Het Israëlische leger heeft opnieuw zware aanvallen uitgevoerd in de Gazastrook. De aanvallen vormen de grootste schending van het staakt-het-vuren sinds het twee maanden geleden is ingegaan.
Het Gazaanse ministerie van Gezondheid meldt dat er meer dan 300 doden zijn gevallen bij de aanvallen. Het maakt daarbij geen onderscheid tussen burgers en militanten, maar onder de doden zouden veel kinderen zijn. Ook zouden er nog veel slachtoffers onder het puin liggen. De aanvallen zijn verspreid over de hele Gazastrook.
Volgens de Israëlische regering zijn de aanvallen een reactie op het weigeren van het vrijlaten van meer gijzelaars door Hamas. “Israël gaat vanaf nu met toenemende militaire kracht tegen Hamas optreden”, staat in een verklaring van de regering. Bronnen bij het leger zeggen daarnaast tegen Reuters dat het nieuwe offensief “doorgaat zolang het nodig is en verder zal gaan dan luchtaanvallen”.
Hamas zegt dat Israël hiermee eenzijdig het staakt-het-vuren beëindigt. Ook waarschuwt de organisatie dat de nieuwe aanvallen gevolgen gaan hebben voor de gijzelaars die nog in Gaza worden vastgehouden.
De Amerikaanse regering is maandag al ingelicht door Israël. Washington zegt dat het de acties van Israël steunt. In een interview met nieuwszender Fox News zegt woordvoerder Karoline Leavitt dat “Hamas, de Houthi’s en iedereen die Israël en de VS willen terroriseren een prijs moeten betalen”. Ze waarschuwt: “De hel zal losbreken.”
Minister Veldkamp van Buitenlandse Zaken roept via sociale media alle betrokken partijen op de voorwaarden van het staakt-het-vuren en de gijzelaarsovereenkomst in Gaza te respecteren.
Grenzen afgesloten
De eerste fase van het bestand tussen Israël en Hamas ging op 19 januari in. In die eerste fase moest een deel van de Israëlische gijzelaars vrij komen in ruil voor gevangengenomen Palestijnen. In de tweede fase zouden de resterende gijzelaars vrijkomen en moet Israël zich militair terugtrekken.
Gesprekken tussen delegaties van Israël en Hamas over de tweede fase liepen al stroef en Israël heeft de afgelopen dagen meerdere aanvallen uitgevoerd. Twee weken geleden sloot Israël de grenzen volledig af, een week geleden werd ook de elektriciteit afgesloten.
Voor de aanvallen van afgelopen nacht stond het totale dodental op zeker 150 sinds het ingaan van het bestand.
Correspondent Israël en de Palestijnse Gebieden Nasrah Habiballah:
“Israël legt de schuld bij Hamas en zegt dat deze aanvallen het gevolg zijn van het feit dat Hamas weigert om meer gijzelaars vrij te laten. Maar Hamas wijst juist naar Israël dat weigert om stappen te zetten richting een permanent einde aan de oorlog, wat volgens de deal eigenlijk was afgesproken.
Met het volledig blokkeren van alle noodhulp en stroom aan Gaza probeerde Israël Hamas onder druk te zetten dat ze toch meer gijzelaars vrij zouden laten, zonder garanties te krijgen dat Israël de oorlog zou stoppen. En nu gaat Israël dus nog een stap verder door Gaza opnieuw te bombarderen. We weten ook dat premier Netanyahu onder druk staat vanuit zijn coalitie om door te gaan met de aanvallen. Zijn ultrarechtse coalitiepartners zijn tegen welke deal dan ook met Hamas en willen doorgaan met oorlog voeren.”
EINDE
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned that a wave of air strikes that killed hundreds of Palestinians in Gaza overnight is “only the beginning”.
In a televised address on Tuesday evening, Netanyahu said that Israeli forces would strike Hamas with “increasing force” and future ceasefire negotiations would “only take place under fire”.
“Hamas has already felt the weight of our force in the last 24 hours, and I want to assure you – and them – this is only the beginning,” the Israeli leader said.
“We will continue to fight to achieve all our goals of the war – the release of all our hostages, the elimination of Hamas, and the promise that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel.”
Netanyahu’s defiant remarks come after Israel’s deadly attacks across Gaza shattered the fragile ceasefire with Hamas that began on January 19.
The air strikes killed at least 404 Palestinians, many of them children, and wounded more than 560 others, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health.
