IRCS chief: No crime worse than targeting health centers in conflicts
Israel’s assaults ‘disproportionately hit civilians’
Head of the Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) Pirhossein Kolivand on Monday denounced the Israeli regime for targeting several Iranian health centers during its last month’s aggression against Iran, asking “Is there any crime worse than this?”
“Our headquarters was directly attacked twice. Globally, medical facilities are marked with ‘No Honking’ signs—yet here, they were hit with missiles, spreading terror,” Kolivand said during the weekly press conference of Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei on Monday.
He added that the world must recognize this, asking, “is there any crime worse than this?”
“The greatest harm has been inflicted on civilians. Among the martyrs are 126 women and 41 children—none of whom were combatants,” Kolivand said.
“Five of our relief workers were martyred after being directly targeted,” he said, adding that the ambulance “was also set on fire.”
According to Kolivand, a Red Crescent’s helicopter was also targeted in an outright breach of the Four Geneva Conventions.
“No one has the right to attack medical personnel or civilians. Our mission is search and rescue; we exist to aid the people, yet we were deliberately obstructed and attacked,” he said.
He explained that Iran has submitted “reports to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the Human Rights Council, and the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.”
He said the ICRC representative in Iran accompanied him to Evin Prison, targeted on June 23, and Hamedan city, where food factories were bombed.
“The intensive care unit of Farabi Hospital was also attacked—I showed them all this evidence, emphasizing that these are clear violations of the Geneva Conventions,” he stressed.
Over the 12-day war, “every conceivable form of atrocity” was committed against the Iranians, he said, adding, “many of my international counterparts have reached out to express solidarity and denounce” the Israeli aggression.
On June 13, Israel launched an unprovoked act of aggression against Iran, assassinating many high-ranking military commanders and nuclear scientists.
The Israeli attacks also targeted military and nuclear sites as well as vital non-military infrastructure, including a building of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), Evin Prison, healthcare centers, outreach facilities, and both residential neighborhoods and rural communities, inflicting widespread civilian harm. These attacks also caused over 900 civilian fatalities.
In response, the Iranian armed forces launched a retaliatory campaign against the Israeli regime.