The umpteenth Israeli massacre since the escalation of the anti-Gaza offensive in October 2023 has come to light in recent days: the bodies of fifteen humanitarian workers were found in a mass grave in the city of Rafah at the end of March, and the autopsy on the bodies on Monday confirmed that they were shot dead by Israeli soldiers. Among those killed were a member of the United Nations Relief and Works Office for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and eight staff of the Palestinian Red Crescent emergency services.

Indeed, this organization, which provides emergency services in Gaza, has denounced Israel's "repeated violations" of international humanitarian law and human rights, which could set a "dangerous precedent": "This massacre is a tragedy for us, but also for humanitarian work and for human beings." Since the escalation of the offensive against Gaza in October 2023, Israel has killed 27 Red Crescent workers, according to the organization.

For his part, UNRWA Chief Philippe Lazzarini has claimed “responsibility” for the murder of a United Nations agency employee: "Killings like this have become routine in Gaza." According to the Ministry of Health on the list, Israel has killed 280 UNRWA employees since October 2023 and, in addition, seven countries decided in January last year to stop funding this agency of the United Nations, including the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada.

Video That Refutes Israel’s Version

When the incident came to light, the Israeli army stated that the vehicles were not identified, so they fired on "terrorists" who were approaching them in an "unusual way." However, one of the fifteen health workers who died, the doctor in Rifaat Radua, recorded with his mobile the moment when the Israeli soldiers began shooting at them, a video that has spread quickly on social networks.

Among other things, the video found on Raduan’s mobile denies the version provided by the Israeli army: it shows that the ambulances had the emergency lights on at the time the soldiers attacked, so they were identified. In addition, the video shows that the Israelis opened fire on the vehicles for five minutes without interruption.

"Terrible" who looked at the crime scene

Jonathan Whittall, head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Palestine, was one of the first to arrive at the scene of the killing of 15 humanitarian workers. He explains that what he found there was "horrible" and denounces that the "health workers" have never been in the soldiers' servitude: "All of these humanitarian workers were killed in uniform, while clearly identified vehicles were driving and were on their way to save lives." In fact, the Red Crescent reports that ambulances approached where Israeli soldiers were to treat some of the injured Palestinians who were there.