The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has said it is “outraged” at the deaths of eight medics killed on duty in Rafah in southern Gaza.
The nine-person ambulance team came under heavy fire in al-Hashashin on 23 March, said the IFRC. Their bodies were retrieved on Sunday after access was denied for a week. One medic is still missing.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said their staff’s bodies were discovered along with those of six members of Gaza’s Hamas-run civil defence agency and one UN employee.
They did not say who opened fire on the convoy – but Hamas blamed the Israel Defense Forces for the attack. The BBC has sought comment from the IDF.
In Sunday’s statement, the IFRC said the eight bodies of PRCS workers were retrieved “after seven days of silence and having access denied to the area of Rafah where they were last seen”.
The organisation identified those killed as ambulance officers Mostafa Khufaga, Saleh Muamer and Ezzedine Shaath, and first responder volunteers Mohammad Bahloul, Mohammed al-Heila, Ashraf Abu Labda, Raed al-Sharif and Rifatt Radwan.
It added that ambulance officer Assad Al-Nassasra was “still missing”.
“I am heartbroken. These dedicated ambulance workers were responding to wounded people. They were humanitarians,” IFRC Secretary General Jagan Chapagain said.
“They wore emblems that should have protected them; their ambulances were clearly marked.
“Even in the most complex conflict zones, there are rules. These rules of International Humanitarian Law could not be clearer – civilians must be protected; humanitarians must be protected. Health services must be protected.”
The IDF has publicly not commented on the Red Cross and Red Crescent statement.
The AFP news agency reported that on Saturday the Israeli military admitted it had fired on ambulances in southern Gaza last Sunday after identifying them as “suspicious vehicles”.
Israeli troops had “opened fire toward Hamas vehicles and eliminated several Hamas terrorists”, the military said in a statement to AFP.
“A few minutes afterward, additional vehicles advanced suspiciously toward the troops… The troops responded by firing toward the suspicious vehicles, eliminating a number of Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists.”
The military added that “after an initial inquiry, it was determined that some of the suspicious vehicles… were ambulances and fire trucks”.
It also said there had been “repeated use” by “terrorist organisations in the Gaza Strip of ambulances for terrorist purposes”.
Senior Hamas official Basem Naim condemned the attack.
“The targeted killing of rescue workers – who are protected under international humanitarian law – constitutes a flagrant violation of the Geneva Conventions and a war crime,” he said.
Israel resumed its military offensive in Gaza on 18 March after the first phase of a ceasefire that began in January came to an end, and negotiations on a second phase of the deal stalled.
More than 900 people have since been killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza, the Hamas-run health ministry has said.
The war was triggered when Hamas attacked southern Israel on 7 October 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 back to Gaza as captives.
Israel responded with a massive military offensive, which has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians, Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry says.
