In a series of deadly shootings, starting in the early hours of Sunday, March 23, 2025, and continuing until at least 5:45 a.m. that morning, eight Palestinian paramedics and an UNRWA employee were allegedly shot dead by Israeli forces in the Al-Hashashin area in the Tal al-Sultan neighborhood of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip; two remaining paramedics were arrested by the Israeli military.

All but one of the victims represented the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS), with the other being an employee of the United Nations. The shooting occurred after a number of PRCS ambulances were reportedly besieged by the Israeli military. The deceased were buried in sand, as were the remnants of their vehicles.  The victims’ bodies were found on March 30, 2025, after a week of search efforts.

Six additional paramedics sent to help the PRCS employees detailed in this incident were also reportedly shot and killed by Israeli forces. Airwars has documented their deaths in ISPT230325za. In total, a report by Earshot and Forensic Architecture titled 'Israeli Executions of Palestinian Aid Workers and Efforts to Conceal Evidence: Tel al-Sultan, Gaza Strip, 23 March 2025,' concluded that “Israeli soldiers ambushed and subjected Palestinian aid workers to continuous assault by gunfire for over two hours, between 5:09 [a.m.] and 7:13 [a.m.]”

Israeli officials claimed that both incidents targeted Hamas militants, though no evidence of militancy among the victims was found in sources reviewed. According to Earshot and Forensic Architecture, “There was no exchange of fire in the area, and no tangible threat to the safety of those soldiers. These attacks did not happen in ‘a hostile and dangerous combat zone’, as was claimed by Israeli spokespersons.” 

While the IDF later dismissed the deputy commander responsible for inaccurate reporting after inconsistencies were publicly exposed, the military did not admit to wrongdoing in relation to the killings detailed in this incident.

As the IDF military admitted the strike and the civilian harm resulting from it – even only partly – Airwars has graded the incident’s strike status as “declared” and civilian harm status as “confirmed.”

Timeline of attack

According to a Sky News report, the first ambulance set out around 3:52 a.m. to evacuate Palestinian civilians wounded by Israeli shelling in the Al-Hashashin area of Rafah. Four minutes later, at 3:56 a.m, the PRCS lost contact. Earshot and Forensic Architecture  determined that this ambulance had "departed from the British Field Hospital, west of Rafah." It was driven by 50-year-old Mustafa Khafaga, with 51-year-old Ezz El-Din Ahmed Shaath in the passenger seat and their 27-year-old colleague, Munther Abed, also in the vehicle.

According to Earshot and Forensic Architecture, "the ambulance team lost contact with PRCS headquarters while driving south towards Tel al-Sultan, with its internal and external emergency lights on, and all crew members wearing official uniforms or volunteer vests. It was later discovered that, [this ambulance] had come under direct fire near Tel al-Sultan, in [...] a stretch along Gush Katif Road."

At around 4:00 a.m., Mustafa and Ezz El-Din were killed. They were survived by their colleague, Munther, who was reportedly detained and interrogated by Israeli soldiers but was later released. 

In an interview with Earshot and Forensic Architecture, survivor Munther explained, “As we were travelling, we were suddenly struck by intense gunfire.” He also stated that “‘The ambulance stopped due to the intensity of the gunfire… you could smell the burning of the engine [which was] on fire because of the shooting. When the shooting started, everything in the ambulance went out. The lights, the sound of the motor, everything.”

Watan News, Sky News and others reported that 42-year-old PRCS paramedic Saleh Muammar also responded to the initial call about injuries in the Al-Hashashin area. According to Earshot and Forensic Architecture, Saleh and his crew initially set out from "the PRCS headquarters in Khirbet al-Adas, east of Rafah." Having assessed the destruction at the strike site to which they were dispatched, Saleh called for backup, evacuated the wounded, and returned to base. Then, he learned that the ambulance led by his colleague, Mustafa Khafaja, had lost radio contact. Before sunrise, at 4:35 a.m., Saleh “was dispatched towards the British Field Hospital to search for the ambulance carrying Mustafa and Ez El-Din and encountered the abandoned vehicle in sand dunes known locally as Al-Hashashin at 4:39 a.m. On board with Saleh were 32-year-old Ashraf Abu Labda and 25-year-old Raed al Sharif. All three were later killed.

