May, 2004 - The past three-and-a-half years has seen the growing use of Palestinian medical crews and ambulances by terrorist organizations who operate within populated civilian areas, use ambulances to transport weapons and fugitives and seek refuge in hospitals to evade inspection by IDF troops.

  The guidelines of the IDF are straightforward: Palestinian ambulances must be allowed freedom of passage to zones of conflict unless there is evidence that they are being used to transport military equipment. These guidelines are orders from the General Command of the IDF (as testified by the Command Secretary in an official response to an inquiry by the Israel Medical Association).

  The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in the Palestinian territories has issued a call to all parties in the conflict to respect the integrity of its ambulance service after armed Palestinian threatened the lives of an UNRWA ambulance team (a driver and a paramedic) and commandeered the vehicle.

  Israeli Channel Ten television broadcast Reuters video footage showing armed Palestinians using UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Work Agency) ambulances as troop carriers in the Gaza Strip.

  The television report, filmed in Gaza City's Zeitoun neighborhood, clearly showed that the vehicles were not Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) ambulances, known to have transported armed Palestinians in the past, but rather clearly-marked, supposedly neutral ambulance of the UN, and fleeing the scene.

Fake Ambulances

   This incident is not the first in which ambulances have been used for other than medical purposes. There is a long history of Palestinian Authority security organizations, terrorists, and their collaborators, making use of PRCS ambulances, assuming they are "immune" to security checks to smuggle weapons and terrorists through IDF checkpoints.

  A warehouse in Azariya, where the GMC vans were being converted into ambulances, was raided. The possibility that the vans were stolen from Israeli hospitals is under investigation.

Prior Misuse of Ambulances

  A prominent incident was the suicide bombing attack on Jaffa Street in Jerusalem on January 27, 2002, in which an Israeli civilian was killed and over 100 were injured. The suicide bombing was carried out by Waffa Idris, a resident of the Amari refugee camp near Ramallah. Idris was a medical secretary in the PRCS.

  Investigation revealed that Palestinian suicide bombers were dispatched to carry out the attack by Muhamad Hababa, a resident of the village of Beit Iksa near Ramallah, a Tanzim operative and an ambulance driver of the PRCS. An additional associate to the terror attack was Munzar Nur, a resident of Anabta, near Tulkarm, which worked for the PRCS as well.

  March 27, 2002 - An intensive care ambulance, with PRCS painted on its doors, was stopped at a checkpoint near Ramallah. The driver, Islam Jibril, was arrested after it was found that the ambulance was carrying an explosive belt. The belt, of the same type used by suicide bombers, was hidden beneath the mattress of a stretcher carrying a sick Palestinian boy. Family members of the boy,another man, a woman and three children aged 6 months, 3 years and 4 years were riding in the ambulance.

  Jibril, born 1971, was a resident of the Balata refugee camp in Nablus, and worked as an ambulance driver for the PRCS. He was also a wanted terrorist an operative of the Fatah-Tanzim organization. Jibril confessed that the explosives had been given to him in Nablus by Mahmud Titi, a senior Tanzim operative in the Samaria area. Jibril added that the explosives and other arms found in the ambulance were to be delivered to other Tanzim operatives in Ramallah, a 15-min drive from Jerusalem. The explosives belt was composed of 16 pipes containing 10 kilograms of explosive materials.

  October 2001 - Israeli security forces arrested HAMAS terrorist Nidal Nazal, of Qalkilya. Nazal is the brother of Nasser Nazal, a senior HAMAS terrorist in the city. Nidal worked as an ambulance driver for the PRCS. Nidal confessed to using the freedom of passage granted him as an ambulance driver to transfer weapons for terrorists. Nidal also acted as a messenger for HAMAS in different Palestinian cities.

  November 24, 2003 - Rashid Tareq El-Nimr, resident of the village of Hawara was arrested and confessed that he provided chemicals for the operational wing of the terrorist organization HAMAS in Nablus. Nimr holds a PhD in chemistry and worked for hospitals in Nablus and Bethlehem. Nimr is the nephew of Faruk Qaddumi, head of the political department of the PLO.

