Tehran [Iran], March 3: Authorities in Tehran have called for international action and solidarity after several hospitals and schools were impacted by United States and Israeli air strikes on the country as Iran continues to fire missiles and drones across the region.
Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said on Monday that the two countries "continue to indiscriminately strike residential areas, sparing neither hospitals, schools, Red Crescent facilities, nor cultural monuments".
"These actions constitute the deliberate commission of the most heinous crimes of international concern. Indifference to this ongoing and extreme injustice will only further darken the future of humanity by jeopardising the shared values upon which our global community stands," he wrote in a post on social media.
Pir Hossein Kolivand, the head of the Iranian Red Crescent Society, wrote a letter publicised late on Sunday to the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), demanding an explicit condemnation of attacks impacting children and educational and medical centres.
He also said monitoring and support mechanisms outlined in the Geneva Conventions must be invoked, adding that the ICRC must "adopt immediate measures" to stop similar incidents from taking place again as the war rages.
"The Red Crescent Society of the Islamic Republic of Iran, as a member of the global Red Cross and Red Crescent movement, declares its full commitment to the fundamentals of humanity, impartiality and independence, emphasising that damaged centres had no military applications," Kolivand wrote.
ICRC President Mirjana Spoljaric said in a statement at the start of the war on Saturday that rules of war must be upheld as an obligation, not a choice. "Civilian infrastructure such as hospitals, homes and schools must be spared from attack. Medical personnel and first responders must be allowed to carry out their work safely," she said.
Multiple Iranian hospitals have been damaged as a result of air attacks and were evacuated by authorities, but there are not believed to have been any direct strikes on any hospitals yet.
In Tehran, major strikes on Sunday damaged multiple medical centres located in two areas, according to official accounts, footage circulating on social media and information geolocated by Al Jazeera.
Videos broadcast by state media from the entrance and surrounding area of Gandhi Hospital in northern Tehran showed significant damage after a projectile struck a nearby area.
Mohammad Raeiszadeh, the head of Iran's Medical Council, told state media from the hospital on Monday that the in-vitro fertilisation department was destroyed along with its equipment, forcing staff to move cells and embryos. Footage also showed an infant being moved by nurses on Sunday night. The hospital appears to have been damaged after the Israeli military struck buildings housing Iranian state television's Channel 2 and a communications antenna nearby.
This led to state television programmes being disrupted for several minutes. The broadcaster confirmed that some of its departments were bombed on Sunday without divulging details.
World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said reports of damage to the hospital are "extremely worrying" and the United Nations agency is working to verify the incident.
Source: Qatar Tribune