The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has called for an independent international investigation into the “deliberate killing” of 15 medical and humanitarian workers during an attack by Israeli forces in Gaza.
In a statement issued on Monday, the PRCS described the March 23 attack in Rafah, southern Gaza, as a “full-fledged war crime” and part of a “dangerous pattern of repeated violations of international humanitarian law.” PRCS President Younis al-Khatib emphasized the need for an independent commission to “establish the facts and hold those responsible accountable.”
The incident occurred when Israeli forces opened fire on medics who were traveling in ambulances to assist wounded individuals at the site of a prior Israeli attack. A video recovered from the mobile phone of one of the medics captured their final moments. The medics were wearing highly reflective uniforms and were inside clearly marked rescue vehicles when they were shot in Rafah’s Tal as-Sultan neighborhood.
According to the PRCS, the convoy was subjected to heavy gunfire for approximately five minutes. Communication records between the team and the central dispatch center confirmed that the shooting continued for at least two hours, with continuous gunfire heard until contact was lost with one of the medics. A survivor of the attack reported that the ambulances came under direct fire without warning. The survivor also claimed that Israeli officers used him as a “human shield” before he managed to escape.
“It is no longer sufficient to speak of respecting international law and the Geneva Convention,” al-Khatib told reporters in el-Bireh, in the occupied West Bank. “It is now required for the international community and the UN Security Council to implement necessary punishments against all those responsible.”
### ‘Who is telling the truth?’
Al-Khatib urged the international community to protect aid workers and prevent the targeting of hospitals, medical centers, and ambulances. He also called on Israel to disclose the whereabouts of missing PRCS staff. The attack resulted in the deaths of eight PRCS workers, six members of the Palestinian Civil Defense agency, and an employee of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
The Israeli military claimed its soldiers “did not randomly attack” any ambulances, stating that they fired on “terrorists” approaching in “suspicious vehicles.” The military alleged that “several uncoordinated vehicles were identified advancing suspiciously toward [Israeli army] troops without headlights or emergency signals.” However, al-Khatib refuted this, asserting that the ambulances had their emergency lights on.
“We at PRCS have been accustomed to Israel’s false allegations and fabricated stories regarding what happens in the Gaza Strip,” al-Khatib said. “We believe that the whole world, including media representatives, has now come to realize who is telling the truth.”
In its statement, the PRCS clarified that the area was not classified as a “red zone” at the time of the emergency response, meaning no prior coordination was required to access the site. However, Israeli forces later prevented rescue teams from entering the area, claiming it was a “red zone.” Limited access was eventually granted, during which PRCS teams recovered the body of a Civil Defense member before being forced to withdraw by Israeli forces.
On March 30, the bodies of 14 others were discovered in a “mass grave in a brutal and degrading manner that violates human dignity,” the PRCS added. The attack has been condemned by the Civil Defense, Gaza’s Government Media Office, Hamas, and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk, who expressed concern over potential “war crimes” by the Israeli military.
Tom Fletcher, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, noted that since Israel broke the ceasefire in Gaza on March 18 and resumed its military campaign, Israeli airstrikes have targeted “densely populated areas,” resulting in “patients killed in their hospital beds, ambulances shot at, and first responders killed.”
According to UNRWA, at least 408 aid workers, including over 280 UNRWA staff members, have been killed by Israeli forces in Gaza since the war began on October 7, 2023. Gaza’s Ministry of Health reported that since March 18, at least 921 people have been killed in the territory, adding to the more than 50,000 killed since the war began—most of them children and women.
The escalating violence prompted the heads of six UN agencies to call for an immediate renewal of the ceasefire, which Israel unilaterally broke, and the resumption of humanitarian aid into Gaza.
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