As Israeli forces superior on the southern Gaza metropolis of Rafah earlier than daybreak final Sunday, an ambulance crew got down to evacuate civilians wounded by Israeli shelling. However the ambulance was hit on the best way, and its crew injured.
A number of extra ambulances and a hearth truck headed to the scene, in keeping with the Palestine Crimson Crescent Society, as did a U.N. automobile, the United Nations stated. Seventeen folks have been dispatched in whole.
Then all of them went silent.
It took 5 days for the United Nations and Crimson Crescent to barter with the Israeli navy for protected passage to seek for the lacking folks. After receiving clearance, U.N. officers stated, the retrieval crew discovered 15 useless over the weekend, most of their our bodies dumped in a mass grave.
On Monday, the United Nations stated Israel had killed them — a uncommon accusation by the group, which is often cautious about assigning clear blame.
“They have been killed by Israeli forces whereas attempting to save lots of lives,” the U.N. humanitarian chief, Tom Fletcher, stated on X. “We demand solutions & justice.”
The Crimson Crescent, the Worldwide Committee of the Crimson Cross and the United Nations stated all of these killed have been humanitarian employees who ought to by no means have come below assault. The Crimson Crescent referred to as the killings a battle crime and demanded accountability.
An Israeli navy spokesman, Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, stated on X on Monday that 9 of these killed have been Palestinian militants. He stated Israeli forces “didn’t randomly assault” an ambulance, however that a number of automobiles “have been recognized advancing suspiciously” with out headlights or emergency indicators towards Israeli troops, prompting them to shoot.
U.N. officers stated the automobiles have been clearly marked as rescue automobiles.
Colonel Shoshani stated that through the assault, Israeli forces killed a Hamas navy operative, Mohammad Amin Ibrahim Shubaki, who participated within the Oct. 7, 2023 assault on Israel that sparked the battle in Gaza.
He stated Israeli forces had additionally killed eight different operatives from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, one other militant group. He accused militants of “as soon as once more exploiting medical services and tools for his or her actions.”
He didn’t instantly say whether or not the militants have been within the emergency automobiles or deal with the identities of the opposite six folks killed.
After the automobiles have been fired on, U.N. officers stated, the ambulances, a hearth truck and the U.N. automobile have been then bulldozed and crushed by Israeli forces.
The Crimson Crescent stated one medic was nonetheless lacking. The lone survivor, a Crimson Crescent crew member, was detained, crushed and launched by Israeli forces the identical day, in keeping with the help group. He informed colleagues that Israeli forces had killed each of the opposite crew members in his ambulance, the Crimson Crescent and U.N. officers stated.
Of the 17 folks concerned, 10 have been Crimson Crescent employees, six have been emergency responders from Gaza’s civil protection and one was a U.N. employee, U.N. officers stated.
The highest U.N. humanitarian official in Gaza, Jonathan Whittall, joined the retrieval crew and posted pictures on X exhibiting the crumpled automobiles — husks of mangled metallic jutting from the sand. The massive navy-blue “N” on the U.N. automobile was nonetheless seen on it.
“One after the other, they have been hit, they have been struck. Their our bodies have been gathered and buried on this mass grave,” he stated in a video message shared by the United Nations.
On Friday, the U.N. crew that went in quest of the lacking folks witnessed new scenes of chaos and violence in Rafah, together with “a whole lot of civilians fleeing below gunfire,” Mr. Whittall stated on X. One lady was shot at the back of the pinnacle, he stated.
He posted a video exhibiting what he stated got here subsequent: Two males walked towards the street, apparently to retrieve the girl’s physique. Then one in every of them was shot, too. Mr. Whittall didn’t say who fired the pictures.
On Saturday, the U.N. convoy discovered the crumpled automobiles. Hours of digging yielded one physique, a civil protection employee buried beneath his firetruck, Mr. Whittall stated. They returned for the remaining our bodies on Sunday.
Mr. Whittall narrated the seek for the our bodies within the video message.
“We’re digging them out of their uniforms, with their gloves on,” he stated. “They have been right here to save lots of lives. As an alternative, they ended up in a mass grave.”
The grave, he stated, was marked with the emergency mild from one of many destroyed ambulances.
Colonel Shoshani, the Israeli navy spokesman, stated the automobiles, not like others alongside the identical route earlier that day, had not obtained permission from Israeli forces to be there.
Nebal Farsakh, a Palestine Crimson Crescent Society spokeswoman, stated that when the ambulances set out round 3:30 a.m. on March 23, Israeli forces had not but closed off the world as a “purple zone,” the place ambulances should clear their actions with Israel.
Israel didn’t instantly deal with the accusations of burying folks in mass graves or crushing their automobiles.
In all, the Crimson Crescent stated, 27 of its medics have been killed for the reason that battle started.
A cease-fire paused preventing in Gaza from January till March 18, when Israel broke it.
Rawan Sheikh Ahmad and Aaron Boxerman contributed reporting from Jerusalem.