GAZA - Israel is refusing to allow search parties to access an area where 9 Red Cross ambulance crew members have gone missing in Gaza.

"For the seventh consecutive day, the fate of nine Palestine Red Crescent EMTs remains unknown after they were besieged and targeted by Israeli forces in Rafah. Today, Israeli authorities refused to allow a rescue team to enter the Tel Al-Sultan area to search for the missing crew members," The Palestine Red Crescent, a division of the International Red Cross posted on X on Saturday.

"We condemn Israel's deliberate obstruction of search efforts and hold it fully responsible for the lives of our team members. Initial reports from the crew at the time of the incident confirmed they came under heavy gunfire from Israeli forces, resulting in multiple injuries," the post said.

"We call on the international community to pressure Israeli authorities to reveal the fate of the missing teams. We also urge the international community and signatories of the Geneva Conventions to take urgent and concrete steps to ensure the protection of medical personnel."

A total of 14 medics and Civil Defense personnel have disappeared, according to Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI), a rights group comprising Israeli doctors, with the mission statement: We believe that ALL people have the Right to Health and we will fight for that.

"Since October 2023, there have been hundreds of documented attacks on Palestinian medical personnel: at least 500 were killed and over two hundred arrested. These attacks reflect a systematic Israeli policy targeting healthcare workers, with more than 200 still in Israeli detention," PHRI said in a post on X on Saturday.

On Friday the Palestine Red Crescent said they found the four ambulances the missing media were attached to. They had been destroyed and buried in sand, a post on X by the group said.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) says it is standing with the Palestine Red Crescent and calling for urgent access and information following the seven days of silence on the fate of the nine medics in Gaza. 

"The IFRC is gravely concerned for the ambulance crews of the Palestine Red Crescent who came under heavy gunfire while responding in the early hours of 23 March in the Al-Hashashin area of Rafah. Since then, there has been no communication with the teams," a statement issued on Saturday said. 

"International Humanitarian Law is clear that humanitarian and healthcare workers must be protected and respected."

"It is vital that there is information and access to ensure the safe return of these humanitarians to their families who are living in a nightmare without knowing if their loved ones are alive," the International Federation of Red Cross statement said. 

Photo credit: AFP