9 Palestine Pink Crescent (PRCS) medics in ambulances, in addition to some Civil Defence staff, went to assist individuals in Rafah, Gaza, and disappeared on March 23 after coming beneath assault from Israeli forces.
What adopted was per week of Israeli obstruction till worldwide groups have been lastly in a position to enter the world the place the medics and rescue staff disappeared.
They discovered grotesque proof of direct assaults on the humanitarian staff. One medic stays lacking.
Right here’s all the things we learn about how Israel killed these first responders in Gaza:
What occurred to the Pink Crescent medics in Gaza?
Israeli forces killed them.
One ambulance was dispatched to al-Hashaashin, Rafah, to assist individuals injured by Israeli assaults on Sunday, March 23. Israeli troopers fired on it, injuring the crew.
“Within the early hours of Sunday, 23 March, our Palestine Pink Crescent colleagues have been getting into the world of al-Hashaashin, Rafah to save lots of lives and got here beneath fireplace,” Tommaso Della Longa, spokesperson for the Worldwide Federation of Pink Cross and Pink Crescent Societies (IFRC), informed Al Jazeera.
The PRCS then despatched an additional three ambulances to assist the injured individuals their colleagues have been attempting to achieve, and to rescue their colleagues who had been attacked.
All of the groups dispatched to assist the preliminary ambulance did so during daylight hours, the Civil Defence confirmed.
PRCS “misplaced contact with their colleagues”, Della Longa stated, and commenced looking for them.
1/6 First responders ought to by no means be a goal. But right this moment @UNOCHA supported @PalestineRCS and Civil Protection to retrieve colleagues from a mass grave in #Rafah #Gaza that was marked with the emergency mild from one in every of their crushed ambulances. pic.twitter.com/xFYFXWp2c6
— Jonathan Whittall (@_jwhittall) March 30, 2025
Who’re the medics Israel killed?
There have been three ambulance officers – who transport the wounded and provide emergency healthcare at instances: Ezzedine Shaath, Mostafa Khafaga and Saleh Muamer.
There have been additionally 5 first responder volunteers: Ashraf Abu Labda, Mohammad Bahloul, Mohammed al-Heila, Raed al-Sharif and Rifatt Radwan.
Ambulance officer Assad al-Nassasra continues to be lacking. “We don’t know the place he’s,” Della Longa stated.
“The colleagues that have been killed and located left behind greater than 20 kids,” he added.
Israel has killed 30 Palestinian Pink Crescent volunteers and employees – humanitarian staff protected by worldwide humanitarian regulation – since October 7.
Who else did Israel kill on this incident?
The our bodies of 14 murdered individuals have been present in a shallow mass grave, in keeping with the PRCS.
Eight have been recognized as PRCS medics, 5 have been Civil Protection staff, and one was a UN company worker.
How have been they killed?
They have been killed “one after one other”, then buried within the sand together with their emergency autos, the UN stated.
“The accessible data signifies that the primary crew was killed by Israeli forces on 23 March, and that different emergency and support crews have been struck one after one other over a number of hours as they searched for his or her lacking colleagues,” a spokesperson for the United Nations Workplace for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Palestine stated.
“Their our bodies have been gathered and buried on this mass grave,” OCHA head Jonathan Whittall stated from the scene.
“We’re digging them out of their uniforms, with their gloves on. They have been right here to save lots of lives,” he stated.
“These ambulances have been buried within the sand. There’s a UN automobile right here, …[an] Israeli forces bulldozer has buried them.”
What did Israel must say?
The Israeli military’s worldwide spokesperson, Nadav Shoshani, stated the medics had not been killed intentionally.
Referring to Israeli troopers firing at clearly marked ambulances and UN autos, Shoshani wrote on X, previously Twitter, that “a number of uncoordinated autos have been recognized advancing suspiciously towards IDF troops with out headlights or emergency alerts”, not clarifying what was meant by “uncoordinated automobile”.
Shoshani additionally claimed with out proof that “terrorists” have been hidden amid the rescue staff and that “[Israeli] forces eradicated a Hamas army operative, Mohammad Amin Ibrahim Shubaki, who took half within the October 7 bloodbath, together with eight different terrorists from Hamas and the Islamic Jihad.”
Not one of the names reported as having been recovered from the mass grave match the title Shoshani claimed.
Soshani didn’t clarify the truth that one physique was recovered along with his fingers sure, in keeping with the Pink Crescent in Gaza, and that Israeli bulldozers had tried to bury the autos after the actual fact.
Israeli claims of Hamas launching assaults from medical services in Gaza have been typically “imprecise” and generally “contradicted by publicly accessible data”, UN human rights chief, Volker Turk, informed the United Nations Safety Council in January.
The IDF did 𝗻𝗼𝘁 randomly assault an ambulance on March 23. Let me stroll by means of what occurred step-by-step:
1. Final Sunday, a number of uncoordinated autos have been recognized advancing suspiciously towards IDF troops with out headlights or emergency alerts. IDF troops then… https://t.co/VdtyXd8qj5
— LTC Nadav Shoshani (@LTC_Shoshani) March 31, 2025
How have been their our bodies discovered?
Della Longa stated that, for a complete week, the IFRC, PRCS, ICRC and the UN made appeals to Israeli authorities to enter the world to research.
Israel blocked the requests till lastly a mission was in a position to enter and search for the lacking rescue staff.
Video from the scene confirmed searchers digging out a number of our bodies sporting orange emergency vests, some piled on prime of one another.
One physique in a Civil Defence vest was pulled out of the grave just for searchers to understand it was a torso with no legs.
What did the ICRC say?
IFRC Secretary-Common Jagan Chapagain stated in an announcement: “These devoted ambulance staff have been responding to wounded individuals… They wore emblems that ought to have protected them; their ambulances have been clearly marked. They need to have returned to their households; they didn’t.
“Even in essentially the most advanced battle zones, there are guidelines [that] couldn’t be clearer – civilians have to be protected; humanitarians have to be protected. Well being providers have to be protected.
“Our community is in mourning, however this isn’t sufficient… I pose a query: ‘When will this cease?’ All events should cease the killing, and all humanitarians have to be protected.”
Della Longa identified that half the ambulances in Gaza are not practical, both as a result of sustaining injury or due to the shortage of gasoline.
What are others saying?
UN support chief Tom Fletcher stated in a submit on X that the primary responders “have been killed by Israeli forces whereas attempting to save lots of lives. We demand solutions & justice.”
US State Division Spokesperson Tammy Bruce informed reporters the US anticipated “all events” to adjust to worldwide humanitarian regulation, with out clarifying which account of the killings, Israel’s or the UN’s, she was referring to.
Amnesty Worldwide’s Mohamed Duar, spokesperson for the occupied Palestinian territory, stated: “Regardless of their protected standing beneath the Geneva Conventions and Worldwide Humanitarian Regulation, Israeli Forces proceed to focus on healthcare staff… Ambulances and hospitals proceed to return beneath fireplace and be destroyed.”
“There isn’t a respect for humanitarians,” Della Longa informed Al Jazeera. Violence is “not new in Gaza, however the scale and severity of what we see is surprising, horrific and never acceptable”.
“There’s a deterioration of respect for worldwide guidelines,” he stated. “That ought to not and should not occur.”
