assault immediately in opposition to Pink Cross amenities”.

– The incident will probably be investigated additional, and the outcomes will probably be introduced to our worldwide companions, says the army.

– By no means seen something prefer it

Lots of the wounded had been taken to a area hospital operated by the Pink Cross close by. Not all survived.

Schomburg says no Pink Cross workers had been killed, however that two kids of workers wanted therapy for accidents they acquired within the explosions. He says it is not going to be straightforward to recuperate from what occurred on Friday.

– Within the streets round us there have been swimming pools of blood. Our bodies had been strewn on the bottom. We discovered physique elements scattered throughout, together with inside our space. I’ve actually by no means seen something prefer it. The extent of struggling in such a short while has come as a shock to our folks, he says.

The households of a number of of the Pink Cross workers stay in tents within the space across the workplace. Schomburg says it is a miracle nobody was severely damage.

Tens of 1000’s killed

The assault got here concurrently Israel has stepped up its assaults on the Gaza Strip within the battle that broke out after the Hamas assault on Israel on October 7 final yr. Round 1,200 folks, most of them civilians, had been killed and a number of other hundred taken hostage in that assault.

Since then, a minimum of 37,551 folks have been killed within the Gaza battle, together with primarily civilians, in line with native authorities.

The ICRC, which is an impartial group alongside the nationwide Pink Cross Societies and their worldwide federations, has a particular mandate enshrined within the Geneva Conventions. It contains defending victims of worldwide and inner armed conflicts – together with the wounded, prisoners, refugees, civilians and different non-combatants.