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Medics and emergency responders killed in an Israeli attack on ambulances in Rafah, southern Gaza, last week had their hands and feet tied and appeared to have been shot in the head, rescue workers told The National.
The bodies of eight medics from the Palestine Red Crescent, six members of the Gaza Civil Defence Agency and another UN employee were recovered from Rafah, in the south of the strip, on Sunday. They had been missing for about a week after responding to reports of injuries from Israeli shelling on the area of Hashashin, the Red Crescent said, adding their vehicles were marked as humanitarian and medical personnel.
An Israeli military statement said its troops had opened fire on vehicles approaching them “suspiciously” and without identification, and that it had killed "terrorists" in the operation. It had issued an eviction notice in the area hours earlier, saying Hamas militants were operating there.
Israeli forces would not allow access to the site where the bodies were for days, the UN said, before eventually revealing where they were. Destroyed ambulances and other vehicles were also found at the site.
A Gaza Civil Defence worker and a Red Crescent employee involved in the recovery of the team's bodies spoke to The National on condition of anonymity. Both said the bodies of the men were found some distance from the vehicles they had been travelling in and their hands and feet were bound.
"It appears that the army executed them first, placed them in a hole, then bulldozed the area, scattering their remains across the site. This made the search incredibly difficult," the Gaza Civil Defence worker said. "We found bodies stacked on top of each other. One of the Civil Defence workers had a wire tied around his foot, resembling handcuffs – clear evidence that they were interrogated, tortured and then executed in cold blood."
The worker said the pattern of injuries on the bodies, including gunshot wounds to the head and chest, suggested "execution-style" killings. "After they were killed, their bodies were covered with a black cloth before being buried and the burial site bulldozed."
Israel has killed more than 100 Civil Defence workers and more than 1,000 health workers since the war broke out 18 months ago, the UN says. The Red Crescent has called the latest incident the deadliest attack on its personnel in eight years.
The death toll in Gaza breached 50,000 last week, days after Israel resumed its attacks on the territory following the breakdown of a two-month ceasefire. More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed since March 18, Gaza's Health Ministry reported.
“They were killed by Israeli forces while trying to save lives,” UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said of the medical crew, who were buried on Monday. He called for justice for those killed.
In response to a request for comment on the injuries the staff said they found on the bodies, their burial and their status as medical, rescue or UN staff, the Israeli military referred The National to a post on X from its international spokesman Lt Col Nadav Shoshani.
He said Israeli forces had determined they killed Mohammad Amin Ibrahim Shubaki, who he said was a member of Hamas that had played a role in the October 7 attack on Israel, as well as eight other "terrorists".
This name did not feature among the list of the dead from the Palestinian Red Crescent or Gaza Civil Defence.
The Red Crescent worker said finding the dead was a lengthy process, taking more than a day. Footage released by the UN showed recovery workers digging through dirt in the Tel Al Sultan area of Rafah, then pulling out the bodies of uniformed workers.
"When we finally located the martyrs, their hands and feet were bound – clear evidence that they had been tortured," the Res Crescent employee said. "It was also apparent that they were not all executed at the same time, but rather in stages, as the condition of the bodies suggested."
"The army killed the paramedics and Civil Defence workers after forcing them out of their vehicles. The vehicles were found in one area, while the bodies were discovered in completely different locations."
Eviction orders oust thousands from homes and makeshift camps
The Israeli army continues to issue eviction orders to residents across Gaza. On Tuesday morning, it ordered those in northern Gaza's Beit Lahia, Beit Hanoun and Sheikh Zayed to leave, sparking fears the orders may be part of a larger plan to forcibly remove Gaza’s population.
Khaled Al Jamal, 30, a father of two, has already been displaced nine times. Now, after the latest Israeli evacuation order for Rafah issued on Monday, he finds himself once again forced to flee.
"It was extremely difficult to leave. The bombing never stopped, and we couldn’t find a safe way out. They ordered us to evacuate while simultaneously shelling everywhere," he told The National. "When I left home with my family, a quadcopter hovered above our heads. We walked, fully expecting to be killed at any moment. This time feels different. We fear we may never return to Rafah."
Kareem Sobaih, 16, was displaced from Rafah for the fifth time yesterday, leaving his family of nine's Eid Al Fitr celebrations in tatters. "We were staying in our home, hoping to celebrate Eid like the rest of the world – peacefully, with joy and festivities. Instead, we received leaflets warning us to leave Rafah because it had been declared a red zone," Kareem said from Al Mawasi. "Before, they targeted specific areas, but this time, they are talking about all of Rafah."
"We felt immense fear. We had seen how they executed Civil Defence workers in cold blood, so we decided to leave. It was one of the most terrifying moments of our lives. The quadcopter hovered above us, making us feel like we could be killed at any moment. But, thanks to God, we survived."
As evacuation orders continue and reports of executions surface, the people of Gaza remain trapped between relentless displacement and the fear that they may never be allowed to return home.
