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damage. 69 According to one interviewee, 70 these deaths occurred despite the fact thatthe Israeli military had been provided via international organisations with a sample ofthe uniforms of all the medical/first aid teams from different organizations in Gaza.The teams met and interviewed a coordinator of evacuation services for the PalestineRed Crescent Society (PRCS), 71 as well as four PRCS paramedics who had been injured inthe course of medical evacuation. 72 An additional doctor from the Ministry of Interior’sMedical Military Aid ambulance service, who had accompanied a paramedic who waskilled on duty, was also interviewed and his testimony is paraphrased below. 73The interviewees cited two issues which compromised the protection afforded tomedical personnel and transports during armed conflict. One was the pattern of‘double tap’ attacks, 74 which led to injuries and deaths among medical evacuatingteams, and the other was the failure of the coordination mechanism instituted bythe International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Israeli military for safeevacuation during military attacks.3.1.1 ’Double tap’ attacks on medical evacuation teamsAccording to the PRCS coordinator interviewed by the team, PRCS headquartersattempted to respond to the air attacks by distributing ambulances to strategicplaces, hoping to decrease response time and to respond even when injured peoplewere unable to call for help in the event of electricity and communication failures. Inpractice, the result was that in many cases the ambulances travelled to a locationafter a first explosion, without knowing its nature, and shortly after they arrived therewas a second, larger explosion, causing damage, injuries and sometimes casualtiesamong the medical teams. The Israeli military ground invasion also affected wherePRCS could place ambulances. They were restricted to central Gaza, and neededcoordination with the Israeli military for each evacuation.According to one of the paramedics interviewed by the team, Akram Al Awoor: 75The 2014 war was by far the most difficult of 3 wars I have experienced as a PRCS medic- a massive burden of injured, and targeting of medics and ambulances; typically a firststrike followed by a second strike when people gathered to assist victims of the first.69In the course of the interview with the PRCS coordinator, at 19:08 on 20 Aug 2014, he received a cell phone call reporting thatan ambulance at Bureij Refugee Camp had been targeted.70Dr. Diab Al Din Muhammad Abu Hussein, medical doctor with the Ministry of Interior Medical Military Aid, interviewed by thesecond FFM team on 9 Sep 2014 at the offices of Al Mezan Center for Human Rights in Gaza City.71The Palestinian ambulance service, recognized by the International Federation of the Red Cross for emergency medicalevacuation in the occupied Palestinian territory. PRCS in Gaza has 5 branches: Gaza City (Al Quds hospital), Khan Younis,Jabalya, Rafah and Deir Al Balah. The two most important are Khan Younis (which includes a rehabilitation center) and Al Quds,a general hospital which also has emergency, psycho-social, PHC, ambulance, and disaster management unit services.72The full texts of the interviews with the latter are at interview sortcodes MED1, MED2, EJM1 and WBBJ1.73Dr. Diab Al Din Muhammad Abu Hussein, interviewed by the second FFM team on 9 Sep 2014 at the offices of Al MezanCenter for Human Rights in Gaza City.74Described above, 2.1.1 ‹‘Double tap’ and multiple consecutive strikes.’75Interview sortcode MED245

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