Witnesses report Palestinian rescuers ‘executed’ by Israeli forces
Other than the sounds of heavy artillery fire and constant buzz of attack drones, people here are also dealing with a heart-wrenching story of a missing rescue team who disappeared seven days ago.
The paramedics went to the Tal as-Sultan neighbourhood in Gaza’s southern Rafah city to save Palestinians wounded during Israeli bombing and ground assaults.
Those who managed to escape reported executions of many people by Israeli troops. Over the past few days, in cooperation with the United Nations, the Palestine Red Crescent Society managed to get close to the area where the ambulances went missing.
What they found was the wreckage of the vehicles, largely buried under piles of sand. Testimonies from people who happened to be at the site said the rescue team was executed and buried by the Israeli military. There are no signs they’re still alive.
The Israeli army is not providing answers and deliberately prevented coordination among international organisations for a proper search for the 14 missing civil defence and Red Crescent workers.
Red Crescent ‘in state of shock’ after body, destroyed vehicles found in Rafah
We’ve been reporting on the Gaza rescue team that went missing a week ago in southern Rafah’s Tal as-Sultan district.
Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) members and international agency staff who finally made it to the scene said they found the body of the mission leader, Anwar Abdel Hamid al-Attar, “in dismembered pieces”.
Destroyed ambulances and fire engines were buried and “their features obliterated”.
“Our teams found torn safety equipment worn by the crew at the crime scene. This suggests the Israeli occupation forces directly targeted the crew during their incursion, then deliberately altered the area’s features and concealed the bodies of some civilians using bulldozers and heavy machinery,” the Red Crescent said in a statement.
Thirteen other medics and civil defence agency workers remain missing. “The PRCS expresses deep concern for the safety of its teams and holds Israeli occupation authorities fully responsible for their fate,” the Red Crescent said.
Israeli military admits opening fire on Gaza ambulances
Israel’s army has acknowledged it attacked ambulances and firetrucks in the southern Gaza Strip after identifying them as “suspicious vehicles”. Israeli forces “opened fire toward Hamas vehicles and eliminated several Hamas terrorists”, the military said in a statement.
“A few minutes afterward, additional vehicles advanced suspiciously toward the troops … The troops responded by firing toward the suspicious vehicles, eliminating a number of Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists.”
It added: “After an initial inquiry, it was determined that some of the suspicious vehicles … were ambulances and fire trucks”. It condemned “the repeated use” by “terrorist organisations in the Gaza Strip of ambulances for terrorist purposes”.
The incident took place last Sunday in the Tal as-Sultan neighbourhood in the southern city of Rafah, close to the Egyptian border.
Still zero evidence Ambulances were used by "terrorist organizations". Nothing but lies, every time. Same as the WCK murders.
And that doesn't explain the executions and attempt to bury the ambulances.
