Despite witnessing 18 months of an ongoing genocide against the people of Palestine, the recent attack on first responders remains chilling. The callous brutality of these executions leaves no question about the intentionality of the Israeli military in what can only be described as the deliberate execution of healthcare workers while they were carrying out their duties in the service of humanity. On the 21st of March 2025, a joint rescue mission was undertaken between Palestinian Red Crescent, Palestinian Civil Defence and the United Nations in southern Gaza.
They were responding to a distress call for assistance by the victims of Israeli shelling and assisting a crew member who was injured by the original attack.
After their emergency response vehicles reportedly were targeted by heavy fire, communications were lost with the mission crew. This prompted an agonising search and rescue effort, which was delayed by Israeli authorities for 8 days before finally producing grisly and tragic findings : 14 crew members buried with their clearly marked response vehicles, killed with gun shots to the head and chest, while wearing their uniforms, some still wearing gloves suggesting they were involved with patient care when attacked. It is reported that one crew member had been decapitated before being buried in a mass grave. Others were found to be buried in limb restraints and there is evidence to support the claim that some rescue workers were still alive while they were buried. Preliminary forensic investigations suggest that they were witnesses to a larger massacre before being executed themselves. A further unidentified body was later found to be that of a UN aid worker.
This appalling crime has been denied by the IDF whose official statement claims that the rescue workers were targeted due to ‘suspicious activity’ and could not be identified as medics. Officially verified video evidence recovered from one of the slain medics clearly shows that they were in vehicles marked with official identification, with emergency lights in operation and they were wearing full uniform and clearly visible as first responders.This evidence once again brings into question the veracity of the IDF claims.
It would be a disservice to the memory of the many healthcare and humanitarian workers who have been killed in the last 18 months to say that this incident is an isolated anomaly.
Over 1400 healthcare workers have been killed by Israeli forces in this period, 362 healthcare workers have been detained without charge or trial, some taken whilst performing their duties.
At least 3 Palestinian doctors have been tortured to death in Israeli detention centres.
Over 142 ambulances have been attacked by Israeli forces, all clearly marked and most following deconfliction protocols meant to ensure their safe passage and the safety of their patients.
As South African healthcare workers, we are sadly also familiar with the unsafe working conditions faced by our own emergency responders, on our own streets, every day. Those responding to the distress of others should never be required to put their own lives on the line every time they provide assistance. The World Health Organisation has recently expressed grave concern that attacks on healthcare and humanitarian aid workers have increased in the last 2 years. We should all be cognisant of the implication that healthcare workers everywhere will be exposed to more risk if this trajectory continues uninterrupted.
Reports from the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OHCA), the International Red Cross and Red Crescent, Amnesty International and dozens of human rights organisations have condemned the attack as being an unacceptable and egregious breach of humanitarian law. We support their call for a prompt independent investigation into this crime and demand that the perpetrators be held to account.
The only beneficiaries of our continued silence on this matter are the perpetrators of these crimes, whose impunity is further emboldened with every passing day.
Healthcare workers are not a target.
The provision of healthcare is not a crime.
Our support for the universal application of international humanitarian law to protect our colleagues and patients everywhere remains unequivocal.
HCW4P South Africa
Inquiries : info@hcw4palestine.org.za Farzana Araie Sterne 0832647762
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