Israeli military admits mistakenly struck Red Cross building in Gaza

Jerusalem: The Israeli military acknowledged that it mistakenly struck a building belonging to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Gaza due to misidentification.

Israeli military forces operating in the city of Rafah, southern Gaza, fired at the building after “identifying suspects inside who they perceived as a threat,” a military statement said.

A subsequent inspection revealed the identification was incorrect, and the troops “were unaware of the building’s affiliation” with the ICRC at the time of the shooting, Xinhua news agency reported quoting the military statement.

Earlier on Monday, the ICRC said in a statement that its office in Rafah “was damaged by an explosive projectile despite being clearly marked and notified to all parties.”

“Fortunately, no staff were injured in this incident, but this has a direct impact on the ICRC’s ability to operate. The ICRC strongly decries the attack against its premises,” said the ICRC, which runs a field hospital in Rafah and other facilities in the Palestinian enclave to treat mass casualties from Israeli strikes.

In the statement, the ICRC also said that it lost contact on Sunday with emergency medical technicians from the Palestine Red Crescent Society, and that humanitarian workers in Gaza were killed and injured last week.

Israel ended a two-month ceasefire with Hamas on Tuesday by resuming air and ground attacks in the Palestinian enclave, which have so far killed more than 730 Palestinians. In response, Hamas also made several rocket launches targeting Israeli territory, most of which Israel said have been intercepted.

–IANS