  The chemicals, primarily intended for a medical use, were used by HAMAS in Nablus as raw material for making bombs. Nimr mentioned that a few months earlier he met Haled Abu Hamed, a wanted HAMAS terrorist, through another HAMAS operative who used to hide in the hospital he worked for in Nablus. Haled asked Nimr to obtain chemicals in order to develop explosive devices. Rashid provided Haled with chemicals worth NIS (New Israeli Shekel) 3,600. Haled hid the chemicals in an apartment in Nablus and told Rashid that "In the next few day a large scale explosion will take place". Chemicals are used for producing so-called TATP explosives which were by HAMAS in numerous suicide bombings. It is important to note that the improvised explosive material is very volatile and could unexpectedly explode, endangering innocent bystanders, Arab and Israeli.

  The month prior Nimr's arrest, he met with Said Kutub, a HAMAS terrorist who provided him with funds to purchase additional chemicals. At the beginning of November, 2003 Nimr began working in a Bethlehem hospital. During that time Kutub continued to request materials for HAMAS and provided guidance in locating a shelter in which to hide the chemicals.

  Kutub asked Nimr to obtain quantities of sulfuric and nitric acids, with which to produce nitroglycerin. Nimr, well known as a Nablus hospital worker, was able to purchase a large quantity of materials without hospital approval. Nimr said he transported chemicals in an ambulance to the ambulance company's offices in Nablus, where he transferred them to Kutub.

  Palestinian ambulance drivers receive permits from the Civil Administration in Judea and Samaria and the factories they work for allowing them unrestricted travel and permission to transport chemicals. The drivers are acquainted with workers at various factories in Israel and bribe them to add additional goods to the load they are licensed to carry. The registered amount of chemicals is then transported to the designated factories in accordance with the registration papers; the extra is sold to terrorists.

Use of UNRWA Vehicles and UN Documents to Facilitate Terrorism

  Nahed Rashid Ahmed Attalah, of Jibaliya in the Gaza Strip, employed by UNWRA since 1987, was in charge of the food supplies provided by the local UNRWA bureau to Gaza Strip residents. Attalah had at his disposal a UN vehicle, a white Fiat Punto marked with the letters UN. He also carried a free travel permit (laissez-passer), No. 80340, issued by the UN. Attalah made recpeated use of both the UN car and travel permit to lend assistance to terrorist activity in the Gaza Strip, while maintaining contact with senior terrorist operatives belonging to the Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) in Lebanon.

  Atallah was arrested in August, 2002. He confessed to having used his UN car on several occasions to transport arms and explosives, and drive terrorists on their way to perpetrate terrorist attacks and back from the site where the attacks took place. Following are some details:

  In June 2002, Attalah drove two operatives of the Palestinian Resistance Committees (a militant faction of Fatah whose terrorist activity is centered mainly in the Gaza Strip) to the nearby Karni region. Both terrorists were armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles, and they intended to carry out a shooting attack against an Israeli army base. The attack was aborted (due to operational considerations), Attalah then drove the two terrorists back home in his UN car.

  Later the same month, Attalah helped another two Palestinian Resistance Committees operatives transport a gas container for the purpose of perpetrating a terrorist attack. (Note: this may refer either to an empty gas container subsequently filled with explosive material, or to a gas container filled with regular cooking gas, which would be added to an explosive charge in order to increase the destructive power.)

  In late July 2002, Attalah drove two operatives of the Palestinian Resistance Committees to the Beit Lahiya area (north of Gaza Strip). They had in their possession three RPG rockets and three gray-colored plastic pipes (Note: the description suggests that they were apparently using locally manufactured improvised rocket launchers, with the RPG ammunition possibly serving as improvised rockets). Attalah dropped his passengers at their destination, and was instructed to await their call when they finished what they had been assigned to do. Half an hour later, he returned to the spot in his UN car and brought the two terrorists home, after being told that they completed their mission.

  Attalah explained that operatives of the Palestinian Resistance Committees had repeatedly asked him to use his UN car for their transportation, since the Israeli army does not perform security checks on this type of vehicle; hence, it can move around freely.

