BRUSSELS: EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell on Saturday called for an investigation into the deadly shelling that damaged an International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) office in Gaza and left at least 22 Palestinians dead.
“The EU condemns the shelling which damaged the ICRC office in Gaza and led to dozens of casualties. An independent investigation is needed and those responsible must be held accountable,” Borrell wrote on X.
At least 22 Palestinians, who had taken shelter near the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) office in Gaza, were killed in Israeli shelling on Friday. The selling had also ‘damaged’ the ICRC office.
However, the ICRC did not say who fired the “heavy calibre projectiles” but in a statement on social media said they “damaged the structure of the ICRC office,” which is surrounded by hundreds of displaced people living in tents.
It added 22 bodies and 45 injured had been taken to a nearby Red Cross field hospital following the shelling, and there were “reports of more casualties.”
“Heavy-calibre projectiles landed within meters of the office and residences of the ICRC on Friday afternoon,” according to the statement.
The ICRC said that firing so dangerously close to humanitarian structures, of whose locations the parties to the war are aware and which are clearly marked with the Red Cross emblem, puts the lives of civilian population and Red Cross staff at risk. It maintained that this grave security incident is one of several in recent days.
The statement further said that earlier stray bullets have reached ICRC office and decry these incidents that put the lives of civilians at risk.
Meanwhile, World Health Organization (WHO) says health system in the Gaza Strip is near collapse as casualties from an Israeli strike on the al-Mawasi “safe zone” pour into Al-Aqsa Hospital.
Reuters news agency reported that around 45 Palestinian people have been killed and many injured in separate Israeli attacks on Friday.
Israeli tanks push deeper into western Rafah as artillery and warplanes pound the city where an armoured vehicle was destroyed by Hamas, Arab media reported.
Gaza Health Ministry said that around 37,431 people have been killed and more than 85,653 wounded in Israel’s war on Gaza since October 7.
