1. Home
  2. 'Shame upon shame': Iran blasts Israeli killing of medic

'Shame upon shame': Iran blasts Israeli killing of medic

PressTV
June 4, 2018

Tehran, Jun 4: Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has condemned Israel's killing of a young Palestinian paramedic near the Gaza fence as another stain of shame for the regime.

In a post on his official Twitter account on Sunday, Zarif also slammed the US's veto of a UN Security Council resolution that condemned Israel’s use of force against Palestinians.

Razan al-Najjar, 21, a volunteer with the Gaza Health Ministry, was fatally shot in the chest on Friday while treating injured Gaza protesters in a medical staff uniform.

Palestinian Health Minister Jawad Awwad denounced Najjar's killing as "a war crime" and a blatant violation of international rules, which protect paramedics and medical personnel at times of conflict.

Yossef Abu Arrish, the head of Gaza's health services, said the medical team that included Najjar had approached the Gaza fence "with raised hands and while they were in their white uniforms and still the army fired tear gas grenades at them."

The Palestinian Medical Relief Society also demanded "an immediate international response to Israeli humanitarian law violations in Gaza."

The Israeli military claimed that it was investigating the case.

In recent months, Israel has stepped up its extrajudicial killings of Palestinians in the occupied territories.

Israeli troops have on numerous occasions been caught on camera brutally killing Palestinians, with online videos going viral and sparking international condemnation.

Palestinian officials said before being killed, Najjar had given an interview during which she said she took pride in the aid she was providing to wounded Gazans.

Thousands of Palestinians attended Najjar's funeral in the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis on Saturday.

Her mother, Sabreen, told the Middle East Eye news portal that Israelis "know Razan, they know she is a paramedic, she has been helping treat wounds since March 30."

"My daughter was a target for the Israeli snipers. The explosive bullet was directly shot in her chest; it was not a random bullet," she added.

Tensions have been running high in Gaza since March 30, which marked the start of a series of protests, dubbed “The Great March of Return,” demanding the right to return for those driven out of their homeland.

At least 120 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since the return rallies began.

The Gaza clashes reached their peak on May 14, the eve of the 70th anniversary of the Nakba Day (the Day of Catastrophe), which coincided this year with the US embassy relocation from Tel Aviv to occupied Jerusalem al-Quds.

On Friday, US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley rejected a Kuwaiti-authored Security Council resolution, which sought “international protection” for Palestinian civilians.

Israeli-Palestinian lawmaker Ahmad Tibi held Washington and its UN envoy responsible for Najjar's death.

Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
November 22,2025

gaza.jpg

The Israeli regime’s forces have killed two Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip every day since the ceasefire began in early October, UNICEF has warned.

The UN children’s agency said on Friday that Israeli forces continue to attack Palestinians in Gaza even though the agreement was meant to stop the killing.

“Since 11 October, while the ceasefire has been in effect, at least 67 children have been killed in conflict-related incidents in the Gaza Strip. Dozens more have been injured. That is an average of almost two children killed every day since the ceasefire took effect,” UNICEF spokesperson Ricardo Pires said in Geneva, reminding that each number in the statistics represents a child whose life had ended violently.

“These are not statistics,” he said. “Each child had a story, a family, and a future that was stolen from them.”

Data from Palestinian factions, human rights groups, and government bodies recorded since the US-brokered ceasefire deal went into effect on October 10 show that Israeli forces have carried out numerous attacks, each constituting a separate ceasefire violation.

UNICEF teams say they repeatedly continue to witness heart-wrenching scenes of fearful Palestinian children sleeping outdoors with amputated limbs, while others live as orphans in flooded, makeshift shelters.

“I saw this myself in August. There is no safe place for them. The world cannot normalize their suffering,” Pires said, lamenting that the UN could “do a lot more if the aid that is really needed was entering faster.”

The UNICEF spokesperson warned that with the advent of winter, the risks for hundreds of thousands of displaced children will increase.

He warned, “The stakes are incredibly high” for children as winter acts as a threat multiplier, where children have no heating, no insulation, and few blankets. He said respiratory infections rise.

“Too many children have already paid the highest price,” Pires said. “Too many are still paying it, even under a ceasefire. The world promised them it would stop and that we would protect them.”

“Now we must act like it,” the UNICEF spokesperson added.

Since the Israeli regime launched its genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza in October 2023, it has killed nearly 70,000 people in the territory, most of them women and children, and injured over 170,000 more, while reducing most of the structures in the enclave to rubble.

Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.