Red Cross: 22 staff killed in Middle East since October
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement (pictured here the ICRC HQ in Geneva) has delievered almost 200,000 tonnes of humanitarian supplies to Gaza since October 2023.
Keystone / Gaetan Bally
The Red Cross and Red Crescent network in Gaza and Israel has lost 22 staff members since last October, the Swiss Red Cross (SRC) said on Wednesday.
This content was published on
2 minutes
Keystone-SDA
The deceased were part of the Palestinian Red Crescent and the Israeli Magen David Adom organisation, the SRC said on the occasion of World Red Cross Day.
As part of its support efforts in the Gaza Strip, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement has been able to bring almost 200,000 tonnes of humanitarian supplies to the area.
The circumstances in which the Red Cross and other humanitarian organisations provide aid in war and crisis zones are often dangerous. This is particularly the case when parties to a conflict disregard their responsibility to comply with international humanitarian law, the SRC said. Aid workers can pay a high price.
Aid organisations need unhindered, fast and safe access to people in need in order to be able to provide humanitarian aid, the SRC continued. Humanitarian aid must not become a pawn of political or military interests or be manipulated or misused, it said.
World Red Cross Day on May 8 commemorates the legacy of the founding father of the Red Cross idea, Swiss man Henry Dunant. The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement was born out of a desire to provide aid to the wounded on battlefields, without discrimination.
Adapted from German by DeepL/dkk/dos
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
External Content
Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Almost finished… We need to confirm your email address. To complete the subscription process, please click the link in the email we just sent you.
Popular Stories
More
Foreign affairs
Why Swiss trams have become sought-after vehicles in Ukraine
Majority of shareholders approve sustainability reports of major Swiss companies
This content was published on
Shareholders have approved the sustainability reports of the largest Swiss companies by a large majority at their annual general meetings.
EU releases €1.5B frozen assets to Ukraine: Switzerland opts out
This content was published on
The EU announced the release of €1.5 billion (CHF1.44 billion) in aid to Ukraine. Switzerland will not follow the EU's approach.
Five people charged in connection with deadly Swiss rockslide
This content was published on
Five people have been charged with multiple negligent homicide in connection with the deadly Bondo rockslide that occurred seven years ago.
Mountaineer dies after 100-metre fall from Matterhorn
This content was published on
A women fell down the east face of the iconic mountain on Thursday, from an altitude of some 3,460 meters above sea level.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.