Days after the United Nations accused Israel of killing 15 humanitarian workers in Gaza, the officials who recovered the bodies or made the autopsies said that some of the rescue were affected several times before being buried in a mass tomb.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society, which had eight of its killed members and built the recovery mission, said that almost all 15 bodies showed firearms wounds, according to a spokesperson, Nebal Farsakh. A paramedical was found with her hands and feet related to her body, said Mrs. Farsakh.
“My colleagues were affected; the bodies that were recovered, many of them have multiple arms shots. We have all found thrown into a mass tomb, the bodies were put next to each other and covered with sand,” said Mrs. Farsakh in a Ramallah’s telephone interview.
The death of social workers, who disappeared for the first time on March 23, have taken an international sentence in the last few days.
On that day, in the southern city of Gaza of Rafah, the ambulances and a United Nations vehicle attacked the Israeli military, then they kept silent. Sunday, the rescue teams found 15 bodies, most in a shallow tomb with their crushed ambulances and the vehicle marked with the United Nations logo. The United Nations, which are typically cautious in assigning the fault, accused Israel of killing them.
An Israeli military spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani, told X Monday that nine of those killed were Palestinian militants. He said that the Israeli forces “did not randomly attacked” an ambulance, but that several vehicles “were identified by advancing suspiciously” without headlights or emergency signs towards Israeli troops, pushing them to shoot.
“When Hamas’ terrorists operate in active combat areas – while using humanitarian vehicles as a coverage, launching rockets from hospitals and stealing aid – Israel will do everything you need to protect his soldiers and citizens,” said Jonathan Harow
Dr. Ahmad Dhair, a forensic expert at the Nasser hospital in the city of Gaza in Khan Youunis, examined five bodies belonging to humanitarian workers on Monday. In a telephone interview he said he had found multiple bullet wounds in four bodies and some appeared affected at close range. The fifth was decomposed beyond recognition, said dr. Dhair.
He plans to examine the rest of the bodies on Thursday. One of the four had bruises on the wrist with linear signs on the skin, said dr. Dhair, adding that further investigations were needed to determine if one of the victims had been linked.
“Some of them were hit in the head from behind,” said dr. Dhair. He said he had also seen a gun wounds in the bust and chest, adding that the shoulder and elbow joints were also targeted.
The evaluation of Dr. Dhair was reported for the first time in the Guardian.
Two high officials of the United Nations and a high official of the International Federation of the Red Cross and the Crescent Red companies confirmed that they had seen relations from colleagues on the ground that took part in the recovery mission that indicated that the humanitarian workers had been affected. The officials asked not to be appointed because they were not authorized to comment publicly.
On Wednesday, the United Nations in New York also provided more details on what happened on March 23, stating that the attack was a serious violation of the laws that protected humanitarian operators in the conflict areas. The organization requested an independent investigation.
Jonathan Whittall, head of the United Nations Humanitarian Agency for the Palestinian territories, said that all the paramedics, the members of the Palestine Red Crescent Society and the civil defense, still wore their uniforms and gloves when they were found. They had traveled in marked vehicles and had not represented a threat to anyone, he added.
“They were shipped to Rafah while the Israeli forces were putting in the area. The ambulances were hit one by one while they advanced, while they entered Rafah,” said Whittall, who participated in the rescue operation and was among the team that found the bodies.
Mrs. Farsakh said that humanitarian workers did not transport weapons and had been sent to help the injured civilians captured in the Israeli strikes.
There is still a member of Palestine Red Crescent Society. And another, who was riding in the first ambulance, was held by the Israeli army and subsequently released, said Mrs. Farsakh. He said that Israel sprayed the ambulances with heavy shots and two of his colleagues sitting in the front were killed, said Mrs. Farsakh.
Mrs. Farsakh said that in addition to their discoveries on the field and testimonies of the witnesses indicating that Israel killed the social workers, one of the paramedics in an ambulance called the shipping center while under attack, reporting that the Israeli military had opened fire on their convoy and everyone was injured.