The assault targeted broad swaths of Gaza, including Khan Younis and Rafah in the south, Gaza City in the north, and central areas like Deir el-Balah, wiping out entire families in the process.
Talks on the second stage of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal, which would see the release of nearly 60 remaining Hamas captives and the establishment of a permanent ceasefire, have been at an impasse over Israel’s insistence that the first phase be extended until mid-April.
Israel last week rejected an offer by Hamas to release an American-Israeli dual national and the bodies of four dead captives in exchange for the start of second phase talks and an end to the Israeli blockade imposed earlier this month.
Hamas has released about three dozen captives in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners since the start of the ceasefire, which had been in limbo since March 1, when the six-week-long first stage expired.
Before Israel’s assault, United States President Donald Trump’s US Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, had been pushing for a “bridge” proposal to extend the ceasefire beyond Ramadan and Passover.
Under the proposal, Hamas would have released additional living captives in exchange for prisoners while the sides worked on a framework for a permanent ceasefire.
In his address on Tuesday, Netanyahu placed the blame for the lack of progress in the talks squarely on Hamas.
“While Israel accepted the offer of President Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, Hamas flatly refused to do so,” Netanyahu said. “This is why I authorised yesterday the renewal of military action against Hamas.”
Netanyahu also accused Hamas of being responsible for “all unintended casualties” in Gaza.
“Palestinian civilians should avoid any contact with Hamas terrorists, and I call on the people of Gaza, get out of harm’s way,” he said.
“Move to safer areas. Because every civilian casualty is a tragedy and every civilian casualty is the fault of Hamas.”
END
TROUW
Zeker honderd mensen zouden gewond zijn geraakt bij twee luchtaanvallen op donderdag. Na een eerste aanval in de middag werd de school donderdagavond nogmaals gebombardeerd.
Volgens het Israëlische leger was de school een schuilplaats voor ontheemde Palestijnen een ‘commandocentrum’ dat door Hamas zou worden gebruikt om Israël aan te vallen.
In totaal zijn donderdag zeker honderd Palestijnen in Gaza gedood door Israëlische luchtaanvallen op woningen en schuilplaatsen, van wie 58 in Gaza-Stad, meldt Al Jazeera op basis van getuigenissen van medische hulpverleners.
Ook in het tentenkamp van al-Mawasi, in het zuiden van de Gazastrook, werden vier mensen gedood door een Israëlisch bombardement. Dat tentenkamp is door het Israëlische leger aangemerkt als veilige zone, maar wordt alsnog regelmatig gebombardeerd.
Uitbreiding evacuatiezone
In het zuiden van de Gazastrook zijn honderdduizenden Palestijnen intussen op de vlucht geslagen voor Israëlische troepen in Rafah, meldt Reuters.
Gisteren riep premier Netanyahu het gebied tussen Rafah en Khan Younis uit als ‘veiligheidszone’, wat betekende dat alle Palestijnen direct moesten vertrekken. Israëlische troepen rukken nu verder op in Rafah. Na de start van het staakt-het-vuren in januari waren veel Palestijnen teruggekeerd naar Rafah, om daar in tenten of tussen de ruïnes te verblijven.
Israël en Hamas zijn in een impasse beland wat betreft het verdere verloop van het bestand in Gaza, nadat de eerste fase van de deal een maand geleden afliep. Met de bombardementen, het blokkeren van hulpgoederen en het offensief in het zuiden wil Israël Hamas onder druk zetten, in de hoop dat de groepering gijzelaars vrijlaat.
EINDE
Israël voerde eerder deze week de zwaarste bombardementen uit sinds het begin van het bestand met Hamas in januari. De autoriteiten in de door Hamas bestuurde Gazastrook maakten na die aanvallen melding van meer dan vierhonderd doden.
De Israëlische premier Benjamin Netanyahu waarschuwde dinsdagavond dat die aanvallen “pas het begin” zijn. “Vanaf nu zullen onderhandelingen alleen nog onder vuur plaatsvinden.”
Volgens Netanyahu is militaire druk essentieel om gegijzelden vrij te krijgen. Palestijnse groepen houden voor zover bekend nog 24 levende gijzelaars vast. Ook zijn nog niet alle lichamen overgedragen.
