Civil defense and ambulance teams in Gaza are sounding the alarm over the catastrophic humanitarian situation as Israeli occupation forces continue to block rescue operations, leaving dozens of martyrs’ bodies scattered in the streets and countless wounded without medical aid.

Fares Afaneh, Director of Emergency and Ambulance Services in Gaza City and the northern region, said on Monday that his crews face impossible conditions in neighborhoods such as Al-Sabra, Tel Al-Hawa, Al-Shati, and Sheikh Radwan. He confirmed that Israeli forces are actively targeting first responders, firing live bullets and shells at anyone who attempts to provide assistance.

“Many of our people remain trapped under the rubble of their homes, but our teams are prevented from reaching them,” Afaneh said. “As a result, injured civilians are dying in place, without the slightest chance of receiving help.”

The dire situation has left corpses lying in the open for days, with stray dogs mauling the bodies while civil defense teams remain paralyzed by Israel’s military presence and the closure of access routes.

Mahmoud Basal, spokesperson for the Civil Defense, revealed that Israel has rejected 26 out of 27 coordination requests in the past 22 days and has ignored over 70 urgent appeals for intervention in recent hours. He said this systematic obstruction is placing thousands of lives in immediate danger.

“Our crews are sometimes forced to plead with the Red Cross or the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) just to reach certain neighborhoods, often without formal permission,” Basal explained. “Israel’s behavior is a blatant violation of international law and the Geneva Conventions, which require protection for humanitarian workers and guarantee safe access to the wounded.”

The scale of the crisis is overwhelming. In just the past week, civil defense teams received more than 320 emergency calls from trapped and wounded individuals in Al-Sabra and Tel Al-Hawa alone. None of these pleas could be answered due to direct Israeli fire.

In one harrowing incident, a grieving father was forced to watch as a stray dog dragged away the body of his child while Israeli forces prevented paramedics from intervening.

Basal stressed that the horrific scenes unfolding today in Gaza’s central neighborhoods are a repetition of the massacres witnessed six months ago in the north. “This is not war—it is the deliberate suffocation of a people by denying them the most basic right to life,” he said.

Civil defense officials are appealing to the international community and humanitarian organizations to take urgent action, demanding immediate pressure on Israel to allow rescue crews safe access to affected areas.

“Ambulance and civil defense workers are performing purely humanitarian duties,” Basal emphasized. “They do not need anyone’s permission to save lives and recover the dead. Yet Israel refuses to uphold this right, condemning thousands more civilians to slow and agonizing deaths.”

The denial of emergency access has already cost tens of thousands of Palestinian lives. Without international intervention, officials warn, thousands more are doomed to perish as Israel’s blockade of rescue efforts continues unabated. (ILKHA)