Palestinian medics in Rafah found hands bound with bullet wounds to heads: Civil Defense

ANKARA

Palestinian paramedics killed by Israeli army forces in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip had their hands tied with gunshot wounds on their heads, the Civil Defense Agency said on Wednesday.

“They were found buried 200 meters from the site of the destroyed Civil Defense and Red Crescent vehicles, and they were wearing their standard orange uniforms typical of relief work,” spokesman Mahmud Basal told a press conference in Gaza City.

“Some crew members were found buried with their hands and feet tied, and bullet wounds were visible on their heads and chests, showing that they were executed at close range,” he said.

The spokesman said that one of the bodies was found decapitated.

On Sunday, the Red Crescent Society said that it had recovered the bodies of eight medics, five civil defense workers, and a UN staff member from Rafah after Israeli bombardment.

After international outrage, the Israeli army claimed that the vehicles were advancing “suspiciously” from its forces "without headlights, or emergency signals, (and) their movement was not coordinated in advance."

The army claimed that nine members from Hamas and Islamic Jihad groups were killed in the March 23 incident.

However, images of the vehicles that were removed later by UN teams showed clearly that they were holding signs of ambulances, fire trucks along with a vehicle carrying the UN sign.

The civil defense spokesman called for an international investigation into the Israeli army's killing of the Palestinian medics.

The death of the Palestinian medics triggered a massive war of condemnations from international rights and UN groups, who demanded answers for the killings.

Israel began a surprise aerial campaign on Gaza on March 18 and has since killed more than 1,000 victims and injured over 2,000, shattering a January ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement between Israel and the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas.

More than 50,400 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in Israel's military onslaught since October 2023, most of them women and children.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.