A quadcopter buzzed overhead, blaring the voice of an Israeli official. It directed assist employees to a mound of sand on the jap facet of the street.
This, the voice indicated, is the place they’d discover their lacking colleagues.
It had been per week since Israeli troopers killed them and buried their our bodies in a mass grave.
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Search crew on the web site of the mass grave in Tel Sultan, Rafah, 30 March. Pic: Planet Labs PBC
Entry to the positioning had solely been granted as soon as earlier than, three days earlier. That dig had turned up a single physique – that of Anwar al Attar, buried beneath the crushed stays of his fireplace engine.
This time, the our bodies turned up in fast succession. One-by-one, they had been lifted from the grave, positioned into white luggage and lined up neatly on the street.
By sundown, 14 extra our bodies had been recovered.
Amongst them had been one UN employee, eight paramedics from Palestine Purple Crescent Society (PRCS) and, together with Attar, six first responders from Civil Defence – the official fireplace and rescue service of Gaza’s Hamas-led authorities.
None had been armed.
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Fifteen assist employees and first responders had been killed by Israeli forces on 15 March
Israel has denied all wrongdoing, saying its troops had purpose to suspect the autos contained Hamas operatives and that they had been later confirmed proper.
Our findings contradict not solely Israel’s preliminary account of the assault, however its subsequent accounts as effectively.
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The search crew retrieves our bodies from the mass grave, 30 March, 2025. Pic: UN
‘I need to do it in an effort to assist folks’
Greater than 400 assist employees have now been killed in Gaza for the reason that warfare started. What set the killings of those 15 aside is that their final moments had been recorded on video.
Two movies, 19 minutes in complete, had been discovered on the telephone of 24-year previous paramedic Rifaat Radwan – one of many males pulled from the mass grave that day.
They present the phobia and chaos of Rifaat’s final moments, and contradict key components of Israel’s narrative.
“My son was very exhausted from this war,” says Rifaat’s mom, Hajjah. “This should not have been his reward.”
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Rifaat Radwan, 24, was killed by Israeli troops whereas on a rescue mission. Pic: Fb
Hajjah remembers the second her son advised her he needed to develop into a paramedic.
It was the evening of his commencement celebration, and all of the visitors had left.
“I want to do it in order to help people,” Rifaat had mentioned.
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Rifaat’s mom, Hajjah, says her son solely needed to assist folks
She known as over Rifaat’s father, Anwar, and Rifaat started by reminding him how, from the age of 5 – 6, he had at all times chased after ambulances on the street.
“This is who Rifaat was,” says Anwar. “He had very beautiful ambitions.”
How Rifaat’s final moments unfolded
Shortly earlier than 5am, Rifaat departed from PRCS’s Rafah headquarters in an ambulance with fellow paramedic Assad al Nsasrah.
The 2 males, together with one other ambulance following behind, had been despatched to seek for three colleagues who had disappeared whereas on a rescue mission.
“They’re lying there, just lying there,” Assad says, because the ambulance involves a cease. “Quick! It looks like an accident.”
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The recognized place of the help employees’ autos on the time the convoy was attacked, based mostly on evaluation of Rifaat’s video
Two different males rush out of the hearth engine. Assad pulls the handbrake inside his ambulance.
Three seconds later, a volley of pictures ring out. Rifaat jumps out of the ambulance, diving for canopy by the facet of the street.
For five-and-a-half minutes, Israeli troops proceed to fireside on the unarmed medics.
As they achieve this, Rifaat recites the Muslim Shahada – a press release of religion typically mentioned earlier than dying.
“Mum, forgive me. This is the path I chose, to help people,” Rifaat says in the direction of the top of the video.
“Get up!” a voice shouts in Hebrew, earlier than the recording abruptly ends.
The audio, shared by PRCS, reveals a 99-second telephone name between the PRCS dispatch centre and Ashraf Abu Labda, one of many paramedics in Saleh Muammar’s ambulance.
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Ashraf Abu Labda was one of many paramedics killed on 23 March. Pic: Fb
PRCS advised us the telephone name was made at 5.13am, round 5 minutes after the assault started and shortly earlier than Rifaat’s name ended.
For the primary 33 seconds, Ashraf is heard reciting the Shahada as heavy gunfire continues.
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A recording from a name made by paramedic Ashraf Abu Labda to the PRCS dispatch centre throughout the assault on 23 March
Unintelligible shouting may be heard within the background, in addition to the prayers of one other assist employee.
Abruptly, the capturing stops and Ashraf falls silent for a number of seconds.
“There’s soldiers, there’s soldiers,” he says because the gunfire resumes. “The army’s at our location.”
