Rafah paramedic massacre
| Rafah paramedic massacre | |
|---|---|
| Part of the March 2025 Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip during the Gaza war | |
A frame from the video published by the NYT, showing the marked ambulances and personnel | |
| Location | 31°17′48.5″N 34°14′36.6″E Rafah, Gaza Strip, Palestine |
| Date | 23 March 2025 |
| Target | Aid workers (Palestine Red Crescent Society, Gaza Civil Defence, UNRWA) |
Attack type | Extrajudicial killings, summary execution, execution by shooting, massacre, war crime, mass burial, torture, cover-up |
| Deaths | 15 Palestinian aid workers |
| Injured | 2 captured and tortured |
| Perpetrators | Israel Defense Forces |
| Part of a series on the |
| Gaza genocide |
|---|
On 23 March 2025, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) attacked several humanitarian vehicles, including five ambulances, a fire truck, and a United Nations vehicle, in Al-Hashashin area in southern Rafah, Gaza Strip. The massacre resulted in the deaths of 15 aid workers, including eight members of the Palestine Red Crescent Society, five civil defense, and one UN agency employee. It was not until 30 March that most of the missing bodies were retrieved from a mass grave in Rafah, although one ambulance officer who was initially declared missing was kept under Israeli custody.
Initially, the IDF said they had targeted the convoy after it had approached without its lights. However, video footage uncovered from the phone of one of the victims contradicted the IDF's statements. Two survivors were detained and stated they were assaulted by the IDF. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) condemned the attacks, stating that they were the "single most deadly" for its workers in almost a decade.