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 fireplace truck headed to the scene, in line with the Palestine Pink Crescent Society, as did a U.N. automobile, the United Nations mentioned. Seventeen folks had been dispatched in whole.
Then all of them went silent.
It took 5 days for the United Nations and Pink Crescent to barter with the Israeli army for secure passage to seek for the lacking folks. After receiving clearance, U.N. officers mentioned, the retrieval crew discovered 15 useless over the weekend, most of their our bodies dumped in a mass grave.
On Monday, the United Nations mentioned Israel had killed them — a uncommon accusation by the group, which is usually cautious about assigning clear blame.
“They had been killed by Israeli forces whereas attempting to avoid wasting lives,” the U.N. humanitarian chief, Tom Fletcher, said on X. “We demand solutions & justice.”
The Pink Crescent, the Worldwide Committee of the Red Cross and the United Nations mentioned all of these killed had been humanitarian staff who ought to by no means have come below assault. The Pink Crescent referred to as the killings a battle crime and demanded accountability.
An Israeli army spokesman, Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, said on X on Monday that 9 of these killed had been Palestinian militants. He mentioned Israeli forces “didn’t randomly assault” an ambulance, however that a number of automobiles “had been recognized advancing suspiciously” with out headlights or emergency alerts towards Israeli troops, prompting them to shoot.
U.N. officers mentioned the automobiles had been clearly marked as rescue automobiles.
Colonel Shoshani mentioned that in the course of the assault, Israeli forces killed a Hamas army operative, Mohammad Amin Ibrahim Shubaki, who participated within the Oct. 7, 2023 assault on Israel that sparked the battle in Gaza.
He mentioned 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 straight say whether or not the militants had been within the emergency automobiles or deal with the identities of the opposite six folks killed.
After the automobiles had been fired on, U.N. officers mentioned, the ambulances, a fireplace truck and the U.N. automobile had been then bulldozed and crushed by Israeli forces.
The Pink Crescent mentioned one medic was nonetheless lacking. The lone survivor, a Pink Crescent crew member, was detained, crushed and launched by Israeli forces the identical day, in line with the help group. He instructed colleagues that Israeli forces had killed each of the opposite crew members in his ambulance, the Pink Crescent and U.N. officers mentioned.
Of the 17 folks concerned, 10 had been Pink Crescent staff, six had been emergency responders from Gaza’s civil protection and one was a U.N. employee, U.N. officers mentioned.
The highest U.N. humanitarian official in Gaza, Jonathan Whittall, joined the retrieval crew and posted photos on X displaying the crumpled automobiles — husks of mangled metallic jutting from the sand. The big navy-blue “N” on the U.N. automobile was nonetheless seen on it.
“One after the other, they had been hit, they had been struck. Their our bodies had been gathered and buried on this mass grave,” he mentioned in a video message shared by the United Nations.
On Friday, the U.N. crew that went seeking the lacking folks witnessed new scenes of chaos and violence in Rafah, together with “a whole lot of civilians fleeing below gunfire,” Mr. Whittall said on X. One girl was shot behind the top, he mentioned.
He posted a video displaying what he mentioned got here subsequent: Two males walked towards the street, apparently to retrieve the lady’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 mentioned. 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 mentioned. “They had been right here to avoid wasting lives. As an alternative, they ended up in a mass grave.”
The grave, he mentioned, was marked with the emergency gentle from one of many destroyed ambulances.
Colonel Shoshani, the Israeli army spokesman, mentioned the automobiles, not like others alongside the identical route earlier that day, had not acquired permission from Israeli forces to be there.
Nebal Farsakh, a Palestine Pink Crescent Society spokeswoman, mentioned that when the ambulances set out round 3:30 a.m. on March 23, Israeli forces had not but closed off the realm as a “crimson 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 Pink Crescent mentioned, 27 of its medics have been killed for the reason that battle started.
A cease-fire paused combating in Gaza from January till March 18, when Israel broke it.
Rawan Sheikh Ahmad and Aaron Boxerman contributed reporting from Jerusalem.