De Israëlische krijgsmacht meldt op X dat in het noorden van de Gazastrook een aanval is uitgevoerd. Een militaire locatie van Hamas zou het doelwit zijn geweest. Volgens het leger werden op die plek voorbereidingen getroffen voor aanvallen op Israëlisch grondgebied. Bewijs daarvoor levert Israël niet.
Hamas zegt nog open te staan voor onderhandelingen
Hamas wil dat Israël wordt gedwongen de afspraken van het bestand na te leven. Ook roept Hamas op tot internationale druk op de Verenigde Staten, de belangrijkste bondgenoot van Israël. Een Hamas-functionaris zei vanuit de Egyptische hoofdstad Caïro tegen persbureau AFP nog open te staan voor onderhandelingen.
Het in januari gesloten bestand bestaat uit meerdere fases. Tijdens de eerste fase zijn gijzelaars geruild voor Palestijnse gevangenen. Die fase liep begin maart af, maar er was geen overeenstemming over hoe het verder moest.
Het is onduidelijk of Netanyahu druk wil uitoefenen aan de onderhandelingstafel of het vredesproces wil opblazen. Daar schreven we eerder onderstaand stuk over.
EINDE
Mustafa Khafaja, Ezz El-Din Shaat, Saleh Muammar, Refaat Radwan, Muhammad Bahloul, Ashraf Abu Libda, Muhammad Al-Hila en Raed Al-Sharif. Zij werkten dag en nacht om levens te redden in Gaza. Hun families leefden in constante angst: zouden ze weer veilig thuiskomen? Zondag bleef het stil.
Met veel verdriet ontvingen we het nieuws dat acht van onze hulpverleners in Gaza zijn gedood. Onderweg in ambulances om gewonden te helpen, werden ze het doelwit van geweld. Ze waren dagen vermist, en nu weten we met zekerheid: ze komen niet meer thuis. Hulpverleners mogen nooit, maar dan ook nooit, worden aangevallen.
Zij waren onderweg naar het Hashashin-gebied om EHBO te verlenen toen zij werden aangevallen. Een negende hulpverlener, Asaad Al-Nasasra, wordt nog vermist. Wij vrezen voor zijn leven en willen weten wat er met hem is gebeurd. Daarnaast heeft de Palestijnse Rode Halve Maan de lichamen geborgen van zeven hulpverleners van andere humanitaire organisaties uit hetzelfde gebied.
Rode Kruis-embleem
De aanval op onze hulpverleners is niet alleen een tragedie voor de Palestijnse Rode Halve Maan, maar voor de gehele humanitaire gemeenschap. Hulpverleners zijn beschermd onder het oorlogsrecht en mogen nooit aangevallen worden. Ons embleem betekent ‘niet schieten.’
Het geweld moet stoppen
Inmiddels zijn sinds de escalatie van het conflict in Gaza en op de Westelijke Jordaanoever 30 hulpverleners van het Rode Kruis gedood. Wij willen dat het geweld stopt. Wij willen dat hulpverleners zonder gevaar hun levensreddende werk kunnen doen, dat er hulpgoederen Gaza in mogen en dat de Israëlische gijzelaars worden
INTERNATIONAL RED CROSS
ISRAEL AND THE OCCUPIED TERRITORIES:
ICRC APPALLED BY KILLING OF PRCS MEDICS
AND FIRST RESPONDERS
30 MARCH 2025
Gaza (ICRC) – The International Committee of the Red Cross is appalled that eight medics from the Palestine Red Crescent Society were killed while carrying out their work, along with first responders from the Civil Defence in Gaza and a staff member of the United Nations. Their bodies were identified today and have been recovered for dignified burial. These staff and volunteers were risking their own lives to provide support to others. We are deeply saddened and mourn alongside their families, loved ones, and colleagues.
On 23 March, PRCS volunteers were responding to casualties when the PRCS lost contact with them. Since that day, the ICRC has been in regular contact with PRCS and the parties to the conflict, requesting access and coordination to locate these volunteers. The ICRC has also provided on-site technical guidance to the local actors who are tasked with the recovery of human remains in Gaza.
For 17 months, medical staff and first responders in Gaza have been responding to unimaginable suffering day after day, and many have been killed in the course of their work. The high number of medical personnel killed during this conflict is devastating. The ICRC strongly condemns attacks on health care workers. Every life lost among humanitarian and medical teams is tragic for their families and communities and cuts off a vital lifeline for the wounded and sick. The ICRC reiterates its call for all information to be made available to clarify the fate of those individuals remaining missing.
