Palestinians held funerals last week for 15 medics and emergency responders killed by Israeli troops in southern Gaza, after their bodies and ambulances were found buried in an impromptu mass grave, apparently ploughed over by Israeli military bulldozers.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said the slain workers and their vehicles were clearly marked as medical and humanitarian personnel, and accused Israeli troops of killing them “in cold blood”.
The Israeli military, however, said its troops opened fire on vehicles that approached them “suspiciously” without identification, reports AP.
The dead included eight Red Crescent workers, six members of Gaza’s Civil Defence emergency unit and a staffer from UNRWA, the UN’s agency for Palestinians.
The International Red Cross/Red Crescent said it was the deadliest attack on its personnel in eight years.
The UN said that since the war began 18 months ago, Israel has killed more than 100 Civil Defence workers and more than 1 000 health workers.
The United Nations on Monday demanded “justice and answers” for the killings, with UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher saying: “They were killed by Israeli forces while trying to save lives.”
He added that for days, Israeli forces would not allow access to the site where the emergency teams disappeared, and that on Wednesday, when a UN convoy made another attempt, it encountered Israeli troops opening fire on people.
On Sunday, teams were able to reach the site after the Israeli military informed it where it had buried the bodies.
Footage released by the UN shows workers digging through hills of dirt that appeared to have been piled up by bulldozers, and digging out multiple bodies wearing orange emergency vests.
Some of the bodies are found piled on top of each other, and several ambulances and a UN vehicle, all heavily damaged or torn apart, were also buried in the dirt.
Jonathan Whittall, with the UN humanitarian office OCHA, speaking at the site in the video, said: “We’re digging them out in their uniforms, with their gloves on. They were here to save lives.”
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