These are his final recorded phrases.
Sporadic gunfire continues for the rest of the video. These are interspersed with intervals of near-silence, punctuated solely by unintelligible shouts.
Abruptly, Hebrew is audible. “Come!” the voice shouts. “Come, come, come, come!”
The place is Assad al Nsasrah?
The dispatcher was in a position to efficiently name Saleh Muammar as late as 5.45am, 37 minutes after the assault started, in keeping with Nibal.
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Paramedic Saleh Muammar was alive as late as 5.45am, a PRCS spokesman mentioned. Pic: Fb
The dispatcher reportedly heard heavy gunfire within the background, and Saleh mentioned he was injured. His physique was recovered from the mass grave one week later.
At 5.54am, Nibal says, the dispatch centre managed to get by means of to Assad al Nsasrah – the paramedic who was sitting subsequent to Rifaat in his ambulance.
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PRCS paramedic Assad Al Nsasrah was within the ambulance with Rifaat throughout the assault
“He was scared,” Nibal says. “He was talking about his children – please look after my children, please get me out of here.”
Nibal says the dispatcher stayed on the road with Assad for an hour-and-a-half, calling again every time the sign reduce out.
At round 7am, she says, they heard Assad being arrested by the Israelis. At 7.25am, the dispatcher heard the troopers telling Assad to empty his pockets. Fearing the troopers would discover out he had been recording them, Nibal says, the dispatcher hung up.
It was not till 13 April, three weeks after the assault, that Israel confirmed Assad was alive and in Israeli detention.
No rationalization has been given for his detention, and the Worldwide Committee of the Purple Cross (ICRC) says Israel has refused to permit it to test on his situation.
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Assad Al Nsasrah pictured in PRCS uniform in a photograph printed in 2009. Pic: PRCS
The thriller of the UN official
Just one sufferer stays and not using a title or a face – that of a UN worker who was discovered alongside the 14 assist employees within the mass grave, his car crushed and buried close by.
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The crushed stays of a UN car discovered on the web site of the mass grave. Pic: UN
“We have no reason to believe he was doing anything aside from his job,” the official says.
The UN misplaced contact with him at round 6am, the official says, and later obtained eyewitness reviews that he had been detained, apparently unhurt, by Israeli forces within the space the place the medics had been attacked earlier that morning.
His physique was recovered from the mass grave one week later, on 30 March.
The person’s physique was buried with out present process a autopsy examination, although his household have since given permission for the physique to be exhumed for this goal, the official mentioned.
Israel’s seven key claims – and what the proof says
It was not till 31 March, after the final our bodies had been pulled from the grave, that the Israeli army (IDF) commented on the assault.
Quite a few claims made in that assertion, and in statements since, haven’t stood as much as scrutiny.
IDF declare: The autos had their lights off
What we all know: The autos’ lights had been on
The IDF’s preliminary assertion claimed Israeli troops had opened fireplace on the convoy as a result of it was “advancing suspiciously toward IDF troops without headlights or emergency signals”.
The video taken by Rifaat, which emerged on 4 April, disproved this declare, displaying that each one autos had their lights on. The IDF subsequently retracted the declare, blaming false testimony from the troopers concerned.
The autos are additionally clearly marked within the video with humanitarian symbols, and all employees seem like in uniform.
IDF declare: The autos lacked crucial permissions to journey in a fight zone
What we all know: The realm was not declared a fight zone till four-and-a-half hours after the assault
The IDF has additionally justified the choice to open fireplace by saying the autos had been “uncoordinated” – that means their actions weren’t authorised prematurely by the IDF.
“It was a safe area and does not require coordination,” says Mohammed Abu Mosahba, director of ambulance and emergency companies at PRCS.
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Satellite tv for pc imagery from 10.48am on the day of the incident reveals a lot of autos close to the positioning of the assault, and tracks connecting them with a constructing 1.1km to the west, indicating that that is the place the autos got here from.
A photograph posted by the IDF at 8.25am that morning reveals a soldier and a tank at this constructing. Nonetheless, evaluation of the shadows on the constructing signifies the photograph was taken between 6.30am and seven.00am – effectively after the assaults occurred.
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An Israeli soldier and IDF tank in entrance of an deserted hospital in Rafah, 23 March. Pic: IDF
IDF declare: Israeli troops didn’t fireplace from a detailed distance
What we all know: Some pictures had been fired from as shut as 12m
In a 5 April briefing to journalists, the IDF mentioned there was “no firing from close distance” throughout the incident, and that that is backed up by aerial surveillance footage. The IDF is but to launch this footage.
