The results of an investigation into the Israeli military shooting and killing of 15 emergency workers in Gaza are published, with some shot just a few meters away
On March 23, 2025, Israeli forces opened fire on an emergency vehicle carrying out humanitarian aid near Rafah in the southern
Israeli-Executions-of-Palestinian-Aid-Workers.pdf
(PDF file) https://content.forensic-architecture.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Israeli-Executions-of-Palestinian-Aid-Workers.pdf
Israeli Soldiers Killed Gaza Aid Workers at Point Blank Range in 2025 Massacre: Report
https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/israeli-soldiers-tel-sultan-gaza-red-crescent-civil-defense-massacre-report-forensic-architecture-earshot
On March 23, 2025, 15 aid workers and UN personnel from the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, part of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies , were killed in Israeli gunfire near Rafah.
When the body of one of those killed was discovered on March 27, and three days later the remaining bodies were discovered in a nearby mass grave, the Israeli military explained that it had attacked several vehicles that had not been flashing their headlights or flashing lights because they were approaching the Israeli military with suspicious behavior. However, a few days later, when video footage of the victims' moments before their deaths was released, the Israeli military retracted its claim that the vehicles had not been flashing their flashing lights. In April, it announced the results of an investigation that acknowledged 'several professional failures' and dismissed the deputy commander in charge of the incident, but did not pursue criminal charges against the units involved.
Israeli military admits mistake in killing 15 Gaza ambulance workers, dismisses deputy commander | Reuters
https://jp.reuters.com/world/security/5YO4NZKKZBMTDE4EVRM5RH6I54-2025-04-20/
Independent investigators Earshot and Forensic Architecture have reconstructed the events of the incident using video and audio footage taken by the victims, open-source images, social media posts, and interviews with two survivors of the attack.
According to the investigation, the Palestinian People's Liberation Army dispatched two ambulances from different areas to the site of an Israeli airstrike at 3:52 a.m. on March 23. One of the ambulances was hit by Israeli gunfire while traveling on the Gush Katif road just before 4 a.m., despite having its rotating lights on.
The vehicle crashed into a utility pole and came to a stop, killing two of its occupants, Mustafa Khafaja and Ezz El-Din Shaat. Munter Abed, a member of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society who was sitting in the back seat, survived, but was taken away by Israeli forces, beaten, and imprisoned in a nearby hole. Another Palestinian father and son were also imprisoned in the same place. The Israeli military then positioned soldiers to ambush them behind a concrete structure about 38-48 meters southeast of the ambulance in which Abed and his companions were riding.
After completing their mission, the ambulance dispatched to the site of the airstrike headed off to search for Abed's ambulance, which had lost contact with the group. The search was also accompanied by a Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance and a fire engine, and all five vehicles were clearly marked and had their rotating lights on.
At 5:09 AM, aid workers spotted the ambulance carrying Abed and his companions, stopped it, and approached it on foot. At this point, Israeli forces lying in wait on high ground opened fire. The diagram below recreates the location of the second shooting. The scene had excellent visibility, and even in the dark, it would have been difficult to miss the rotating beacon.
The circumstances of the shooting were revealed in a video taken by Refaat Radwan, a Palestinian aid worker for the Red Heart of the Moon, and in an audio recording of a phone call made by Ashraf Abu Libda, also of the Palestinian Red Heart of the Moon, at 5:13 a.m., just before his death.
The Israeli military continued firing at the emergency vehicles for about four minutes, advancing at a speed of about one meter per second to approach the aid workers. Naturally, the aid workers did not fire their guns, so they were able to approach the vehicles without any problems, and then they walked between the ambulances and fire engines, shooting and killing them at close range.
An examination of Abu Libda's audio recording reveals that at least eight shots were fired at close range between emergency vehicles, with the final shot coming from between one and four meters away from Abu Libda. The final shot, after which Abu Libda's voice cuts off, suggests this was the shot that killed him.
'The investigation determined that at least 844 shots were fired in just five and a half minutes, with at least 93% of those shots aimed at emergency vehicles. Audio-based ballistic analysis confirmed that at least five, and possibly more, soldiers were firing simultaneously. Survivors Abed and Asad al-Nassra testified that between 12 and 30 soldiers were at the scene.'
At around 6 a.m., more than two hours after the attack on Abed's ambulance, a clearly marked UN vehicle passed by the scene. Israeli forces also opened fire on the vehicle, killing its driver. A few minutes later, another UN vehicle passing by was also shot at 200 meters away, but the driver managed to abandon the vehicle and escape.
It is also known that after the series of attacks, the Israeli military used heavy machinery to crush eight vehicles left at the site and attempted to bury them under sand. The photo below shows the remains of a crushed UN vehicle found alongside the bodies of the victims.
Katherine Gallagher, a senior staff attorney at the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights , argued that the military has a positive obligation to protect those who clearly identify themselves as medical personnel, and that the Israeli military's preemptive strikes, even if suspected of being hostile, are therefore a clear violation of international humanitarian law .
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