Younis al-Khatib, president of the Palestine Red Crescent Society, has condemned the “Israeli targeting of paramedics as they carried out their humanitarian mission in Gaza a week ago”, Al Jazeera reports.

Addressing a press conference in Ramallah, he said the PRCS condemned “deliberate attempts” by Israeli forces to “cripple” rescue attempts.

“A Palestinian life is not merely a number. The nine missing members of the Red Crescent team and the six missing members of the Civil Defence agency have families waiting for them,” Khatib was quoted as saying.

The Red Crescent contacted the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to identify the exact location of the missing members, according to Khatib.

However, he added, they turned down “repeated requests” until two days ago, when OCHA managed to arrange for Red Crescent members to visit the site, where one body was recovered.