The world has been shocked by the discovery of the bodies of more than a dozen volunteer workers in southern Gaza, with the United Nations describing the discovery as a "mass grave", a week after they disappeared following attacks by Israeli forces.
Eight of the 14 bodies recovered from the southern Rafah area were identified as members of the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS), five as civil defense workers and one as a UN agency worker. Meanwhile, a Red Crescent doctor remains missing, CNN reports.
The body of a fifteenth person, a civil defense worker, was recovered from the scene last Thursday, after the Red Crescent said they were initially denied access to the area, A2 writes.
In response to the initial incident, the Israeli military said it had fired on ambulances and fire trucks because they were being used as shields by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad militants.
“Health workers should never be targets. Here we are, digging a mass grave. Seven days ago, Civil Protection and Red Crescent ambulances arrived in the area. One by one they were hit, they were destroyed. Their bodies were placed in a mass grave. We are exhuming them and they appear in their uniforms and gloves. They were here to save lives, but they ended up in a mass grave,” said Jonathan Whittall, Director of the UN Office for Humanitarian Aid.
According to the UN, at least 1,060 healthcare workers have been killed in the eighteen months since Israel began its offensive in Gaza after Hamas fighters attacked southern Israel on October 7, 2023. Hamas killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli data. (A2 Televizion)
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