On 27.05.25, we and eight other humanitarian aid organizations working in Gaza drew a “red line” in front of the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin to demand compliance with international law. For us it is clear: the protection of civilians, medical personnel and humanitarian aid is non-negotiable! We document our translated speech at the rally here.

Dear colleagues, dear journalists,

We are facing a red line here – a symbolic boundary drawn by international humanitarian law, which must not be crossed even in war. However, if we look at the war in Gaza, it is barely recognizable. Instead, it has become a common thread of violations and breaches of said law that runs through the course of the war.

CADUS has been working in Gaza since February 2024. Since then, hospitals have been shelled, rescue workers killed and the entire Palestinian civilian population taken into collective detention for the horrific attack by Hamas on October 7.

I was shocked by the extent of the destruction in the Gaza Strip, which went far beyond what I had already expected from all the pictures and beyond what I know from other war zones. What is particularly bad is that there are no longer any safe places for the civilian population to flee to. You have to expect to be shot at everywhere and at any time in Gaza.

As a WHO Emergency Medical Team, CADUS carries out medical evacuations in Gaza, among other things. During my last mission, for example, we transported a young female patient who had suffered a compound fracture from concrete rubble. If she had received adequate medical treatment promptly, she might have been able to keep her leg, but as there were not enough antibiotics in northern Gaza, a dangerous inflammation had already developed and the leg had to be removed when she arrived in Norway – but this girl was still lucky.

We have also had to transport injured colleagues and we have seen colleagues killed. We are still shocked by the incident in which the Israeli military killed 8 Palestinian Red Crescent workers and then buried their vehicles themselves. The case happened only a few weeks ago and yet in the meantime more PRCS colleagues have been killed in an air strike, this is the reality of this war.

Just a few days ago, one of our teams was exposed to heavy shelling during a patient transport in the European Gaza Hospitals – despite extensive coordination with the Israeli military! Where I myself was standing a few weeks earlier during my mission and talking to my Palestinian colleague Nermin, there is now a huge crater several meters deep. Shrapnel not only hit directly in front of our ambulance, but also penetrated the roof of the hospital building behind it and finally got stuck in the headboard of a patient’s bed. Over 20 people were killed and dozens injured.

Hitting a military target that was possibly under the hospital was more important to the decision-makers than the lives of numerous people – patients, staff and humanitarian workers – in the hospital who had no idea of this suspected target or of the attack.

And that is precisely the common thread I am referring to! The health and dignity of the people in Gaza are being sacrificed for the goal of destroying Hamas. I doubt whether the remaining hostages will benefit from this.

Ruben Neugebauer for CADUS at the microphone during the rally in front of
the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin.

In Gaza, we have also been confronted with the fact that humanitarian aid has been made more difficult since the beginning of our mission: The restricted import of material, entry restrictions, rejection of staff members when crossing the border, intimidation and threats at checkpoints, arbitrary refusals to go on missions and even direct fire.

Since the end of the ceasefire, the situation has worsened and working inside Gaza has become even more dangerous. Thanks to my German passport, however, I have the opportunity to volunteer for my assignment in Gaza and, above all, to leave Gaza again. This is not the case for my colleague Nermin – she told me that she and her family expect every day that it could be the last.

We are here today so that this does not happen. We are here because we want Nermin, her family and all the other civilians in Gaza who have nothing to do with Hamas terror to survive.

We are here because the Israeli government must fulfill its international obligations. The safety of medical facilities, their staff and rescue workers must be guaranteed, the population must be protected and cared for and free access for humanitarian aid must be guaranteed – on the basis of humanitarian principles. Due to current developments, it must be said again: humanitarian aid must not be used to advance the interests of a warring party, hunger must not be a weapon.

Israel must also comply with the justifiably high standards of international law!
The red thread must become the red line again – immediately!

Written by Ruben Neugebauer and Jonas Grünwald.