December 13th, 2002 Israeli army blocked an on duty PRCS ambulance transporting a patient in the city of Nablus. An Israeli tank stopped the ambulance and soldiers ordered the medical team to take two Israeli soldiers to Askar Refugee Camp. When the medical team refused, the Israeli soldiers confiscated their National Identity Cards and forced them to follow the tank, acting as a shield, until they reached Salem checkpoint. There, soldiers checked the ambulance and an Israeli soldier held the EMT driver at gunpoint.

This latest Israeli aggression is yet another in a long string of violations of the Fourth Geneva Conventions specifically articles (34) & (147) which state that:

Article (34) “The taking of hostages is prohibited.”
Article (147) “Compelling a protected person to serve in the forces of a hostile power, or willfully depriving a protected person of the rights of fair and regular trial prescribed in the present Conventions, taking of hostages and extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly”

The above actions are also in direct violation of the protocols additional to the Geneva Conventions specifically article (51) & (85)

Article (51) “The presence or movements of the civilian population or individual civilians shall not be used or render certain points or areas immune from military operations, in particular an attempts to shield military objectives from attacks or to shield, favour or impede military operations. The Parties to the conflict shall not direct the movement of the civilian population or individual civilians in order to attempt to shield military objectives from attacks or to shield military operations.

Article (85)(f) “The perfidious use, in violation of Article 37, of the distinctive emblem of the Red Cross, Red Crescent or Red Lion and Sun or of other protective signs recognized by the Conventions or this Protocol”

Furthermore, Israeli Occupation Forces once again violated International Law Concerning the Conduct of Hostilities that forbids “ improper use of a flag of truce, of the national flag or of the military insignia and uniform of the enemy, as well as the distinctive badges of the Geneva Convention”

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