GAZA, (Palestine Foundation Information Center )Civil defense and ambulance teams in Gaza are facing overwhelming challenges in retrieving the bodies of the martyrs and aiding the wounded, as Israeli forces continue to block access to conflict zones, according to civil defense officials.
Fares Afaneh, Director of Emergency and Ambulance Services in Gaza City and the northern region, said on Monday that dozens of bodies remain scattered across the streets in areas such as Al-Sabra, Tel Al-Hawa, Al-Shati, and Sheikh Radwan. He noted that Israeli forces are actively preventing rescue teams from approaching, firing live bullets and shells at anyone who tries to help.
Afaneh also reported that many individuals remain trapped under the rubble of destroyed homes, but civil defense teams have been unable to reach them. As a result, many injured people have died in place without any assistance.
He warned that stray dogs have started mauling the corpses lying in the streets, as teams are paralyzed by the widespread Israeli military presence and the closure of roads leading to affected areas.
Mahmoud Basal, spokesperson for the Civil Defense, confirmed that Israel has rejected 26 out of 27 coordination requests in the past 22 days and ignored over 70 urgent intervention requests in recent hours. This has put civilians and the wounded in extreme danger.
Basal said that crews are sometimes forced to reach out to the Red Cross or the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in an attempt to access certain neighborhoods, often without any formal coordination.
He emphasized that Israel’s obstruction of ambulance teams directly violates international law and the Geneva Conventions, which require warring parties to allow humanitarian access and protect rescue personnel.
Last week alone, Basal noted, they received over 320 distress calls from trapped and wounded individuals in Al-Sabra and Tel Al-Hawa. The teams, however, were unable to respond to any due to direct fire. In one heartbreaking case, a man lost his children, and a stray dog dragged one of their bodies in front of him while Israeli forces blocked paramedics from intervening.
Basal said the current scenes in Al-Sabra and Tel Al-Hawa mirror those witnessed in northern Gaza six months ago. He called on the international community and humanitarian organizations to urgently intervene to stop the war and ensure that rescue crews can access affected areas.
He stressed that ambulance crews perform strictly humanitarian work and are entitled under international law to rescue the wounded and recover the dead without needing permission from any party. Yet, Israel refuses to uphold this right.
Tens of thousands of civilians have already lost their lives due to Israel’s denial of access to emergency teams. Thousands more continue to face the same fate unless urgent international action is taken.
