Sunday, March 30, after a week of research, the bodies of the fifteen Palestinian rescuers who disappeared on March 23 were found in Rafah, in the south of Gaza.
These rescuers, members of the Red Crescent and the Civil Defense, had been targeted by the Israeli army during a rescue mission, after Israeli bombardments in the region. The Israeli army admitted to having opened fire on ambulances, deeming them “suspect” as part of an operation against Hamas.
The rescuers were killed in the Tal Al-Sultan district in Rafah, where the Israeli strikes resumed after the break in March. The bodies were found in a deplorable state, some buried under the sand. Eight rescuers were identified as members of the Red Crescent, five from the Civil Defense, and one worked for a UN agency.
This drama occurs during Eid-el-Fitr, a period of celebration, but in Gaza, it is death that dominates. The Palestinian Red Crescent denounced a “war crime” and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies expressed its “outrage” in the face of this tragedy. The violence continues in Gaza, with many civilian victims, including eight people killed in an Israeli bombardment in Gaza-Ville on March 29.
The UN and several humanitarian organizations call at the end of this violence, highlighting the insufficient protection of humanitarian workers in wartime.
