Gun attack damages Red Cross offices in Hebron, none hurt
Local law enforcement working to find suspects; official calls attack ‘destabilizing’
Dov Lieber is a former Times of Israel Arab affairs correspondent.
An unidentified group of gunmen on Wednesday night fired several bullets at the International Committee of the Red Cross compound in the West Bank City of Hebron, a spokesperson for the international aid group said Thursday.
“Around 11 last night, several bullets were fired at our premises in the city of Hebron. No staff were there at the time as it was late at night,” ICRC spokesperson Rima Kamal told The Times of Israel.
Bullets fired by the gunmen penetrated the compound and shattered the window of a ICRC vehicle parked outside.
“It’s deplorable,” Kamal said.
Kamal said that so far there are no suspects or known motives, and that they are working with local police to catch the gunmen.
Images from the scene circulated on Palestinian social media.
#صور: مسلحون يطلقون النار على مقر الصليب الأحمر في الخليل. pic.twitter.com/x6lmfxydBA
— المركز الفلسطيني للإعلام (@PalinfoAr) April 20, 2017
“It’s really destabilizing for the entire team. We’ve been here for 50 years. We have various programs in the country. Incidents like this really prevent us from carrying out the programs we do,” she added.
Fourteen staff members work at the ICRC compound in Hebron and 358 work in the aid organization across Israel and the Palestinian territories.
The attack comes as the ICRC has been caught in the middle of a hunger strike by some 1,500 Palestinian inmates in Israeli prisons demanding more rights.
Among the demands is for the ICRC to return to its policy of facilitating two trips for family members to the prisoners per month.
Thursday is the fourth day of the hunger strike.
The ICRC reduced the coordinated visits to Israeli jails to once a month last May. The reason for the reduction, Kamal said, was to cut costs and raise efficiency as not enough family members were showing up to the second round of visits each month.