Saleh organized a rescue convoy of multiple Red Crescent ambulances, a fire truck, and a UN vehicle. According to Sky News, shortly before 5:00 a.m., an ambulance carrying 24-year-old Refaat Radwan and 47-year-old Assad al-Nassassrah departed from PRCS’s Rafah headquarters to search for their three colleagues in the first ambulance. This team was followed by another ambulance carrying 36-year-old Mohamed Sobhi Bahloul and 23-year-old Mohamed Hassan al-Hila.

A video filmed by Refaat on his mobile phone and documented by Sky News provided further clarity. Starting at 4:55 a.m., he was seen driving through dark streets, maneuvering around the rubble of destroyed buildings. “I feel like I’m suffocating,” Refaat reportedly told Assad. “Mate, I am calling them on their mobiles, no answer.” At 5:00 a.m., they drove past the missing ambulance but did not notice it. There were reportedly no roadblocks, checkpoints, or any other signs that the area had become a combat zone.

At 5:02 a.m., they spotted an ambulance heading in the opposite direction. It was their colleague, Saleh Muammar. When they asked Saleh if he knew where the missing ambulance was, he was shocked. “What do you mean you didn’t see the ambulance? I myself saw the leg of one of them under the ambulance.” After speaking to Saleh, Refaat and Assad turned around. As they set off again, Assad told Refaat to put away the camera, but Refaat was clear: “These moments need to be documented.”

At 5:07 a.m., Refaat and Assad were overtaken by a Civil Defense fire engine, which was also searching for the missing ambulance.

At 5:08 a.m., they reached the site and saw the bodies of the missing paramedics. According to an Al Jazeera report, Refaat first noticed the dead paramedics – “They’re scattered on the ground! Look, look!” – and ran out of the vehicle with other medics towards his deceased colleagues. Sky News attributed these words to Assad.

In the video, two paramedics could be seen running towards the missing ambulance from the fire engine; bullets from Israeli soldiers were audible. After this, the video imagery went dark, but the audio recording continued for another five minutes. Refaat was heard repeatedly reciting the “shahada,” a prayer that Muslims recite when facing death. He said he knew that he was going to die. At 5:15 a.m., Refaat could be heard wishing for his mother: “Forgive me mom, this is the path I chose – to help people.” The recording also captured other voices from the convoy, along with Hebrew commands being shouted in the background; the exact words were unclear.

In an interview with Earshot and Forensic Architecture, Munther Abed, the survivor from the first ambulance who was subsequently arrested by Israeli forces, explained that he and two other detainees - a father and son - were taken “further away from the road to an elevated area behind a tall concrete structure, where a further group of soldiers was positioned.” It was from this location that he witnessed the ambush of the rescue convoy. Munther explained that “The only thing I could make out were the lights of the ambulances. I was lying down flat, and [the Israeli forces] put an M16 rifle on my back. I was surrounded by soldiers. When the cars arrived, they got orders to fire from above my back, directly at the convoy. My face was facing the other way entirely. We stayed on the ground, and they put M16s on our backs. The soldier behind me was giving the orders. While they were kneeling with their guns, they opened fire all together - it was intense.”

According to the detailed investigation by Sky News, at 5:10 a.m., Saleh called dispatch and told them that they were under attack. Three minutes later, his colleague, Ashraf Abu Labda, also in the ambulance, called the dispatch center as the convoy came under fire. An audio recording of the 99-second call, obtained by CNN and Sky News, captured him repeating the “shahada.”. For the first 33 seconds, punctuated by heavy gunfire, Ashraf could be heard praying. Suddenly, the shooting stopped, and Ashraf fell silent for several seconds. His last words captured by the call were foreboding: “There are soldiers, there are soldiers here.” A soldier was audible in the background. In Hebrew, he beckoned them: “Come, come, come.”

The PRCS dispatcher was able to successfully call Saleh Muammar as late as 5:45 a.m., 37 minutes after the attack began, according to Nibal Farsakh, a spokesperson for PRCS. Buffeted by heavy gunfire, Saleh told dispatch that he had been injured.

