March 2025 Rafah humanitarian convoy attacks

March 2025 Rafah humanitarian convoy attacks
Part of the March 2025 Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip during the Gaza war and the Gaza genocide
Rafah
Location	Rafah, Gaza Strip
Date	23 March 2025
Attack type	Mass shooting, massacre, war crime, mass burial
Deaths	15 Palestinian medics
Perpetrators	Israel Defense Forces

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 attack resulted in the deaths of at least 15 aid workers, including eight members of the Palestinian Red Cross 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 remains missing. 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.

Background

Main article: March 2025 Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip

On 18 March 2025, Israel launched a surprise attack on the Gaza Strip, effectively ending the 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," which it said were "advancing suspiciously" without headlights or emergency signals. It claimed that the vehicles were being used as cover by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. It alleged that among those killed were a Hamas operative and "eight other terrorists," without providing evidence. The humanitarian vehicles were "crushed and dumped, covered in sand," 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.

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.

A witness who survived the Israeli attack challenged the Israeli narrative that the vehicles did not have headlights on, stating that "Everything tells you it's an ambulance vehicle that belongs to the Palestinian Red Crescent. All lights were on until the vehicle came under direct fire." He added that Israel's claim that Hamas used the ambulances was "utterly untrue" and that "All crews are civilian."

Casualties

The IFRC identified its missing workers as ambulance officers Mostafa Khufaga, Saleh Muamer, and Ezzedine Shaath, and first responder volunteers Mohammad Bahloul, Mohammed al-Heila, Ashraf Abu Labda, Raed al-Sharif, and Rifatt Radwan, adding that ambulance officer Assad al-Nassasra was still missing. According to the UN, the killed Palestinian medics were buried by Israeli troops.

Rescue operation

From 23 March to 30 March, a "complex, week-long rescue operation" took place involving bulldozers and heavy machinery to search for the buried bodies left under the sand and debris, while emergency responders used shovels to dig through the dirt. The rescue operation was complicated by the IDF's refusal to cooperate with the Red Crescent, OCHA, and the UN, denying them entry. On 27 March, the body of a civil defense worker was recovered, and fourteen more were recovered on 30 March. One medic belonging to the PRCS remains missing.

None of the names reported to have been recovered from the mass grave match the names of "terrorists" the IDF claimed to have eliminated, and one recovered body had his hands bound.

Reactions

• Israel: The IDF claimed that its troops had fired on the humanitarian vehicles as they were "advancing suspiciously," and added that "it was determined that the forces had eliminated a Hamas military operative, Mohammad Amin Ibrahim Shubaki, along with eight other terrorists from Hamas and the PIJ."
• United States: The U.S. said that it expects "all parties on the ground" in Gaza to comply with international humanitarian law, although it refused to confirm whether it is conducting its own assessment into the incident. U.S. State Department Spokeswoman Tammy Bruce claimed that "every single thing that happens in Gaza is happening because of Hamas."
• International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies: The IFRC condemned the attacks, calling them the "single most deadly" for its workers in almost a decade. It also said in a statement on 30 March that the eight bodies of its workers were retrieved "after seven days of silence and having access denied to the area of Rafah where they were last seen."
  • Palestinian Red Cross Society: The PRCS called targeting of its workers a war crime and stated that "This massacre of our team is a tragedy not only for us at the Palestine Red Crescent Society, but also for humanitarian work and humanity."

• United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs: During the rescue operations, the head of OCHA in the occupied Palestinian territories, Jonathan Whittall, stated that "Health workers should never be a target. And yet, we’re here today, digging up a mass grave of first responders and paramedics."
• United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East: The head of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, said that the UN staff member killed was one of its employees and that the mass burial of the bodies in "shallow graves" constitutes "a profound violation of human dignity."
• Amnesty International: Spokesman for the occupied Palestinian territories, Mohamed Duar, said "Despite their protected status under the Geneva Conventions and International Humanitarian Law, Israeli Forces continue to target healthcare workers... Ambulances and hospitals continue to come under fire and be destroyed."