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Ramallah, Saturday 02 June 2018
Today the Palestinian Medical Relief Society mourns the loss of one of our own. 21-year old volunteer medic Razan Al Najjar was shot and killed by an Israeli sniper yesterday in Gaza as she was attempting to provide first aid to an injured protester. She was shot to the chest, the bullet ripping through the white vest with red emblem and PMRS logo that was marking her as medical personnel.
Yesterday, 3 other PMRS first aiders were injured by live bullets: Rami Abu Jazar, Mahmoud Fa’wur and Mahmoud Odeh. In total, Israel has injured 223 paramedics since the end of April, 29 of them with live ammunition.
Shooting at medical personnel is a war crime under the Geneva conventions, as is shooting at children, journalists and unarmed civilians.
We demand an immediate international response to Israeli humanitarian law violations in Gaza. We call on our international friends and partners to publicly condemn Razan’s killing and to demand that Israel be held accountable for its crimes under international law.
We grieve with her family and our colleagues in Gaza during this tragic time. We ask our partners who are in the country to please join us tomorrow at 12pm at the Manara circle in Ramallah to honor Razan’s memory and demand an end to the bloody oppression of Gaza. We will be receiving condolences later that day from 3 to 7pm at the PMRS headquarters in Al Bireh.
Dr. Mustafa Barghouti is the President of PMRS
