Gaza rescuers ‘executed by gunshots either in the head or chest’

April 4, 2025 - 1:3

The Israeli military killed 15 medics and emergency workers in southern Gaza and buried the bodies with their ambulances and rescue vehicles last month.

Dr Ahmed al-Farra, director of paediatrics at Al-Tahreer Maternity Hospital in southern Khan Younis, saw the bodies coming into the medical facility after they were recovered a week later. He said Israeli soldiers would have easily seen they were targeting medics when they opened fire.

“The skies are filled with their planes; they can see a needle on the ground. So they could easily distinguish ambulances,” al-Farra told Al Jazeera.

“When the bodies came to the hospital, they were nearly decomposed. It had been around seven to eight days since the medics were executed. I saw three of them had their hands tied behind their backs.”

No shrapnel wounds on their bodies and no signs of physical damage caused by explosions were visible, he added.

“They were executed by gunshots either in the head or in the chest. They were unarmed and went to the al-Hashaashin area of Rafah to help people who were severely injured.”

UN Says Gaza a ‘war without humanity, accountability’

The UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) also says the continued killing of civilians and Israel’s blocking of aid keeps “dehumanizing” Palestinians in Gaza.

“This crisis needs a political action. I believe that this needs to start with accountability,” said Jonathan Whittall, a head of office for the organization in the occupied territory.

“What is happening in Gaza is not going to stay in Gaza. We cannot let the rules-based order be replaced by one set of rules for some and another set of rules for others.”

A spokesperson from the Israeli army has also ordered residents of the Shujayea area and the neighborhoods of Al-Jadida, Al-Turkman, Tasbeeh and eastern Zeitoun to leave their homes.

In March, the United Nations humanitarian agency reported that 142,000 people have been displaced since Israel renewed its war on the enclave on March 18, breaking the fragile January ceasefire.

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