At 5.54 a.m., the dispatch centre managed to get through to Assad al-Nassassrah: the paramedic who was sitting next to Refaat in his ambulance.  Nibal said that the dispatcher stayed on the line with Assad for an hour-and-a-half, calling back each time the signal cut out. “He was scared,” the PRCS spokesperson remembered, but Assad’s primary focus was his children. “Please look after my children, please get me out of here.”

In testimony provided to Earshot and Forensic Architecture, Assad explained that “As soon as the gunfire started, it hit my ambulance first - that of me and Refaat. We’re talking about a matter of seconds, here… I saw the member of the civil defence, he had fallen on his stomach on the floor, and he was already dying. Refaat had fallen, Ashraf had fallen, the whole team from the civil defence [had fallen].” 

According to Assad’s testimony, during the shooting, he crawled towards his colleagues, Muhammad Bahloul, and Saleh where he realized that Muhammad was dead and Saleh severely injured. Upon locating his other colleague, Muhammad al-Hila, he said, “I went and I took Muhammad al-Hila in my grasp, and I put him on top of me, so that we would die together. I put my face to the ground and lay down. Muhammed got up, raised his body from the ground, and fell on top of me and he was killed on top of me. The last moment was his face on mine, and I called to him, “Ya Muhammed,” But he said nothing. Then I knew that he had been killed.”

The Earshot and Forensic Architecture report also stated that “According to Asaad, as dawn broke the soldiers advanced towards the aid workers from behind a hill in a coordinated effort, speaking to one another in Hebrew.” In his testimony, Assad described their behavior, saying, “I looked up and saw soldiers at the position where Mustafa was, holding him by the shoulders, picking him up with his legs and another soldier was taking pictures with a phone, or a camera or something, photos of Mustafa.”

According to the report, “The sunrise on 23 March 2025 in Gaza was at 5:42.” Asaad testified that "a Toyota Hilux clearly marked as a UN vehicle arrived on the scene after sunrise, driving from south to north. The vehicle was fired upon, and the UN lost contact with it at 6:00 [a.m.]” He said, “When [the Israeli soldiers] took me from this place, that’s when I saw, in the middle of the road, someone in civilian clothing and a winter jacket of the UNRWA agency. In the middle of the road.” The person was a United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) employee named Kamal Muhammad Shahtout, who was later found buried along with the PRCS paramedics.

At around 7:00 a.m., the dispatcher said that she heard Assad being arrested by Israeli soldiers. At 7.25 a.m., the dispatcher heard the soldiers telling Assad to empty his pockets. Fearing the soldiers would find out he had been recording them, the dispatcher hung up. In an interview with Earshot and Forensic Architecture, Assad said an Israeli soldier buried his phone. It was not until April 13, three weeks after the attack, that Israel confirmed Assad was alive and in Israeli detention.

According to multiple sources, the paramedics were killed by gunfire and possibly executed from short range. Sky News and others reported that the Israeli troops continued to fire at the unarmed medics for five-and-a-half minutes. 

Earshot and Forensic Architecture found that “At least 910 gunshots were documented across the three recordings from the night,” including video captured by PRCS paramedic Refaat Radwan, a recording of a phone call between PRCS paramedic Ashraf Abu Libda and the PRCS headquarters, and a recording of a phone call between PRCS paramedic Asaad al-Nasasra and the PRCS headquarters. “The majority of these gunshots, at least 844, were captured in Refaat Radwan’s video, all fired within a five-and-a-half-minute period.” The Earshot and Forensic Architecture report also stated, “At least 93% of the gunshots fired by the Israeli soldiers were fired directly towards the emergency vehicles and aid workers during the first five-and-a-half minutes of the attack. During this time, at least five shooters fired simultaneously, and witness testimonies suggest as many as thirty soldiers were present in the area.” 

