Jaroslav Lukiv & David Gritten
BBC News
Annadoll via Getty Images
Employees of the Palestinian Red Crescent Association accept the bodies of colleagues as they are taken to a medical facility in Karnnis, southern Gaza.
The Red Cross movement has expressed anger that eight Palestinian health workers were killed along with six first-time civil defense responders and UN staff members by Israeli forces in southern Gaza.
Five ambulances, fire trucks and UN vehicles were attacked “one at a time” in the Al Hashasin region on March 23, according to UN officials. The 15 bodies were recovered from “large graves” on Sunday, he said.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Association (PRCS) said it accused the ninth Medic of missing and targeting Israel.
Israeli forces said the troops were fired with vehicles “going suspiciously” without headlights or emergency signals. It said Hamas operatives and “eight other terrorists” were among those killed.
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Association (IFRC) said in a statement on Sunday that eight bodies of the PRCS Medic “have become accessible to the area of Rafa, which was last seen after seven days of silence.”
The organization identified ambulance managers Mostafa Khufaga, Saleh Muamer, Ezzedine Shaath, and volunteers from First Responder Mohammad Bahloul, Mohammed al-Heila, Ashraf Abu Labda, Raed Al-Sharif and Rifatt Radwan to those killed.
Ambulance officer Assad al-Nassasra added that he was “still missing.”
“I am heartbroken. These dedicated ambulance workers were responding to the injured. They were humanitarians,” said Jagan Chapagan, Executive Director of IFRC.
“They were wearing emblems that should have been protected, and their ambulances were clearly marked.
“Even in the most complex conflict zones, there are rules. The rules of these international humanitarian law are not clear. Civilians must be protected. Humanitarians must be protected. Health services must be protected.”
The International Red Cross Committee (ICRC) said in another statement that it was “apparently” that Medic was killed while performing their work.
Jonathan Whitroll’s UN office director of the Humanitarian Cooperative Cooperation and Cooperation (OCHA) in Gaza, said in a post on Sunday in X that staff members support PRCS and civil defense, marked the emergency light from the “popular courage” of 15 PRCS Medic organizations, civil defense first responders and UN staff members.
In a video posted online Monday, Witthal said: “Seven days ago, civil defense and PRCS ambulances arrived at the scene. They were hit by one by one. Their bodies were gathered together and buried in this mass grave.
“Their vehicles are… covered in the sand next to us, crushed and dumped. That’s absolutely horrifying what happened here. This should never happen. Healthcare workers should never be targeted.”
Philip Lazarini, head of the United Nations Palestinian Refugee Agency (UNRWA), said that UN staff is one of its employees and that burial of the body in a “shallow grave” was a “deep violation of human dignity.”
PRCS said it was devastated by the “genocide of our team.”
“[Israel’s] “The targeting of Red Crescent Medics can be seen as a war crime punished under international humanitarian law, despite their mission and the protected status of the Red Crescent Emblem,” the statement added.
At Medic’s funeral on Monday, Ashraf Abravda’s father told the BBC: [Israeli troops] We targeted the first vehicle, then the second vehicle, then the third vehicle. They killed them with cold blood. ”
“We’ve been trying to find them for eight days. They refused to coordinate with Red Crescent, O’Cha or the United Nations. No one can hold them accountable.
Jonathan Whittle/Ocha
UN’s Jonathan Whitroll said ambulances, UN vehicles and fire trucks were crushed and partially buried.
The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) said in a statement during the operation in southern Gaza on March 23, “Some vehicles were identified as suspiciously moving towards the IDF forces without headlights or emergency signals. Their movements were not pre-aligned. Therefore, the IDF forces fired with suspicious vehicles.”
“First evaluation was followed, along with eight other terrorists in Hamas and Piji, it was determined that the force had eliminated Hamas military operatives, Mohammad Amin Ibrahim Shubaki. [Palestinian Islamic Jihad]”I’ve added it.
“After the strike, the IDF coordinated with international organizations to promote body evacuation.”
An earlier IDF statement on the incident said it determined in its initial investigation that “some of the suspicious vehicles that were moving towards the military were ambulances and fire trucks.” It also condemned what was called “recurring use of private infrastructure by terrorist organizations.”
The IDF has not commented on where the missing PRCS Medic is located. Ocha said it is not clear whether he was dead, had been detained or if anything else had happened.
Senior Hamas’ official base Memnaim condemned the attack.
“The targeted killing of rescue personnel protected under international humanitarian law constitutes a serious violation of Geneva’s practices and war crimes,” he said.
Ocha spokeswoman Olga Cherevko said a complete investigation is needed to establish exactly what happened.
“They were clearly marked vehicles aid workers, so this is why it’s obviously important to get to that bottom and get all the facts,” she told the BBC.
When asked about the IDF’s statement that Hamas and PIJ members were killed, she said: “There are certain rules that all wars have, and this is clearly why they adhere to these rules.
A funeral was held for the Palestinian red crescent doctor in the southern city of Khan Eunice on Monday
The incident at al-Hashasin took place on the same day the IDF announced that its forces had surrounded the nearby Tel Al-Sultan area in Rafa’s area and that it had said it was Hamas Command and Control Centre there.
On Monday, the IDF issued a wide range of new evacuation orders throughout the Rafa area, ordering all residents to head for their safety to the nearby Almawasi Humanitarian Belt.
An Arabic spokesman for the IDF warned that “we are back to fight with great force to eliminate the capabilities of terrorist organizations in these areas.”
Israel launched its first major operation in Rafa last May, leaving most of it in abandoned. However, tens of thousands of people have returned to what remained in their city homes during the last two months of ceasefire.
Israel renewed air fire and ground attacks in Gaza on March 18 after the first phase of the ceasefire contract was over and negotiations were completed in the second phase of the contract.
At least 1,001 people have been killed in Gaza since, according to the territory’s Hamasran Health Ministry.
The war occurred to Hamas on October 7, 2023, attacking southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 people to Gaza.
Israeli forces have launched a campaign to destroy Hamas accordingly, during which more than 50,350 people have been killed, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