  Attalah also admitted to having used his UN laissez-passer to travel to Egypt, Lebanon and Syria. There he established contacts with the PFLP terrorist organization, in order to raise funds and transfer arms to the Gaza Strip, in support of the Palestinian Resistance Committees. During his stay in Lebanon (January 2002), he met with Samih Rizq aka Abu Rami, a senior operative of the PFLP. The latter had been involved in terrorist operations in the Gaza Strip. After Attalah's return to the Gaza Strip, he maintained ongoing contact with Abu Rami, through phone calls made once every two or three weeks and through the Internet.

  Attalah used the laissez-passer issued to him by the UN to facilitate his moves between the Gaza Strip, Syria and Lebanon. The UN laissez-passer is recognized throughout the world, including in Israel, as an official document used for the purpose of performing official assignments on behalf of the UN and its institutions. Hence, Attalah and his operators took advantage of the UN laissez-passer to promote contacts between the Gaza Strip and terrorist elements in Syria and Lebanon, thus misusing the privileges afforded by the UN document.

  The above photo shows a page of Attalah's laissez-passer, featuring the entry visa to Syria issued to him by the Syrian Embassy in the Jordanian capital, Amman. The visa was granted on January 2, 2002, and its validity extends over “a number of trips”. The visa is defined as “ special ” (meaning an official visa granted to him in his capacity as UN employee). Handwritten on the right-hand side of the page is the note “ UN memo [dated] 31.12.2001 ”. This apparently refers to a UN certificate presented by Attalah to the embassy officials who granted him the visa.

  October, 2003 Bachar Bilel, a senior HAMAS terrorist is arrested and testifies that it is very easy to transfer chemical materials from Israel to the Judea and Samaria area. Furthermore, Bilel said that a year earlier at a meeting of dozens of wanted Palestinians from the old city of Nablus, one of the wanted Palestinians said that he has a permanent way of smuggling chemical materials from Israel. Bilel added that wanted Palestinians are in contact with drivers who smuggle the materials from Israel. The drivers receive a permit in coordination with the Civil Administration and the factories they work for in the West Bank, which allows them to travel with the materials according to an order of the exact amount of type and amount. The drivers are familiar with the workers in the factories in Israel and bribe them into loading an additional amount of material. The approved amount of materials is taken by the drivers to the factories and the additional amount of materials is sold by them to wanted Palestinians in Nablus.

  May, 2004 - A wouldbe female Palestinian terrorist, affiliated with Fatah. who gave herself up to Israeli security forces rather thatn carry out her assignmnet, has been arrested. According to the Israeli newspaper, Maariv, two other members of her cell in Nablus were planning to board a bus in central Israel and blow themselves up. Her aborted assignment was to wait for the Magen David Adom (MDA - Israel's emergency medical service) to arrive on the bomb scene when she, disguised as a MDA volunteer, would detonate her bomb belt.

  A poster published by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad testifying to the use of an ambulance (laden with explosives) to carry out a terrorist attack

  December, 1993 - Anwar Abdallah Abd al-Karim Aziz, a Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative from the Jibaliya refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, drove an ambulance with the intention of perpetrating a terrorist attack. Stolen from the Beit Lahiya Charity Association in the Gaza Strip. The ambulance, loaded with 48 kg of explosives, was clearly intended to be used for a suicide bombing attack. When chased by Israeli security forces, the ambulance crashed into a military jeep, killing the ambulance driver and wounding three Israeli soldiers. Fortunately, the explosives did not blow up.

  Al-Jama'ah al-Islamiyyah (“the Islamic Group”, the students' movement of Palestinian Islamic Jihad ) published a poster commemorating Aziz's "martyrdom." The poster, seized during the IDF's Operation Defensive Shield, features a picture of Aziz (as shown below). It should be noted that a yard in Gaza, bearing his picture and named after him, is being used for rallies by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The poster's legend reads:

  “ Anwar Aziz – a suicide bombing attack [meant to be perpetrated by Anwar Aziz through the use of] an ambulance ”. It testifies that the Palestinian Islamic Jihad organization is not afraid to admit the use of an ambulance by one of its operatives for terrorist purposes.

  Nidal 'Abd al-Fataah 'Abdallah Nizal, a HAMAS activist from Qalkilya who worked as an UNRWA ambulance driver and was arrested in August 2002, admitted he had used one such vehicle to transport munitions to terrorists and had also exploited the freedom of movement he enjoyed to transmit messages to and from HAMAS activists in various places.

