Israel yet to specify where it is holding missing Palestinian paramedic
The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has been able to verify that its missing medic, Assad al-Nsasrah, is in fact alive and he’s being detained by Israel.
There was an eyewitness who saw al-Nsasrah, who is 47 years old, being stripped by Israeli soldiers and taken blindfolded. That happened on the night when Israeli soldiers gunned down 15 paramedics and emergency workers in Rafah who were responding to a distress call from civilians under attack.
The soldiers then buried the victims in a shallow grave and lied about how the incident actually happened.
But they didn’t talk about the fate of that one missing medic. The family can now take comfort in knowing that he’s alive, even though they don’t know in which facility he’s being held.
This is reflective of the story of thousands of Palestinians who’ve been disappeared since October 2023. Israel has taken in thousands of Palestinians, men, women and children, and refuses to give out any information about if they are alive or dead. Three Palestine Red Crescent Society medics and volunteers remain missing. Disappeared.
The society knows nothing about their whereabouts or their fate.
Who is Assad Al-Nsasrah?
Here’s what we know about the Palestinian paramedic being held by Israeli authorities. The 47-year-old is one of two people who survived the Israeli attack that killed 15 emergency workers on March 23. The other survivor, Munther Abed, said at the time that he had seen Al-Nsasrah being captured, bound and taken away.
The father of six last spoke to his family on the evening he disappeared, telling them he was on his way to the Palestinian Red Crescent (PRCS) headquarters to break his Ramadan fast with his colleagues, according to his son Mohamed.
When the family tried to call him at about dawn the next day, he didn’t respond, and they found out from headquarters that nobody could reach him or the other emergency workers.
Al-Nsasrah had always warned his family that whenever he headed out on a mission, he may not make it back, his son said. But as he continued his rescue work for PRCS, they had always tried to avoid thinking about that.
His colleague Ibrahim Abu al-Kass told Al Jazeera that Al-Nsasrah always carried sweets to offer to children to encourage them to play somewhere safe, not in the middle of the road.
🚨Urgent: We have been informed by the International Committee of the Red Cross that PRCS medic Assad Al-Nsasrah is being held by the Israeli occupation authorities. His fate had remained unknown since he was targeted along with other PRCS medics in #Rafah.
📢We call on the… pic.twitter.com/l0oOxujS8G
— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) April 13, 2025