Medical and humanitarian personnel, as well as civil defense organizations, play a crucial role in responding to emergencies and serve as a lifeline for their communities. They must be able to carry out their work safely. International humanitarian law is clear: medical personnel, ambulances, humanitarian relief personnel, and civil defense organizations must be respected and protected. Attacking them or obstructing their passage is strictly prohibited. All feasible steps must be taken to ensure their safety.
About the ICRC
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is a neutral, impartial and independent organization with an exclusively humanitarian mandate that stems from the Geneva Conventions of 1949. It helps people around the world affected by armed conflict and other violence, doing everything it can to protect their lives and dignity and to relieve their suffering, often alongside its Red Cross and Red Crescent partners.
For more information, please contact:
Sarah Davies, ICRC Jerusalem: sadavies@icrc.org, +972 526 019 150
Hisham Mhanna, ICRC Gaza, hmhanna@icrc.org, +972 594205 057
NOS
DOOR ISRAEL GEDODE HULPVERLENERS WAREN WEL HERKENBAAR, BLIJKT UIT VIDEO
De vijftien Palestijnen die twee weken geleden door Israël werden gedood in Rafah in het zuiden van Gaza waren duidelijk herkenbaar als hulpverleners. Dat blijkt uit beelden van de aanval die The New York Times vanochtend heeft gepubliceerd.
Israël beweerde eerder het konvooi onder vuur te hebben genomen omdat het zich “verdacht” verplaatste, zonder verlichting of herkenningstekens. Op de beelden, die een van de gedode hulpverleners met zijn telefoon maakte, is te zien dat de voertuigen wel met autoverlichting en zwaailichten reden en bedrukt waren met het logo van de hulporganisatie Rode Halve Maan.
Een diplomaat van de Verenigde Naties heeft het bijna zeven minuten durende beeldmateriaal met The New York Times gedeeld. De beelden zijn door de Amerikaanse krant geverifieerd.
De lichamen van de vijftien hulpverleners werden afgelopen zondag na een zoektocht in een massagraf bij Rafah teruggevonden, waarin zij met voertuigen en al waren begraven. Ze waren toen al een week vermist.
Het Rode Kruis reageerde fel op de vondst van de gedode hulpverleners. Volgens Jagan Chapagain, hoofd van de Internationale Federatie van Rode Kruis- en Rode Halve Maanverenigingen (IFRC), waren de hulpverleners duidelijk herkenbaar. “Ze droegen emblemen die hen hadden moeten beschermen, hun ambulances waren duidelijk gemarkeerd”, zei hij in een reactie.
Maar Israël beweerde dat het niet om een “willekeurige aanval” ging. Het stelde dat een deel van de hulpverleners militanten waren. Een van hen zou volgens het Israëlische leger Mohammed Amin Shobaki zijn. Geen van de slachtoffers heette zo. Er werden ook geen andere lichamen gevonden in de buurt van het massagraf.
Minutenlang onder vuur
Op de gepubliceerde beelden van de aanval is te zien dat het konvooi van ambulances richting een een stilstaand voertuig rijdt. De hulpverleners waren naar de locatie toegekomen om hun collega’s te helpen die door het Israëlische leger werden aangevallen. Na het uitstappen namen militairen van het leger de hulpverleners minutenlang onder vuur.
Vervolgens is te horen hoe de hulpverlener die de beelden heeft gemaakt wanhopig roept en de islamitische geloofsbelijdenis reciteert, iets wat onder meer wordt gedaan als iemand zijn dood tegemoet gaat. De man vraagt zijn moeder om vergeving voor “het pad” dat hij “heeft gekozen, om mensen te helpen”.
Op de achtergrond zijn Israëlische militairen te horen die in het Hebreeuws schreeuwen. In de video is niet goed te verstaan wat zij zeggen.
De hulpverlener maakte de beelden met zijn telefoon. The New York Times meldt dat zijn lichaam werd gevonden in het massagraf. Hij bleek door zijn hoofd te zijn geschoten.
De Palestijnse Rode Halve Maan (PRCS) zei gisteren tijdens een persconferentie dat het de beelden aan de Veiligheidsraad van de Verenigde Naties heeft gepresenteerd. Volgens de voorzitter van de PRCS werden de hulpverleners van dichtbij geraakt. Ook zei hij dat het leger wist wat er met de hulpverleners is gebeurd en de organisatie “acht dagen lang in het donker” heeft gehouden.
