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Rabat– The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) confirmed the discovery of 14 bodies in southern Rafah on the first day of Eid in Palestine. These were the remains of eight PRCS medics and one Civil Defense workers who had been missing for eight days, including m one United Nations employee.
PRCS issued a statement on social media platform X today, March 30, expressing its devastation over the tragic loss of the eight emergency medical technicians.
“The Palestine Red Crescent Society is devastated by the killing of eight of its EMTs in Rafah, who were targeted by the Israeli army while performing their humanitarian duties,” reads PRCS statement.
PRCS had lost contact with its crew on March 23, after they were targeted by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) in southern Gaza while en route to assist victims of an Israeli airstrike in Al-Hashashin area of Rafah.
On March 28, PRCS, alongside the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), tried to access the Tel Sultan area, where the team was last seen. However, the IOF ordered the humanitarian teams to withdraw, effectively halting any further search operations.
The previous day, PRCS had discovered the body of Civil Defense member Anwar Al Attar, found “torn apart” after being killed by the IOF. Furthermore, four PRCS ambulances were discovered destroyed and buried under sand, a disturbing sign of what may have happened to the medics.
Al Jazeera had shared exclusive satellite footage showing the IOF detaining and surrounding at least five ambulances belonging to PRCS and Palestinian Civil Defense, proving Israel’s fault in their disappearance.
Despite widespread fears that all the kidnapped medics had been killed by the IOF, PRCS tirelessly continued to raise awareness and update the public on their daily efforts to locate them.
In fact, when the ambulances were discovered destroyed and buried, many media outlets and ground reporters mistakenly reported the medics’ deaths. However, PRCS remained steadfast, consistently correcting the misinformation and holding onto hope that their members could still be found.
Younis al-Khatib, the President of PRCS, expressed his frustration at the world’s silence in the face of Israel’s blatant and relentless war crimes. “Those souls are not mere numbers. If this incident happened anywhere else, the whole world would have moved heaven and earth to expose this war crime,” he said.
Since Israel’s genocide began in October 2023, the United Nations has reported that at least 399 aid workers have been killed, including 289 UN staff members, 34 PRCS personnel, and 76 other NGO workers.
This is yet again another blatant example of Israel bypassing international humanitarian law, which dictates it is a war crime to target aid workers.