Palestinian Islamic Jihad Poster Use of an Ambulance Filled With Explosives in a Terrorist Attack

  In December 1993, Anwar Abdallah Abd al-Karim Aziz , a Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) operative from the Jibaliya refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, drove an ambulance with the intention of perpetrating a terrorist attack. Stolen from the Beit Lahiya Charity Association in the Gaza Strip. The ambulance. loaded with 48 kg of explosives, was clearly intended to be used for a suicide bombing. While being chased by Israeli security forces, the ambulance crashed into a military jeep, killing the ambulance driver and wounding three Israeli soldiers. However, the explosives did not blow up.

  A poster of al-Jama'ah al-Islamiyyah (i.e., “the Islamic Group”, the students' movement of the PIJ ) seized during the IDF's Operation Defensive Shield, features a picture of the terrorist Anwar Aziz (as shown below). It should be noted that a yard in Gaza, bearing his picture and named after him, is being used for rallies by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

“Anwar Aziz – a suicide bombing attack [meant to be perpetrated by Anwar Aziz through the use of] an ambulance.” Obviously PIJ is not afraid to admit terrorist use of an ambulance.

  Palestinians terrorists should be greatful that there is no Palestinian state. According to the Geneva Conventions, misuse of ambulances in conflict, as outlined above, constitutes a war crime. The destructon of Israel's Magen David Adom* ambulances would also be classified as a war crime.

  MDA ambulances transport all who need medical treatment regardless of nationality, race, creed or political affiliation. It is unfortunate that over 100 of MDA's flet of 600 or so ambulances have been destroyed by Palestinians in recent years. Often the ambulances are attacked when responding to terrorist incidents in which Arabs and Israelis both are injured.

  *The Palestinians might want to give some thought to the future. Some day they may have a state of their own. Generally, ambulances are not subject to attack in wartime - the armies of most nations respect the Geneva Convention prohibition against destroying medical facilities. If the Palestinians show that they do not respect international norms, their ambulances may become fair targets in some future conflict. They will have no one to blame but themselves.

  *Magen David Adom is the Israeli equivalent of the Red Cross and the Islamic Red Crescent. Interestingly, unlike the Red Crescent societies of the various Islamic states, the Magen David Adom has been refused membership.

At It Again - Operation Cast Lead: Dec 2008 - Jan 2009

  Non-combtants living in Gaza during the three-week war with Israel have spoken of the challenge of being caught between Hamas and Israeli soldiers as the radical Islamic movement that controls the Gaza strip attempted to hijack ambulances.

  Mohammed Shriteh, 30, is an ambulance driver registered with and trained by the Palestinian Red Crescent Society.

  His first day of work in the al-Quds neighbourhood was January 1 [2009], the sixth day of the war. "Mostly the war was not as fast or as chaotic as I expected," Mr Shriteh told the Herald. "We would co-ordinate with the Israelis before we pick up patients, because they have all our names, and our IDs, so they would not shoot at us."

  Mr Shriteh said the more immediate threat was from Hamas, who would lure the ambulances into the heart of a battle to transport fighters to safety.

  "After the first week, at night time, there was a call for a house in Jabaliya. I got to the house and there was lots of shooting and explosions all around," he said. Because of the urgency of the call, Mr Shriteh said there was no time to arrange his movements with the IDF.

  "I knew the Israelis were watching me because I could see the red laser beam in the ambulance and on me, on my body," he said.

  Getting out of the ambulance and entering the house, he saw there were three Hamas fighters taking cover inside. One half of the building had already been destroyed.

  "They were very scared, and very nervous … They dropped their weapons and ordered me to get them out, to put them in the ambulance and take them away. I refused, because if the IDF sees me doing this I am finished, I cannot pick up any more wounded people. "And then one of the fighters picked up a gun and held it to my head, to force me. I still refused, and then they allowed me to leave."

  Mr Shriteh says Hamas made several attempts to hijack the al-Quds Hospital's fleet of ambulances during the war. "You hear when they are coming. People ring to tell you. So we had to get in all the ambulances and make the illusion of an emergency and only come back when they had gone."