‘Oorlogsmisdrijf’
Strafrechtadvocaat Geert-Jan Knoops is verbonden aan het Internationaal Strafhof in Den Haag en heeft op verzoek van de NOS de beelden bekeken. “Het beschieten van een ambulance in een oorlogssituatie is volgens het internationaal oorlogsrecht verboden”, vertelt Knoops. “Het kan dus gaan om een oorlogsmisdrijf.”
Volgens de advocaat is het nu aan Israël om te bewijzen dat de voertuigen zijn gebruikt voor militaire doeleinden, zoals het land beweert. “Dan kan een ambulance volgens het oorlogsrecht worden aangemerkt als een militair doel.” Ook heeft Israël de plicht om een onderzoek in te stellen naar de aanval, zegt Knoops. “Doet deze partij dit niet, dan kan de aanklager van het Internationaal Strafhof dit in dit geval doen.”
Voor Marieke de Hoon, hoofddocent internationaal strafrecht aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam, bestaat er geen twijfel: het gaat hier om een oorlogsmisdaad. In haar ogen laten de beelden zien dat “hier hulpverleners worden aangevallen die duidelijk herkenbaar zijn”. “Hier is geen enkele rechtvaardiging voor,” aldus De Hoon.
Het Israëlische leger heeft inmiddels gereageerd op de video en aangegeven “het incident grondig te zullen onderzoeken, inclusief de beelden die momenteel rondgaan”. Hulporganisaties hebben daar echter weinig vertrouwen in. Het land heeft in het verleden vaker dergelijke interne onderzoeken aangekondigd, maar dat leidde zelden tot vervolgingen.
Some of the bodies of 15 Palestinian paramedics and rescue workers, killed by Israeli forces and buried in a mass grave nine days ago in Gaza, were found with their hands or legs tied and had gunshot wounds to the head and chest, according to two witnesses.
The witness accounts add to an accumulating body of evidence pointing to a potentially serious war crime on 23 March, when Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance crews and civil defence rescue workers were sent to the scene of an airstrike in the early hours of the morning in the al-Hashashin district of Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city.
International humanitarian teams were only allowed access to the site this weekend. One body was recovered on Saturday. Fourteen more were found in a sandy grave at the site on Sunday and were brought back for autopsies in the nearby city of Khan Younis.
Dr Ahmed al-Farra, a senior doctor at the Nasser medical complex in Khan Younis, witnessed the arrival of some of the remains.
“I was able to see three bodies when they were transferred to the Nasser hospital. They had bullets in their chest and head. They were executed. They had their hands tied,’’ Farra said. “They tied them so they were unable to move and then they killed them.”
He provided photographs he said he had taken of one of the dead on arrival at the hospital. The pictures show a hand at the end of a long-sleeved black shirt with a black cord knotted around the wrist.
Another person, an eyewitness who took part in the recovery of remains from Rafah on Sunday, also said they saw evidence of one of the dead having been shot after being detained.
“I saw the bodies with my own eyes when we found them in the mass grave,” the witness, who did not want his name used for his own safety, told the Guardian in a telephone interview. “They had signs of multiple shots in the chest. One of them had legs tied. One was shot in the head. They were executed.”
The accounts add to allegations made by a senior Palestinian Red Crescent official, the Palestinian Civil Defence and the Gaza health ministry that some of the victims had been shot after they were detained and put in restraints by Israeli troops.
The incident came after the Israeli government ended a two-month-old ceasefire and resumed its military campaign against Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza on 17 March, with heavy aerial bombing and ground operations. The people of Rafah were ordered to leave the town on Monday, before Israeli ground operations there.
The international criminal court issued arrest warrants for war crimes in November against the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his former defence minister Yoav Gallant, and the ICC prosecutor has said he is still investigating Israeli forces and Hamas for suspected atrocities.
The victims are believed to have been killed on 23 March, two of them in the early hours when their ambulance came under Israeli fire while on the way to collect injured people from an earlier airstrike. The remaining 13 of the dead were in a convoy of ambulances and civil defence vehicles dispatched to retrieve the bodies of their two colleagues. One of the dead was a UN employee. A Red Crescent paramedic, named as Assad al-Nassasra, is still missing.
The UN said the ambulances and other vehicles were buried in sand by bulldozers alongside the bodies of the dead, in what appears to have been an attempt to cover up the killings. UN video footage taken by the recovery team showed a crushed UN vehicle, ambulances and a fire truck that had been flattened and buried in the sand by the Israeli military.
