Chief of IDF Planning Branch Maj.-Gen. Giora Eiland revealed yesterday an incident in which Palestinian Red Crescent Society ambulances were exploited by the Arabs for non-emergency purposes. Following a gun battle between IDF forces and Arab troops within Yasser Arafat\'s Ramallah headquarters, PLO officials requested that Israel allow a Red Crescent Ambulance to enter the compound in order to evacuate two wounded gunmen to a nearby hospital. Israel agreed to this demand on humanitarian grounds. Upon the vehicle\'s exit, Israeli forces inspected it. Inside they found fourteen healthy Arabs along with the two wounded men, who were trying to smuggle themselves out of the besieged building.
In a letter released today, the President of Israel\'s Magen David Adom (Red Star of David) condemned the adverse use of the red crescent emblem in other incidents. This past week, IDF soldiers detained an ambulance driver working for the Palestinian Red Crescent close to the Rama Bridge south of Ramallah. The ambulance was smuggling an explosive belt and other explosive charges which were hidden under a stretcher on which a sick Arab child was lying. The driver admitted that he was smuggling the charges in order to transfer them to Tanzim activists in the Ramallah Region.
The Magen David Adom president demanded that the Red Crescent organization observe its neutrality and refrain from the harmful use of ambulances and preventive emblems in terrorist activities.
In a letter released today, the President of Israel\'s Magen David Adom (Red Star of David) condemned the adverse use of the red crescent emblem in other incidents. This past week, IDF soldiers detained an ambulance driver working for the Palestinian Red Crescent close to the Rama Bridge south of Ramallah. The ambulance was smuggling an explosive belt and other explosive charges which were hidden under a stretcher on which a sick Arab child was lying. The driver admitted that he was smuggling the charges in order to transfer them to Tanzim activists in the Ramallah Region.
The Magen David Adom president demanded that the Red Crescent organization observe its neutrality and refrain from the harmful use of ambulances and preventive emblems in terrorist activities.