“Humanitarian aid and civilians are an adjustment variable in this conflict,” denounces Médecins du Monde

“Humanitarian aid and civilians are an adjustment variable in this conflict”, denounced Saturday June 22 on franceinfo Jean-François Corty, president of Médecins du Monde and associated researcher at the Institute of International and Strategic Relations (Iris). Shooting near an office of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in the Gaza Strip on Friday June 21 left 22 dead and 45 injured. While the fighting between the Israeli army and the Palestinian movement Hamas continues, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the ICRC, denounced Friday evening shootings “large caliber” who damaged one of their structures.

“We are in a context of lawlessness where inhumanity is the norm”, affirms Jean-François Corty. He believes that he is “it is difficult today to know who is precisely at the origin of this tragedy. But we know that, with nearly 40,000 civilian deaths, nearly 100,000 injured, civilians and even humanitarian aid are a variable ‘adjustment”.

If investigations will be launched, according to the Israeli army, to shed light on the strikes, “They are not going to save civilian lives”, asserts the president of Médecins du Monde. If it is necessary that “these investigations are being carried out”Jean-François Corty judges that “the issue is not there”.

The issue, according to him, is “to prevent significant deaths in a context where the health system is almost flat, or even in so-called humanitarian zones, you regularly have bombings which kill civilians and battles where civilians pay a heavy price”.

“Humanitarian aid is having difficulty developing. Humanitarian actors are unable to work. We are under pressure over the supply of medicines, like our colleagues from Médecins sans frontières and others.”