The Palestinian Red Crescent Association (PRCS) calls for an independent international investigation into the “intentional killings” of 15 medical and humanitarian workers in an Israeli attack in Gaza.
In a statement Monday, the group said the March 23 attack on Rafa city in the southern part of Gaza “constituent war crimes and reflects a dangerous pattern of repeated violations of international humanitarian law.”
PRCS President Younis Al-Khatib said the Independent Committee is “necessary to establish facts and hold them responsible and accountable.”
Israeli forces fired at doctors who were driving in ambulances to assist injured people at the site of previous Israeli attacks.
A video recently retrieved from one of Medic’s phones showed the final moments. The Medic was in a very reflective uniform and was in a clearly identifiable rescue vehicle before being shot dead by Israeli forces in the Tar Az Sultan area of Rafa.
According to PRCS, the fleet was subjected to heavy gunfire for about five minutes. Communications between the team and the Central Dispatch Center said “we are confirming that the shooting lasted more than two hours.”
This has also been confirmed by survivors who said the ambulance was set on fire directly without warning, according to Al-khatib. Survivors also said that he was used as a “human shield” by Israeli officers before he escaped.
“It’s not enough to just talk about respecting international law and the Geneva Convention,” Al Khatib told reporters in El Bile on the occupied West Bank. “It is currently necessary from the international community and the UN Security Council to implement necessary punishments to all those responsible.”
“Who is telling the truth?”
Al Khatib also called on the international community to protect aid workers and prevent the targeting of hospitals, medical centres and ambulances.
He also requested that Israel disclose where the PRCS staff are still missing.
The PRC lost eight workers in the attack. Six members of the Palestinian Civil Defense Agency and Palestinian refugees employee of the United Nations Agency were also killed.
Israeli forces alleged that the soldiers “didn’t randomly attack the ambulance” and fired “terrorists” approaching them with “suspecting vehicles.”
“Some unadjusted vehicles have been confirmed to advance suspiciously. [Israeli army] “Army without headlights or emergency signals,” it said.
However, Al-Khatib refuted the claim, saying the ambulance had emergency lights on.
“We’ve become accustomed to false Israeli allegations and forgery regarding what’s going on in the Gaza Strip,” Al-Kativ said.
“We believe that the whole world, including media representatives, has come to understand who is telling the truth,” he added.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society is calling for an independent, international investigation to hold the person responsible for crimes targeting Rafah’s ambulance team.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Association (PRCS) has declared that Israel’s targeting ambulance convoys… pic.twitter.com/yvtuxnolam.– PRCS (@Palestinercs) April 7, 2025
In its statement, PRCS said the area was not classified as a “red zone” at the time of emergency response. This means that no prior adjustments were required to access the site.
Over the next few days, Israeli forces said rescuers had prevented access to the area under the pretext of it as a “red zone.”
Only limited access was then granted, during which time the PRCS team said they had recovered the bodies of civil defense members before Israeli forces were forced to withdraw by rescuers.
On March 30, 14 other bodies were found in “a mass grave in a brutal and degraded manner that infringes human dignity,” PRCS added.
The attack was condemned by the civil defense of the government media offices in Gaza, Hamas and the United Nations Human Rights Volkar Turkey.
Meanwhile, Tom Fletcher, head of cooperation with UN Humanitarian Cooperation, said Israeli air attacks hit “a densely populated area” with “patients killed in hospital beds, first killed ambulances” as Israel broke a ceasefire in Gaza on March 18 and resumed war with the enclave.
According to the UNRWA, at least 408 aid workers, including more than 280 UNRWA staff, have been killed by Israeli forces in Gaza since the war began on October 7, 2023.
Gaza’s health ministry said at least 921 people have been killed on the territory since March 18th, and more than 50,000 have been killed since the war began.
The violence led the heads of six UN agencies on Monday to call for immediate renewal of a ceasefire unilaterally broken by Israel and re-enter humanitarian assistance to Gaza.