“This is a huge blow to us … These people were shot,” Jens Laerke, a spokesperson for the UN aid coordination office, said on Tuesday. “Normally we are not at a loss for words and we are spokespeople, but sometimes we have difficulty finding them. This is one of those cases.”
Israel’s military has said its “initial assessment” of the incident had found that its troops had opened fire on several vehicles “advancing suspiciously toward IDF troops without headlights or emergency signals”, and has claimed, so far without evidence, that Hamas fighters and other militants had been using the ambulances for cover.
The Israel Defense Forces have so far not responded to questions, first posed on Monday, about the reports that the bodies and their vehicles had been buried or to the allegations that some had been shot after being detained.
Dr Bashar Murad, the Red Crescent’s director of health programmes in Gaza, said at least one of the recovered bodies of the paramedics had had his hands tied, and that one of the paramedics had been on a call to the ambulance dispatcher when the attack took place.
On that call, Murad said, gunshots fired at close range could be heard as well as the voices of Israeli soldiers on the scene speaking in Hebrew, ordering the detention of at least some of the paramedics.
“The gunshots were fired from a close distance. They could be heard on the call between signal officer and of the medical crews that survived and phoned the ambulance centre for help. The soldiers’ voices were clearly audible in Hebrew and very close, as well as the sound of the gunfire.”
“Gather them at the wall and bring some restraints to tie them,” was one of the lines that Murad said could be heard by the dispatcher. He said the call had not been recorded.
Mahmoud Basal, a spokesperson for the Palestinian Civil Defence in Gaza, said the bodies had been found with at least about 20 gunshots in each of them and confirmed that “at least one of them had their legs bound”.
In a statement released on Monday, Gaza’s health ministry said: “They were executed, some of them handcuffed and had sustained head and chest injuries. They were buried in a deep hole to prevent their identities from being identified.”
On Monday the IDF issued evacuation orders covering most of Rafah, indicating it could soon launch another major ground operation, eight days after the paramedics and rescue workers were killed.
According to the Red Crescent, an ambulance was dispatched to pick up the casualties from the airstrike in the early hours of 23 March and called for a support ambulance. The first ambulance arrived at hospital safely but contact was lost with the support ambulance at 3.30am. An initial report from the scene said it had been shot at and the two paramedics inside killed.
The Palestinian Red Crescent president, Dr Younis al-Khatib, said the IDF had impeded the collection of the bodies for several days. The IDF said it had facilitated the evacuation of bodies as soon as “operational circumstances” allowed.
“The bodies were recovered with difficulty as they were buried in the sand, with some showing signs of decomposition,” the Red Crescent said.
Their burial had been put off pending autopsies at the Nasser hospital in Khan Younis. The autopsies have now been carried out, according to hospital sources, and a full report is due to be delivered to the Gaza health ministry within 10 days.
Nine Palestine Red Crescent (PRCS) medics in ambulances, as well as some Civil Defence workers, went to help people in Rafah, Gaza, and disappeared on March 23 after coming under attack from Israeli forces.
What followed was a week of Israeli obstruction until international teams were finally able to enter the area where the medics and rescue workers disappeared.
They found gruesome proof of direct attacks on the humanitarian workers. One medic remains missing.
Here’s everything we know about how Israel killed these first responders in Gaza:
What happened to the Red Crescent medics in Gaza?
Israeli forces killed them.
One ambulance was dispatched to al-Hashaashin, Rafah, to help people injured by Israeli attacks on Sunday, March 23. Israeli soldiers fired on it, injuring the crew.
“In the early hours of Sunday, 23 March, our Palestine Red Crescent colleagues were entering the area of al-Hashaashin, Rafah to save lives and came under fire,” Tommaso Della Longa, spokesperson for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), told Al Jazeera.
The PRCS then sent a further three ambulances to help the injured people their colleagues were trying to reach, and to rescue their colleagues who had been attacked.
All the teams dispatched to support the initial ambulance did so during daylight hours, the Civil Defence confirmed.
PRCS “lost contact with their colleagues”, Della Longa said, and began trying to find them.
Who are the medics Israel killed?
There were three ambulance officers – who transport the wounded and offer emergency healthcare at times: Ezzedine Shaath, Mostafa Khafaga and Saleh Muamer.