Additionally, the report found that given their positioning “on high ground by the road on which the victims’ vehicles travelled,” and the visible emergency lights and markings on the vehicles, the Israeli soldiers would have had a clear view of the scene throughout the attack. According to Earshot and Forensic Architecture, “The soldiers advanced on the aid workers and the ambulances while shooting. Upon reaching them, they moved through the vehicles and shot several of the aid workers at close range.” Evidence even showed that “At least eight gunshots were fired from positions in-between the emergency vehicles. One of these gunshots was fired from within one to four metres of Ashraf Abu Libda’s position. The timing of those shots coincided with the last time his voice was heard in recordings from the night, strongly suggesting that these were the shots that killed him.”

Burial of victims and vehicles 

Following the deadly attacks, Israeli forces manipulated the scene by burying the bodies of victims, as well as their vehicles. Earshot and Forensic Architecture detailed these actions, stating that “Israeli military personnel acted intentionally to conceal and disrupt evidence of the attack by: Burying the bodies of the victims; Burying the mobile phones of at least one of the victims; Crushing and partially burying the victims’ vehicles; Transforming the site with earth-moving vehicles in the hours immediately following the attack; Detaining one of the witnesses to the attack.” 

Munther Abed, who survived the incident, told Sky News that he witnessed the crushing of the vehicles, corroborating Sky’s finding that the vehicles were crushed only after being moved to the side of the road. After heavy machinery arrived at dawn, Munther said, the Israelis dug a large hole on one side of the road and several smaller holes on the other side. “In the large hole, they put all the ambulances and the Civil Defence vehicles. The heavy machinery climbed over all the vehicles. Then they buried them with some earth.”

Identifying several of those responsible, Earshot and Forensic Architecture reported that “The intentional concealment and disruption of evidence involved, among others, soldiers named Elias, Yotam, and Amatzia.” It also indicated that Elias went by the nickname "Lalas."

Timeline of the consequent events – from the disappearance of the ambulances to the recovery of bodies

The Palestinian Information Center was the first to report the incident on its Twitter/X account @PalinfoAr at 6:59 a.m., announcing the injury of the two paramedics from the Palestine Red Crescent Society and the loss of contact with others. Twitter/X account @RassdNewsN corroborated this information by posting a statement from the Palestine Red Crescent Society: “The [Israeli] forces besieged a number of our ambulances while they were in an area that was targeted in Rafah. A number of the society’s paramedics were injured, and contact with the crew, which has been under siege for hours, has been lost.”

The next day, the PRCS reported that 10 crew members and four ambulances were besieged by the Israeli military, and some of the paramedics were injured. The Red Crescent also added that the Israeli forces “deliberately targeted” the PRCS crew.

For a week, the fate of the 10 Palestine Red Crescent ambulance crew members remained unknown. In statements, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society repeatedly condemned the Israeli military’s deliberate obstruction of the search for the crews. The PRCS “held Israeli forces fully responsible for the crews’ lives, especially since initial information from the crew at the time of the incident confirmed that they were subjected to heavy fire from Israeli forces, resulting in several injuries.” The organisation also repeatedly called on the international community “to pressure the [Israeli] authorities to reveal the fate of the missing crews” and “to take serious steps to provide protection for medical personnel.”

According to a Facebook post by 'Wakalt Quds net llanbaa,' one of the PRCS ambulances managed to leave the site before Israeli forces surrounded the remaining four vehicles. The post contained an image showing bullet holes  in an ambulance.

On March 25, 2025, many social media posts announced the names of the missing PRCS paramedics.

On March 27, 2025, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society announced its entry into the Tal al-Sultan area of ​​Rafah, in coordination with UN OCHA (United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs). The operation recovered the body of one civil defense worker.

As reported by the Twitter/X posts by @esml97 and other users, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society announced the recovery of the bodies of eight paramedics on March 30, 2025, seven days after they lost contact. A Twitter/X post by @Meemmag corroborated that a ninth paramedic was missing and may have been arrested by the Israeli military. The post contained a photo collage of the victims, all of whom were men.

On Facebook, CGTN Arabic quoted an interview that Xinhua conducted with Ahmed al-Sousi, one of the paramedics who participated in the search operations. “We found the bodies buried in the sand, some of which had begun to decompose. It was clear that they had been executed in the field.”