Dr Ahmed, the pathologist who carried out the autopsy examinations, mentioned his crew had been unable to find out whether or not the pictures had been fired from shut vary as a result of the our bodies arrived in an “advanced state of decomposition”.
IDF declare: The victims didn’t have their fingers or toes tied collectively
What we all know: There isn’t a proof to counsel the victims had been restrained earlier than being killed
Representatives of PRCS and Civil Defence, in addition to a physician who noticed the our bodies, have mentioned that at the least one sufferer was discovered with their fingers or legs tied collectively – claims that Israel has denied.
The tie seems solely on one limb, nevertheless, and sources at Purple Cross and Civil Defence advised us that the white tag seems to be of the sort utilized by emergency employees in Gaza to determine our bodies.
“In one case, there were areas of discolouration around the wrists, which may suggest possible binding. Nevertheless, there was no definitive evidence of restraints in the remaining cases,” he mentioned.
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Dr. Ahmad Dahiar was a physician who wrote the post-mortem report for the our bodies of the useless paramedics, killed within the assault on 23 March
IDF declare: The autos had been crushed by chance as they had been moved off the street
What we all know: The autos had been solely crushed after they’d been moved off the street
The IDF has mentioned the our bodies had been buried in an effort to shield them from wild animals, and that the autos had been crushed inadvertently whereas being moved out of the street. It has not defined why the autos had been buried.
Picture:
A crushed car on the web site of the help employee assault, 30 March. Pic: UN
Satellite tv for pc imagery from the hours after the assault, nevertheless, reveals that by 10.48am 5 autos had already been moved off to the facet of the street however had not but been crushed – straight contradicting the IDF’s account.
IDF declare: The convoy included ‘Hamas terrorists’
What we all know: There isn’t a proof anybody within the convoy was a militant
The IDF says “at least six” of these killed had been “Hamas terrorists”, although it hasn’t alleged that any had been armed.
No proof has been offered to assist this declare, and there aren’t any indications in Rifaat’s video that any of the help employees had been combatants or had ties with Hamas.
The IDF has solely particularly named certainly one of these alleged Hamas operatives, Mohammad Amin Ibrahim Shubaki.
Nonetheless, this individual has not been named as a sufferer of the assault by the UN, PRCS or Civil Defence.
There isn’t a publicly obtainable proof that he had ties to any of those organisations, or to Hamas, or that he’s useless.
IDF declare: The unique ambulance contained three Hamas cops
What we all know: There isn’t a proof any of those three had been militants
The IDF says that each one three folks within the unique ambulance, which Rifaat’s crew had been trying to find, had been “Hamas police”.
No proof has been offered for this declare both. Two of the lads, Mustafa Khalaja and Ezz El-Din Shaat, had been killed, whereas one, Munther Abed, was detained and later launched.
Ezz El-Din was photographed at a hospital sporting a PRCS uniform in October 2023, He was later pictured in February 2024 lifting an injured individual out of a PRCS ambulance in Rafah.
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Ezz El Din Shaat lifting somebody out of a PRCS ambulance in Rafah, February 2024. Pic: AP/Hatem Ali
Mustafa, in the meantime, had extensively documented his paramedic profession on-line in pictures courting again to 2011.
In a single put up, his younger son is pictured on the wheel of a PRCS ambulance. “Mohammed insists on visiting me at work and sharing my working hours with patients,” he wrote.
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Mustafa Khalaja posing along with his son in a PRCS ambulance, June 2016. Pic: Fb
Eyewitness account backs up Sky’s findings
Of all the help employees current that day, just one has been in a position to inform their facet of the story.
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Munther Abed was within the ambulance Rifaat and his colleagues had been trying to find
His story started at 3.52am, when his ambulance was despatched south to the positioning of a reported Israeli assault. 4 minutes later, the dispatch centre misplaced contact with them.
Munther was at the back of the ambulance once they had been hit by what he describes as “heavy gunfire”. He instantly dropped to the ground.
“I did not hear a word from my two colleagues,” he says. “I only heard their final breaths, their throes of death.”
A number of troopers dragged him from the car, he says, and he was stripped, crushed and positioned behind a wall.
At 4.39am, Saleh Muammar’s ambulance was despatched out to seek for the lacking crew. Onboard was Ashraf Abu Labda and one other medic, Raed al Sharif.
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Saleh Muammar (left), Ashraf Abu Labda (centre) and Raed al Sharif had been travelling collectively. Pics: Fb
At 4.53am, they noticed Munthar’s ambulance by the facet of the street. Two extra ambulances, together with Rifaat’s, had been rapidly despatched to hitch the search.
