{"id":291807,"date":"2025-04-07T12:00:25","date_gmt":"2025-04-07T11:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=291807"},"modified":"2025-04-04T07:23:01","modified_gmt":"2025-04-04T06:23:01","slug":"israel-killed-15-palestinian-paramedics-and-rescue-workers-one-by-one-says-un","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2025\/04\/israel-killed-15-palestinian-paramedics-and-rescue-workers-one-by-one-says-un\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel Killed 15 Palestinian Paramedics and Rescue Workers One by One, Says UN"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Bodies of Palestinian rescue workers recovered from mass grave.<\/p><\/div>\n

Workers on a mission to help colleagues were buried in mass grave in southern Gaza, says humanitarian office.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

31 Mar 2025\u00a0<\/em>–\u00a0Fifteen Palestinian paramedics and rescue workers, including at least one United Nations<\/a> employee, were killed by Israeli forces \u201cone by one\u201d and buried in a mass grave eight days ago in southern Gaza, the UN has said.<\/p>\n

According to the UN humanitarian affairs office (Ocha), the Palestinian Red Crescent (PRCS) and civil defence workers were on a mission to rescue colleagues who had been shot at earlier in the day, when their clearly marked vehicles came under heavy Israeli fire in Rafah city\u2019s Tel al-Sultan district. A Red Crescent official in Gaza said that there was evidence of at least one person being detained and killed, as the body of one of the dead had been found with his hands tied.<\/p>\n

The shootings happened on 23 March, one day into the renewed Israeli offensive in the area close to the Egyptian border. Another Red Crescent worker on the mission is reported missing.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeven days ago, civil defence and PRCS ambulances arrived at the scene,\u201d the head of Ocha in Palestine, Jonathan Whittall, said in a video statement. \u201cOne by one, [the paramedics and civil defense workers] were hit, they were struck. Their bodies were gathered and buried in this mass grave.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re digging them out in their uniforms, with their gloves on. They were here to save lives. Instead, they ended up in a mass grave,\u201d Whittall said. \u201cThese ambulances have been buried in the sand. There\u2019s a UN vehicle here, buried in the sand. A bulldozer \u2013 Israeli forces bulldozer \u2013 has buried them.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Red Crescent staff digging in the area.<\/span> Photograph: Red Crescent<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN relief agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, said that one of its employees was among the dead found in Rafah.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe body of our colleague killed in Rafah was retrieved yesterday, together with the aid workers from [the Palestinian Red Crescent] \u2013 all of them discarded in shallow graves \u2013 a profound violation of human dignity,\u201d Lazzarini wrote in a social media post.<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s military said its \u201cinitial assessment\u201d of the incident had found that its troops had opened fire on several vehicles \u201cadvancing suspiciously toward IDF troops without headlights or emergency signals\u201d.<\/p>\n