Shurat HaDin head protests to Red Cross head over Palestinian Red Crescent

Darshan-Leitner wrote that by allowing Hamas to use its ambulances to transport terrorists, “the PRC plays an integral part in Hamas’s illegal conduct."

NOVEMBER 20, 2023 17:25

Shurat Hadin director Nitsana Darshan-Leitner. (photo credit: COURTESY SHURAT HADIN) — Shurat Hadin director Nitsana Darshan-Leitner.

(photo credit: COURTESY SHURAT HADIN)

In a letter sent to the International Red Cross (IRC), Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, President of Shurat HaDin, urged the organization to review a potential breach of integrity by the Palestinian Red Crescent (PRC) and recommended that the IRC suspend the Red Crescent from the organization.

Darshan-Leitner wrote that by allowing Hamas to use its ambulances to transport terrorists, “the PRC plays an integral part in Hamas’s illegal conduct, supplying the means for these terrorists to travel under the cover of the protection granted to the PRC.” She added that the use of PRC ambulances by terrorists has been ongoing for two decades, and in the current conflict, Hamas operatives used ambulances to transport rockets as well as sent ambulances to collect operatives, sometimes disguising them as wounded.

Members of the International Committee of the Red Cross stand near Erez Crossing in 2007. (photo credit: REUTERS)

In her letter to the Red Cross, Darshan-Leitner referred to recorded conversations obtained by the IDF, in which Hamas members clearly stated that the organization was using PRC ambulances to transport its operatives and rockets. “On November 4,” she wrote, “Israel attacked an ambulance in Gaza which was transporting Hamas terrorists and weapons. On November 6, a senior US administration official revealed that Hamas tried to sneak its fighters out of the Gaza Strip in ambulances that evacuated dozens of wounded Palestinians to Egypt earlier that week.”

Red Cross Principles violations

Darshan-Leitner concluded that the PRC’s conduct of transporting terrorists is a violation of at least two of the IRC Fundamental Principles – the Principle of Neutrality and the Principle of Independence.

In addition to Darshan-Leitner’s signature, the letter listed the names of hundreds of attorneys from the United States, Canada, Europe, and Israel, who endorsed its content.

This article was written in cooperation with Shurat Hadin.