The Palestine Red Crescent Society was “shocked” by the killing of eight of its paramedics in Rafah, as reported by @mustafaibr on Twitter/X. The Society emphasized that the paramedics were killed while performing their humanitarian duty. In its statement, the organization called the incident “a tragedy not only for us at the Palestinian Red Crescent, but also for humanitarian work and humanity.” The statement continued: “The [Israeli] targeting of Red Crescent paramedics and their protected international emblem can only be considered a war crime punishable under international humanitarian law, which [Israel] continues to violate in full view of the entire world. The world has thus far failed to take serious steps to prevent [Israel] from continuing these flagrant violations of international conventions against health and humanitarian workers.”

Twitter/X user @alngrey2010 posted an emotional video showing the funeral of eight of the deceased paramedics. Dozens of men could be seen standing over eight corpses wrapped in white cloth with the PRCS emblem. The bodies were put in PRCS ambulances on the way to their burial as grieving women and children bid farewell to their loved ones.

Circumstances of the shooting and allegations of execution

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) and numerous social media sources, the Israeli military surrounded, arrested, and handcuffed the paramedics who arrived on the scene after Mustafa Khafaga and Ezz El-Din Ahmed Shaath were killed. This is likely to have occurred around 5:40 a.m.

According to some sources, the Israeli military executed the handcuffed crew and threw them into a mass grave while their vehicles were buried a few days later.

UN OCHA released a video featuring the excavation of the victims’ bodies. Jonathan Whittall, OCHA OPT Head of Office, stated: “Health workers should never be a target. And yet, we are here today, digging up a mass grave of first responders and paramedics. Seven days ago, Civil Defense and PRCS ambulances arrived at the scene. One by one, they were hit, they were struck. Their bodies were gathered and buried in this mass grave. We are digging them out in uniforms, with their gloves still on. They were here to save lives. Instead, they ended up in a mass grave. Their vehicles, ambulances, civil defense vehicles, and UN vehicles are crushed and dumped, covered in sand next to us. It’s absolute horror what happened here. This should never happen. Health workers should never be a target.”

The Guardian also reported on the incident, quoting a forensic doctor who examined the bodies. Ahmed Zaher (Dhair), a forensic consultant who examined five of the bodies at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, said there was evidence they were executed, based on the specific locations of the bullet wounds, deliberately shot at close range.

He added, “All of the cases had multiple bullet wounds, except for one, whose type could not be determined because the body had been mauled by animals such as dogs, leaving it looking like a skeleton […] Initial analysis indicates that they were executed at close range, as the bullet wounds were specific and deliberate. One bullet hit the head of one, another the heart, and a third was hit by six or seven bullets in the upper body.”

Sky News reported that expert analysis of the audio in Refaat’s recording indicated some of the shots fired at the medics came from as little as 12 meters away.

A CNN report also mentioned a “forensic pathologist examining the bodies of the emergency responders,” who told the media that the autopsies had shown bullet wounds.

The Guardian further added that witnesses who recovered the deceased said their hands and feet had been bound, indicating that the workers had been detained before being killed. However, Ahmed Zaher noted that due to decomposition, he could find no evidence of binding.

Testimony of the surviving witnesses

One survivor of the shooting, a 27-year-old volunteer PRCS medic Munther Abed, who was in the first ambulance attacked, told the BBC his version of the events. According to him, the vehicles’ exterior and interior lights were on, and everything indicated they were ambulances,  and not affiliated with a militant group. He said he and his colleagues “received a signal about injuries in the Hashashin area in Tal al-Sultan, and immediately moved to assist.”

As CNN reported on April 7, 2025, Munther was sitting in the back of the ambulance en route to the scene when the crew was suddenly targeted with heavy, direct gunfire by Israeli forces. Munther threw himself on the floor of the vehicle. This saved him: “If I stood up, I would have been killed.” Sheltering on the floor, he could hear his colleagues: “I couldn’t hear anything from my colleagues except the sound of death, the gasp of death, their last breath. A cry of pain, that’s all I heard from them.”  Driverless, the ambulance crashed into a power pole, coming to a stop. He said Israeli soldiers opened the back doors of the vehicle and detained him outside, stripping him down to his underwear.

