Israeli forces target ambulance crew during Bethlehem clashes

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Two Palestinian Red Crescent paramedics suffered from excessive tear gas inhalation when Israeli forces fired a tear gas canister at their ambulance during clashes at the northern entrance to Bethlehem on Friday.

Muhammad Awad, who heads the Palestinian Red Crescent's ambulance and emergencies department, told Ma'an that Israeli forces targeted the ambulance while its emergency crew was aiding injured youths.

The tear gas canister smashed through the front window of the ambulance, causing two of its crew to suffer excessive tear gas inhalation. They were identified as Ayman Dababseh and Fadi Jaafreh.

A number of other Palestinian youths suffered tear gas inhalation during the clashes.There have been routine clashes before Israel's separation wall at the northern entrance to Bethlehem since a wave of unrest swept the occupied Palestinian territory at the beginning of October last year.

In the same period, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, which is a full member of the International Movement of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, has repeatedly condemned the Israeli army for targeting its staff.

Across the occupied Palestinian territory, paramedics have been wounded and ambulances damaged, while there have also been cases of Israeli forces stopping ambulances to haul out wounded Palestinians from inside them.

The Red Crescent has decried the incidents as "a blatant violation" of international humanitarian law.

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