There were also five first responder volunteers: Ashraf Abu Labda, Mohammad Bahloul, Mohammed al-Heila, Raed al-Sharif and Rifatt Radwan.
Ambulance officer Assad al-Nassasra is still missing. “We don’t know where he is,” Della Longa said.
“The colleagues that were killed and found left behind more than 20 children,” he added.
Israel has killed 30 Palestinian Red Crescent volunteers and staff – humanitarian workers protected by international humanitarian law – since October 7.
Who else did Israel kill in this incident?
The bodies of 14 murdered people were found in a shallow mass grave, according to the PRCS.
Eight were identified as PRCS medics, five were Civil Defense workers, and one was a UN agency employee.
How were they killed?
They were killed “one after another”, then buried in the sand along with their emergency vehicles, the UN said.
“The available information indicates that the first team was killed by Israeli forces on 23 March, and that other emergency and aid crews were struck one after another over several hours as they searched for their missing colleagues,” a spokesperson for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Palestine said.
“Their bodies were gathered and buried in this mass grave,” OCHA head Jonathan Whittall said from the scene.
“We’re digging them out in their uniforms, with their gloves on. They were here to save lives,” he said.
“These ambulances have been buried in the sand. There’s a UN vehicle here, …[an] Israeli forces bulldozer has buried them.”
What did Israel have to say?
The Israeli army’s international spokesperson, Nadav Shoshani, said the medics had not been killed deliberately.
Referring to Israeli soldiers firing at clearly marked ambulances and UN vehicles, Shoshani wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that “several uncoordinated vehicles were identified advancing suspiciously toward IDF troops without headlights or emergency signals”, not clarifying what was meant by “uncoordinated vehicle”.
Shoshani also claimed without evidence that “terrorists” were hidden amid the rescue workers and that “[Israeli] forces eliminated a Hamas military operative, Mohammad Amin Ibrahim Shubaki, who took part in the October 7 massacre, along with eight other terrorists from Hamas and the Islamic Jihad.”
None of the names reported as having been recovered from the mass grave match the name Shoshani claimed.
Soshani did not explain the fact that one body was recovered with his hands bound, according to the Red Crescent in Gaza, and that Israeli bulldozers had tried to bury the vehicles after the fact.
Israeli claims of Hamas launching attacks from medical facilities in Gaza were often “vague” and sometimes “contradicted by publicly available information”, UN human rights chief, Volker Turk, told the United Nations Security Council in January.
How were their bodies found?
Della Longa said that, for a whole week, the IFRC, PRCS, ICRC and the UN made appeals to Israeli authorities to enter the area to investigate.
Israel blocked the requests until finally a mission was able to enter and look for the missing rescue workers.
Video from the scene showed searchers digging out several bodies wearing orange emergency vests, some piled on top of each other.
One body in a Civil Defence vest was pulled out of the grave only for searchers to realise it was a torso with no legs.
What did the IFRC say?
IFRC Secretary-General Jagan Chapagain said in a statement: “These dedicated ambulance workers were responding to wounded people… They wore emblems that should have protected them; their ambulances were clearly marked. They should have returned to their families; they did not.
“Even in the most complex conflict zones, there are rules [that] could not be clearer – civilians must be protected; humanitarians must be protected. Health services must be protected.
“Our network is in mourning, but this is not enough… I pose a question: ‘When will this stop?’ All parties must stop the killing, and all humanitarians must be protected.”
Della Longa pointed out that half the ambulances in Gaza are no longer functional, either due to sustaining damage or because of the lack of fuel.
What are others saying?
UN aid chief Tom Fletcher said in a post on X that the first responders “were killed by Israeli forces while trying to save lives. We demand answers & justice.”
US State Department Spokesperson Tammy Bruce told reporters the US expected “all parties” to comply with international humanitarian law, without clarifying which account of the killings, Israel’s or the UN’s, she was referring to.
Amnesty International’s Mohamed Duar, spokesperson for the occupied Palestinian territory, said: “Despite their protected status under the Geneva Conventions and International Humanitarian Law, Israeli Forces continue to target healthcare workers… Ambulances and hospitals continue to come under fire and be destroyed.”
“There is no respect for humanitarians,” Della Longa told Al Jazeera. Violence is “not new in Gaza, but the scale and severity of what we see is shocking, horrific and not acceptable”.
“There is a deterioration of respect for international rules,” he said. “That should not and must not happen.”
