ICRC "appalled" at Palestinian paramedic deaths

GENEVA, Nov 6 (Reuters) The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said it is ''appalled'' at the deaths on Friday of two Palestinian paramedics killed in the Gaza Strip during an Israeli military operation.

Both paramedics and the vehicle they were travelling in were clearly identified with a distinctive emblem showing them to be medical personnel, said the Swiss-based humanitarian organisation.

''The two died from injuries received while performing their life-saving humanitarian work during a military operation of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF),'' the ICRC said in a statement issued late yesterday.

''The ICRC is appalled by this failure to protect personnel engaged in emergency medical duties,'' it said.

An ICRC spokeswoman Dorothea Krimitsas told Reuters today that the ICRC had no evidence that the two had been deliberately targeted. ''We did not say it was deliberate,'' she said.

The paramedics were in the process of evacuating a dead body when Israeli munitions suddenly hit the area, the ICRC said.

''This incident underscores the urgent need to improve the protection of medical teams operating in areas of conflict through compliance with the rules of international humanitarian law,'' said Dominik Stillhart, ICRC head of delegation in Israel and the occupied territories.

The Israeli army said its attack was aimed at militants who had fired rockets into the Jewish state.

Israeli forces have been operating in the Beit Lahiya and nearby Beit Hanoun areas of Gaza since last week in what Israel says is an attempt to beat back Palestinian rocket crews and gunmen.

At least 49 Palestinians, nearly half of them civilians, and one Israeli soldier have been killed in six days of fighting.

REUTERS SP PM1830