Key points
- Bodies of 15 humanitarian workers in Gaza have been found.
- UN officials say that the bodies were discarded in “shallow tomb.”
- Israel says that he killed Hamas members and Islamic Jihad.
The bodies of eight doctors in the red crescent and other Palestinian rescue workers who were criticized more than a week ago were recovered from a grave in the sand in the south of the Gaza Strip, UN officials said.
Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN Agency for Palestinian refugees, said on the social networks X on Monday that the bodies had been “discarded in shallow tombs, a deep violation of human dignity.”
In a statement on Sunday night, the International Red Cross Committee said it was “horrified” by deaths.
“Their bodies were identified today and have recovered for the dignified burial. These staff and volunteers were risking their own lives to provide support to others,” he said.
The International Federation of Red Cross societies and Red Crescent said that a worker from the Network Crescent group of nine people was not yet into account.
He did not immediately comment on the details of the site where the bodies were found.
The group disappeared on March 23, after Israel resumed a total offensive in Gaza earlier this month.
The Palestine Red Crescent said that he also recovered the bodies of six civil defense members and an UN employee from the same area.
He said that Israeli forces had attacked workers.
Red Cross statements were not distributed by attacks.
Due to security concerns, the UN is reducing its international staff in Gaza in a third. Fountain: Getty / ABDALLAH FS ALATTAR / ANATOLIA
The Israeli army said Monday that an investigation had found that on March 23, the troops opened fire against a group of vehicles that included ambulances and fire trucks when the vehicles approached a position without prior coordination and without headlights or emergency signs.
He said that several militants belonging to the militant groups Hamas and the Islamic Jihad were killed.
Jonathan Whittall, Chief of Gaza of the UN Office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs, described the site where the bodies were found as a “mass tomb”, saying that it had been marked with the emergency light of an ambulance crushed.
His comments on X were accompanied by images of half -red half -medium teams digging in the sand for the bodies next to a shattered fire truck and a UN vehicle.
Israel’s army did not comment directly on the death of the red crescent workers.
In a subsequent statement to the Reuters news agency, he added that he had facilitated the evacuation of the bodies of the area, which he described as an active combat zone.
He did not specifically answer the questions about why the bodies recovered under the sand or why the vehicles were found crushed.
Lazzarini said the deaths brought the total number of humanitarian workers killed from the beginning of the Israel-Ahamas War in Gaza to 408.
The incident was the most fatal attack against Crescent workers of the Red Cross anywhere since 2017, said the IFFRC.
“I am disconsolate. These dedicated ambulance workers were responding to injured people. They were humanitarian,” said IFFRC general Jagan Chapagin.
“They carried emblems that should have protected them; their ambulances were clearly marked,” he added.
According to the United Nations, at least 1,060 health workers have been killed in the 18 months since Israel launched its offensive in Gaza after Hamas assaulted southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
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