In his interview with Anadolu Agency, Munther said that after the gunfire hit the ambulances, Israeli soldiers pulled him from the wreckage, blindfolded him, and detained him for 15 hours of intense interrogation. “They beat me with the butts of rifles, tortured me, and repeatedly asked for my name, address, and details about my whereabouts on Oct. 7, 2023. The more I answered, the harder they beat me. I wished for death from the pain.”

Earshot and Forensic Architecture reported that Israeli soldiers forced Munther to work at a checkpoint after his arrest. In his testimony, Munther explained that “The first thing they asked me to do was begin with the women and children. Some of them were mothers carrying children who had been killed, one whose son had been shot in the chest. And another, who was also carrying her dead daughter, also shot in the chest. There was one young girl who had been shot in the right leg, and so many older people needing medical attention - whether from the women or the men. [... The Israeli soldiers] were using me as a human tool. They weren’t the ones to go up to people, they made me do it.” According to Earshot and Forensic Architecture, “By assigning Munther to carry out inspections, the Israeli military forced a civilian to carry out a military objective and interposed him between soldiers and the civilian population, a practice which may meet the definition of ‘human shield.’”

According to the IDF’s version of the incident, the shooting killed two Hamas members and detained the third one, and claimed they were not “uniformed paramedics.” However, Munther stressed that they were driving a well-lit ambulance and were wearing their uniforms.

In an interview with Earshot and Forensic Architecture, another survivor, Assad al-Nassassrah, described his experience at “Sde Teiman detention camp, where he was interrogated, detained and tortured over a period of 37 days.” He testified that “After solitary confinement, they took me to a place that they call the Disco. It’s full of noise and sound. They’d put us in there with our hands tied up, our eyes covered. [...] Even if you needed to sleep, the music would stay on, loud through the night. It was so loud you could feel your ears bleeding, it felt like my head was going to explode. [...] Then they took us to the interrogation. [...] Interrogation every day. It was solitary confinement in that place, in a tiny little cell. The first three days I was just in there, I couldn’t see the sun or the sky, what day it was. The beds were infested and mouldy - so much so that I started getting a rash.” 

Assad also noted that the Israeli forces repeatedly asked him if anyone had filmed the deadly incident on April 23. According to the report by Earshot and Forensic Architecture, the timing of revelations that (parts of) the incident may have been recorded seem to have coincided with changes to Israel’s official statements on the matter, suggesting “coordinated efforts by the Israeli military to control the narrative and conceal evidence of their actions. As details emerged challenging their account of the events of 23 March 2025, officials continued to publicly revise their narrative – insofar as was necessary with each new revelation – while continuing their torture and interrogation of Asaad.” 

Stories of the victims and tributes on social media

Following the recovery of the bodies, relatives and friends of the victims poured out their grief on social media. Al Jazeera also wrote a special report offering some insights into the lives, work, and individual characters of the deceased paramedics.

Refaat Radwan

Refaat Radwan was a 24-year-old paramedic whose videos on a mobile phone helped to shed light on what happened in that tragic moment.

In an interview with Sky News, Refaat’s mother, Hajjah, said, “My son was very exhausted from this war. This should not have been his reward.”

Hajjah remembers the moment her son told her he wanted to become a paramedic. It was the night of his graduation party, and all the guests had left. “I want to do it in order to help people,” Refaat had said. She called over Refaat’s father, Anwar, and Refaat began by reminding him how, from the age of five or six, he had always chased after ambulances in the street.  “This is who Refaat was,” says Anwar. “He had very beautiful ambitions.”

According to the report by Al Jazeera, Abu al-Kass, who knew Refaat, described him as a “gentle soul” who liked to help the elderly. “He especially made sure to help any elderly woman he came across. If he saw such a woman standing in line to collect her medicine from the hospital pharmacy, he would ask her to sit down and go fetch the medicines for her.”

“Refaat, the ambitious and well-mannered young man, who helps and stands by people day and night after they were besieged and their traces disappeared in Tal al-Sultan, along with his colleagues in the Civil Defense, to rescue people and martyrs in the streets and roads. On the ground, it was proven that they were besieged, killed in cold blood, and buried in a hole together,” wrote a grieving relative, Abo Malek Mohammed, shocked by the harrowing circumstances of his death. He added an image of Refaat – a smiling young man with dark hair dressed in a white T-shirt.

