Palestine condemns Israeli raid on West Bank hospital amid escalation

The Palestinian Health Ministry condemned on Sunday an Israeli military raid on the courtyards of Ahli Hospital in the West Bank city of Hebron, Anadolu reports.

In a statement, the ministry denounced the Israeli incursion as a “violation of international law and part of the occupation’s ongoing and escalating attacks against the Palestinian healthcare system.”

“Hospitals and medical facilities are protected under international humanitarian law according to the 4th Geneva Convention, along with the 1977 Additional Protocols I and II and the 1954 Hague Convention, which stipulate special protections for civilian sites, including hospitals and medical institutions,” it said.

The ministry appealed to the international community and human rights organizations to intervene and provide “urgent protection for Palestinian medical facilities, staff, and patients against repeated Israeli violations.”

The Palestinian official news agency Wafa said that seven Palestinians were detained during the Israeli raid on the hospital during which surveillance camera recordings were also seized.

Tension has been running high across the West Bank, where at least 930 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 7,000 injured in attacks by the Israeli army and illegal settlers since the start of the onslaught on the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7, 2023, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

In July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s long-standing occupation of Palestinian territories illegal, calling for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

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