END
”
Some of the bodies of 15 Palestinian paramedics and rescue workers, killed by Israeli forces and buried in a mass grave nine days ago in Gaza, were found with their hands or legs tied and had gunshot wounds to the head and chest, according to two witnesses.”
NOS
DOOR ISRAEL GEDODE HULPVERLENERS WAREN WEL HERKENBAAR, BLIJKT UIT VIDEO
ZIE VOOR GEHELE TEKST. NOOT 15
Ramallah, April 3, 2025—The autopsy report for a 17-year-old Palestinian child detainee who died in Israeli custody at the end of March indicates that he likely died from a combination of starvation, dehydration from colitis-induced diarrhea, and infectious complications all compounded by prolonged malnutrition and denial of life saving medical intervention.
Walid Khalid Abdullah Ahmad, 17, died while held in Israeli custody in Megiddo prison in northern Israel on the morning of March 22 after collapsing in the prison yard, according to documentation collected by Defense for Children International – Palestine. Post-mortem examination indicates Walid suffered from extreme body muscle and fat wasting, evidenced by a sunken abdomen, according to a doctor who attended the autopsy on behalf of Walid’s family. Walid also had scabies rashes on both legs and his groin, in addition to abrasions on his nose, chest, and right hip. The examination revealed that Walid had significant air collections in both his chest and abdominal cavities likely caused by blunt trauma, along with signs of inflammation likely caused by infection. There was also evidence of edema and congestion in his large intestine, consistent with traumatic injury—likely the result of beatings, which are frequently inflicted by Israeli prison guards on Palestinian child detainees.
“Walid’s autopsy indicates that Israeli prison guards systematically starved and abused him for months until he finally collapsed, struck his head, and died,” said Ayed Abu Eqtaish, accountability program director at DCIP. “Starvation is a tool of genocide, seeking to weaken and ultimately destroy both the body and spirit of Palestinian child detainees held in Israeli prisons. Walid’s death was not an accident—it is a crime and the international community must immediately intervene to apply sanctions against the Israeli government to force accountability.”
The autopsy report, which was conducted at the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute in Tel Aviv on March 27, states that Walid suffered from “extreme, likely prolonged malnutrition,” and that he likely suffered from an inflamed colon, leading to frequent diarrhea and severe dehydration. The autopsy also revealed a cut on Walid’s neck.
Walid was seen in the Megiddo prison clinic on December 30, 2024, and twice in February 2025 for the treatment of scabies, which he had since October, shortly after arriving at Megiddo. During the December visit, he reported head trauma and a severe lack of food available to detainees.
Doctors and medical staff associated with Megiddo clearly neglected to provide Walid with proper care for scabies, malnutrition, and dehydration. Under the Fourth Geneva Convention, prisoners and detainees must be held in conditions that ensure adequate food, hygiene, medical care, and shelter at a standard equal to that in prisons of the occupied territory. Additionally, Israel is bound under international law to ensure regular medical inspections and adequate housing is provided. The medical neglect Walid endured further constitutes a clear violation of Israel’s obligations under international human rights law, which afforded him the right to life, right to health, and freedom from torture or cruel treatment.
On the morning of March 22, Walid collapsed and hit his head in the prison yard of Megiddo prison, located in northern Israel, where he had been held in pre-trial detention since the end of September 2024, according to information collected by DCIP. Other child detainees called toward Israeli prison guards for help, but they did not respond, so the children carried Walid to the yard’s gate where the guards took custody of him.
Walid was then brought to the prison clinic where medical staff attempted to resuscitate him with a defibrillator and adrenaline. He was pronounced dead at 9:10 a.m. Israeli authorities reported Walid’s death but did not share the cause.
Walid is the first Palestinian child to ever die inside Israeli prisons, according to documentation collected by DCIP. Israeli authorities are withholding his body from his family.
Conditions inside Israeli prisons have continued to seriously deteriorate since October 7, 2023, when Israeli authorities severely restricted access to the prisons and suspended family visits. Released Palestinian child detainees interviewed by DCIP report routine and brutal beatings, meager and rotten food, denial of access to the bathroom, and crowded, unsanitary cells.
Under international law, this ill-treatment, especially of a child, is not only fundamentally illegal but is also considered torture. Israel has systemically employed torture as a method of punishment and intimidation against Palestinians, including children, for decades. Israel is accelerating its subversion of the rule of law and disregarding basic humanity with impunity.
END