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 spokesperson Nadav Shoshani stated that the IDF had targeted the convoy when "several uncoordinated vehicles were identified advancing suspiciously toward IDF troops without headlights or emergency signals". 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. All the murdered medical and civil defence workers were found wearing identifying uniforms or volunteer vests of their respective organisations.
Background
On 18 March 2025, Israel launched a surprise attack on the Gaza Strip, effectively ending the January 2025 Gaza war ceasefire and resuming the Gaza war. Israel's missile and artillery attack killed more than 400 Palestinians, including 263 women and children, making it one of the deadliest in the Gaza war.
Attacks On 23 March 2025, the IDF fired on five ambulances and a fire truck "one by one." The humanitarian vehicles were "crushed and dumped, covered in sand" in an apparent attempt to cover up the killings, while the aid workers, wearing uniforms, were left missing in a mass grave for eight days. The ambulances were initially dispatched to the Al-Hashashin area in response to casualties caused by Israeli attacks on the area, before being surrounded by Israeli troops and losing contact with dispatchers. The paramedics that went to search for them were killed and wounded. According to forensic analyst Ahmad Dhaher who examined five of the bodies, the aid workers were killed at close-range in execution-style killings, with "specific and intentional" bullet wounds in heads and hearts. Relatives of the victims described various signs of abuse. One relative noted marks on a victim's wrists from restraint and broken fingers, while another mentioned multiple gunshot wounds to the chest and wrist. Two witnesses also reported that some victims had their hands or feet bound. A video recording discovered on a cellphone of one of the medics contradicts Israel's narrative of the incident, showing the ambulances and fire truck clearly marked with their emergency lights on as Israeli troops hit them with a barrage of gunfire, killing all the medics. In the video, a paramedic recited the Shahada, and added, "Forgive me, Mom, forgive me. I swear I only chose this path to help others." The paramedic was later found in the mass grave with a bullet in his head. The New York Times analyzed satellite imagery that showed Israeli forces bulldozing the site after the attack. Following the release of the video recording, Israel changed its account of the incident, admitting that its soldiers have "made mistakes." The massacre was carried out by soldiers from the Golani Brigade. At the moment of the killings, they were acting under the command of Brig Gen Yehuda Vach, who has a history of establishing "kill zones" in Gaza where civilians are killed and of telling his subordinates that "there are no innocents in Gaza." Also present at the site were field operatives from Unit 504, a military intelligence unit with a reputation for cruelty and acts of torture.
Survivors' accounts Two Palestinian first responders survived the attack on the emergency vehicle convoy.
Munther Abed Munther Abed, a 27-year-old volunteer with the Red Crescent since he was 18, was in the first ambulance to arrive at the scene of an airstrike in Rafah's Hashashin district when it came under Israeli gunfire. Abed survived by throwing himself to the floor, while his two colleagues in the front were killed. After being captured by Israeli soldiers, Abed described his treatment: "I was completely stripped, left only in my underwear, and my hands were bound behind my back," he recalled. "They threw me to the ground, and the interrogation began. I endured severe torture, including beatings, insults, threats of death, and suffocation when one soldier pressed a rifle against my neck. Another soldier held a dagger to my left shoulder." During his detention, he witnessed other rescue vehicles, including ambulances and fire trucks, being ambushed by Israeli forces. He also saw a bulldozer and excavator arrive to dig a pit where the vehicles and bodies were buried. Abed stated that a Red Crescent ambulance officer, Assad al-Nassara, who remains missing, was alive in Israeli detention near the scene of the killings. Abed stated that the ambulance was marked with lights on and the Red Crescent logo visible as they headed to the site. While the IDF described the area as a war zone, Abed asserted that Hashashin was a civilian area where daily life was ongoing, not a designated combat zone. He also rejected Israel's claim that Hamas had used ambulances, calling it "utterly untrue" and reaffirming that all the crews involved were civilians. Abed was forced to help Israeli soldiers in the vetting and photographing of local residents, who were ordered to leave the area and move to al-Mawasi. He was released in the evening and given back his watch and underwear but not his identity card, paramedic uniform, or shoes. Abed was instructed to walk toward al-Mawasi and was eventually able to flag down a passing Red Crescent vehicle for assistance.
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