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The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) and Gaza’s Civil Defense have accused Israeli forces of abducting 15 paramedics and rescue workers in Rafah, southern Gaza. The medical personnel, who had been responding to casualties following an Israeli airstrike, have been missing for six days.
PRCS released a statement today detailing its attempt, alongside the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), to access the Tel Sultan area in Rafah where the crew was last seen. However, Israeli forces reportedly ordered them to withdraw, preventing any further search efforts.
“So far, no trace of our team members has been found. Yesterday, we discovered the four ambulance vehicles completely destroyed and buried in the sand,” PRCS stated in reference to its nine missing members. “The occupation is deliberately obstructing search efforts to uncover the fate of our missing teams.”
Until now, one of the missing medics, Civil Defense member Anwar al-Attar, was found dead, reportedly killed by Israel. The Palestinian Civil Defence reported that its staff are “experiencing great shock” after finding al-Attar’s body “torn apart”.
PRCS also discovered four buried ambulance vehicles yesterday, raising further concerns over the fate of the missing medics.
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Amid the onslaught of news of death and destruction in Gaza, some ground reporters and alternative media outlets mistakenly reported that all the paramedics were killed and buried.
Yesterday, Al Jazeera shared satellite images from March 23, showing the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) detaining and surrounding at least five vehicles belonging to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society and Civil Defence in the Western area of Rafah, Southern Gaza.
The kidnapping happened when the IOF attacked and besieged several ambulances and paramedics while they were on their way to attend to the casualties in the aftermath of an Israeli airstrike in Al-Hashashin area in Rafah, on Sunday.
Gaza’s Government Media Office (GMO) later accused the IOF of abducting 15 paramedics and civil defense members in southern Rafah, holding Israel and the US fully responsible for their safety and calling for accountability.
The GMO also implored the international community, the UN, the International committee of the Red Cross and human rights organizations to take urgent action to ensure the hostages’ release.
