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<div class="gmail-inner-article-top"><h1 class="gmail-">Red Crescent recovers bodies of missing paramedics, civil defense workers killed by Israel in Gaza's Rafah</h1><p class="gmail-">Israeli
 forces killed the first responders during an assault and siege on 
Rafah's Tal al-Sultan neighborhood that began eight days ago</p><div class="gmail-another-name"><p><a href="https://thecradle.co/authors/news-desk-9" style="color:rgb(164,4,4)">News Desk</a></p></div><div class="gmail-another-name" style="margin-top:16px"><p><span style="color:rgb(84,88,94)">MAR 30, 2025 - </span><font size="1"><a href="https://thecradle.co/articles/red-crescent-recovers-bodies-of-missing-paramedics-civil-defense-workers-killed-by-israel-in-gazas-rafah">https://thecradle.co/articles/red-crescent-recovers-bodies-of-missing-paramedics-civil-defense-workers-killed-by-israel-in-gazas-rafah</a></font></p></div></div><div class="gmail-inner-article-img"><img src="https://thecradle-main.oss-eu-central-1.aliyuncs.com/public/articles/2c6d3aa4-0d88-11f0-a5ce-00163e02c055.webp" alt="" width="451" height="300" style="margin-right: 0px;"><span>(Photo credit: Reuters)</span></div><div class="gmail-inner-article-content"><div class="gmail-row"><div class="gmail-col-md-8 gmail-col-sm-7"><div class="gmail-article-content"><span class="gmail-article-body"><p><span style="background-color:transparent;color:rgb(14,16,26)">The Palest</span><span style="background-color:transparent">ine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) </span><a href="https://english.wafa.ps/Pages/Details/156011"><span style="background-color:transparent">announced</span></a><span style="background-color:transparent">
 on 30 March the retrieval of the bodies of 14 crew members killed by 
Israeli forces while under siege in Rafah's Tal Al-Sultan neighborhood.</span></p><p><span style="background-color:transparent">Rescuers
 from OCHA, the Red Cross, and the Civil Defense managed to reach the 
neighborhood Sunday to search for the crew members, who had been missing
 for eight days. The bodies of eight PRCS paramedics, five Civil Defense
 crew members, and the body of a UN staffer were successfully retrieved,
 PRCS said in a press release.</span></p><p><span style="background-color:transparent">The
 rescue teams continue to search for other bodies in the neighborhood, 
the statement added. Three PRCS first responders and one Civil Defense 
paramedic remain missing.</span></p><p><span style="background-color:transparent">“The
 Palestine Red Crescent Society was devastated today by the killing of 
eight of its paramedics in Rafah, targeted by the Israeli army while 
performing their humanitarian duties in response to a call to aid the 
wounded and injured following an Israeli strike in the Hashashin area of
 Rafah, Gaza Strip,” the PRCS said in a statement.</span><br>"<span style="background-color:transparent">The ninth paramedic remains missing and is believed to have possibly been detained."</span></p><div class="gmail-twitter-tweet gmail-twitter-tweet-rendered" style="display:flex;max-width:550px;width:100%;margin-top:10px;margin-bottom:10px"></div> <p><span style="background-color:transparent">The
 crew members went missing on 23 March after being mobilized to Tal 
al-Sultan to assist Palestinians injured by Israel's bombing and ground 
assaults—those who managed to escape the onslaught reported executions 
of many Palestinians by Israeli troops.</span></p><p><span style="background-color:transparent">On 29 March, the Israeli military </span><a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/idf-acknowledges-mistakenly-firing-on-ambulances-in-rafah-says-troops-were-targeting-hamas-vehicles/"><span style="background-color:transparent">acknowledged</span></a><span style="background-color:transparent"> attacking ambulances and fire trucks in the Tal al-Sultan neighborhood of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.</span></p><p><span style="background-color:transparent">Officials claim the troops initially opened fire "toward Hamas vehicles." </span><br><span style="background-color:transparent">"A
 few minutes afterward, additional vehicles advanced suspiciously toward
 the troops … The troops responded by firing toward the suspicious 
vehicles, eliminating a number of Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists," 
the army statement reads.</span></p><p><span style="background-color:transparent">"After an initial inquiry, it was determined that some of the suspicious vehicles … were ambulances and fire trucks," it adds.</span></p><p><span style="background-color:transparent">On Friday, PRCS members and UN staff who made it to the site of the massacre </span><a href="https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/palestinian-red-crescent-recovers-paramedic-s-body-in-rafah-8-still-missing/3521968"><span style="background-color:transparent">reported</span></a><span style="background-color:transparent"> finding the body of the mission leader, Anwar Abdel Hamid al-Attar, "in dismembered pieces."</span></p><div class="gmail-twitter-tweet gmail-twitter-tweet-rendered" style="display:flex;max-width:550px;width:100%;margin-top:10px;margin-bottom:10px"></div> <p><span style="background-color:transparent">"Our
 teams found torn safety equipment worn by the crew at the crime scene. 
This suggests the Israeli occupation forces directly targeted the crew 
during their incursion, then deliberately altered the area's features 
and concealed the bodies of some civilians using bulldozers and heavy 
machinery," the PRCS said in a statement.</span></p><p><span style="background-color:transparent">"We
 call on the international community to pressure the occupation 
authorities to reveal the fate of the missing personnel. We also urge 
the international community and the states that are signatories to the 
Geneva Conventions to take serious steps to ensure the protection of 
medical teams," the PRCS said on Saturday.</span></p><p><span style="background-color:transparent">Israel has </span><a href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250329-gaza-death-toll-nears-50300-after-israel-killed-26-more-palestinians/"><span style="background-color:transparent">killed</span></a><span style="background-color:transparent">
 close to 1,000 Palestinians in Gaza since the full resumption of its 
genocidal war on the strip, about half of whom are women and children.</span></p><p><span style="background-color:transparent">Israel unilaterally ended the ceasefire with Hamas in Gaza and renewed its attacks on the strip on 18 March, </span><a href="https://thecradle.co/articles/only-seven-hamas-fighters-named-among-436-palestinians-killed-by-israel-in-historic-18-march-attacks"><span style="background-color:transparent">killing</span></a><span style="background-color:transparent"> over 400 people, the majority women and children, in just one night.</span></p><p><span style="background-color:transparent">OCHA chief Tom Fletcher </span><a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/3/30/palestine-red-crescent-says-missing-gaza-crew-either-dead-or-detained"><span style="background-color:transparent">said</span></a><span style="background-color:transparent">
 that since Israel broke the ceasefire, Israeli air attacks have hit 
"densely populated areas," with "patients killed in their hospital beds,
 ambulances shot at, first responders killed."</span></p></span></div></div></div></div>

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