At 5.02am, Rifaat runs into Saleh, and asks if he is aware of the place Munthar’s ambulance is. Saleh tells him it is again the best way he got here. They name for backup from Civil Defence, and head in the direction of the scene of the assault.
At 5.08am, the search convoy arrived. Then the capturing started.
“I was only able to see the red lights flickering of the vehicles, and was able to hear the sound of sirens [and] gunfire,” Munther says.
Throughout his interrogation, the Israeli troopers requested Munther why he was current throughout a army operation. He advised them he wasn’t conscious of any such operation.
It was solely after dawn, he says, when heavy equipment and tanks started to reach, that combating within the space started.
“No, Rafah was fully populated. It was not a red zone or a fighting zone as they claimed.”
His account is in step with Sky’s open-source evaluation above, which discovered no proof for any army operation on the time and placement of the assault.
Munther says he witnessed the crushing of the autos along with his personal eyes, corroborating Sky’s discovering that the autos had been crushed solely after being moved to the facet of the street.
After the heavy equipment arrived at daybreak, Munther says, the Israelis dug a big gap on one facet of the street and a number of other smaller holes on the opposite facet.
“In the large hole, they put all the ambulances and the Civil Defence vehicles,” he says. “The heavy machinery climbed over all the vehicles… then they buried them with some earth.”
Munther’s story
“The torture took different colours,” Munther says. “They released dogs to attack us when we were in holes, moving from one hole to another. They were hitting and tormenting me.”
Throughout one interrogation, Munther says, a soldier positioned his weapon on his neck.
“Another soldier placed a bayonet on my wrist. If he had pressed a bit more he would have cut my veins.”
Munther says that Assad was detained alongside him on the day of the assault.
“He was accompanied by an Israeli officer, and was beaten before being placed next to me,” Munther says.
In direction of the top of his detention, Munther says, he was pressured to behave a “human shield” by transmitting messages between the troops and the crowds of individuals fleeing Rafah.
After performing this process, he was given again his cell phone and launched.
‘All of it factors to a cover-up’
“This looks like a dreadful war crime,” says Sir Geoffrey Good KC, who served as lead prosecutor within the genocide trial of former Serbian chief Slobodan Milosevic at The Hague.
“The [use] of a bulldozer to bury the bodies of the 15 people and their vehicles and the change of official accounts given by Israel all… points to a cover-up.”
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‘Dreadful warfare crime’
Satellite tv for pc imagery reveals that Israeli forces moved rapidly to limit entry to the scene of the assault.
Inside 5 hours, the IDF had arrange street blocks north and south of the positioning.
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Place of IDF roadblocks erected inside hours of the assault, based mostly on satellite tv for pc imagery seen by Sky Information
Sky’s Alex Crawford requested Olmert whether or not the proof pointed to a cover-up. “I don’t know, but I don’t feel comfortable,” he mentioned.
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Ex-Israeli PM Ehud Olmert says proof factors to one thing ‘very disturbing’
In an interview with Sky’s Mark Austin on 8 April, Israeli authorities spokesman David Mencer mentioned the IDF’s investigation can be printed “very, very shortly”.
“We have nothing to hide whatsoever,” he mentioned.
“The preliminary inquiry indicated that the troops opened fire due to a perceived threat following a previous encounter in the area, and that six of the individuals killed in the incident were identified as Hamas terrorists. All the claims raised regarding the incident will be examined through the mechanism and presented in a detailed and thorough manner for a decision on how to handle the event.”
Who’s accountable?
The IDF has not launched particulars of the troopers concerned, however it has mentioned they belong to the elite Golani brigade.
The video beneath, which emerged on 4 April, reveals a Golani Patrol Commander chatting with his troops.
“Everyone you encounter is an enemy,” he tells them. “If you spot a figure, open fire, eliminate, and move on.”
Geoffrey Good says that authorized culpability for the killing of the 15 assist employees might relaxation with the troopers concerned, or with folks increased up the command chain.
“You don’t do at the bottom what you fear will not be supported by people at the top,” he says. “Why would you? The risk is too great.”
When she heard that there had been an Israeli operation in a single day in Rafah, Rifaat’s mom Hajjah wasn’t anxious – she had religion that her son’s standing as a humanitarian employee would shield him.
Her foremost concern was whether or not, throughout all of the inevitable call-outs, he would have time to eat or drink.
“We did not fear for his safety at all.”
Further reporting by Olive Enokido-Lineham, OSINT producer, Mary Poynter, producer, and Adam Parker, OSINT editor.