Muneer Suliman also mourned the death of his nephew, writing, “He was a martyr of national duty while carrying out a humanitarian mission to save lives. He worked for the Palestinian Red Crescent.” He shared the image of Refaat in his paramedic uniform smiling in an ambulance.

Raed al-Sharif

According to Al Jazeera, 25-year-old Raed began volunteering with the PRCS in 2018, when he was 18, during the “Great March of Return” protests. The youngest of five siblings, he was unmarried and loved to take pictures, hoping that one day the world would see his images and he would be able to convey the suffering of his people through his work.

Raed's brother, Haidara Al Sharief, mourned the young man on Facebook and shared an image of him standing in front of an ambulance. Raed had dark hair, and as shown sporting a black shirt with the PRCS emblem and red trousers. Ibraheim Abo Jamal offered condolences to Raed’s other brother, Khalil al-Sharif, for the loss of a “martyr of humanity and duty.”

Mustafa Kafaga

Mustafa Kafaga was a 50-year-old father of a 15-year-old son who was the “light of his life,” according to Al Jazeera. He loved his work and stayed at headquarters for days when the work required it.

According to the Al Jazeera report, Mustafa usually worked together with Mohamed al-Hila. Their colleague, paramedic Abu al-Kass, recounted a story to the reporters: “One rainy day, those two were walking along when they saw an elderly woman trying to cross the road, but it was too wet and slippery.  So they looked at each other. One said: ‘So, are we partners or what? No matter what the mission is?’ and the other said: ‘Of course we are!’” They went and got a chair and brought it up to the woman, asked her to sit down, and then lifted the chair and walked her carefully across the road, beaming the entire time.”

Mohamed Hassan al-Hila

23-year-old Mohamed Hassan al-Hila (Abu Hassan) was also among the victims of the incident. His death was mourned by Dev Yasser Jamal, who wrote, “Mohammed was not just a paramedic, he was our neighbor and brother. We knew him only for his kindness and chivalry. Today, we bid him farewell with tears preceding our words.”

His father, Hassan Hosni al-Hila (Abo Mohammed), lamented the death of his beloved son, writing, “My son, my love, my comfort, and a soul of mine, the humanitarian fighter, Muhammad Hassan Al-Hayla, has ascended as a martyr. May God have mercy on your soul, my love. To a soul and basil and a Lord who is pleased and not angry.”  Mohamed was a young man, seen in a photograph smiling and wearing a white shirt and a brown jacket, holding a mobile phone in his hands.

According to the CNN report, Hassan Hosni Al-Hila, also a paramedic, felt too sick to continue his late-night assignment with the Palestine Red Crescent Society on 23 March, and his son, Mohamed, gladly agreed to cover his shift. Within a few hours,  Mohammad called his father pleading for help amidst intense Israeli military gunfire. Al-Hila recalled his son telling him over the phone, “Come to me, Dad, help me… we were targeted by the Israelis, and they are now shooting at us directly.” The call ended after that.

CNN further reported that on seeing his son’s body, which Hosni said was riddled with bullet holes, he apologized for not being beside him in his final moments, saying their ambulances would have been dispatched together. “I told him, ‘I’m sorry I couldn’t join you,’” Hosni recalls. “If I hadn’t returned home, [he] and I would have been together on the same mission.”

The video filmed by CNN showed a heartbroken Hassan recalling how he identified the body of his son. “They did not let me wash dirt from his face, I don’t know why,” he told CNN. “He had a wound on his mouth here, another on his forehead, and another on his back, all from gunfire. God bless his soul.” Hassan wiped his tears and showed reporters the image of his smiling son on his mobile phone.

Ashraf Nasser Abu Labdeh

According to Al Jazeera’s report, 32-year-old medic Ashraf Abu Labdeh had started volunteering with the PRCS in 2021. He quickly integrated into the PRCS community, making sure that all his colleagues had a meal for iftar during Ramadan. He would either cook it himself at the Red Crescent centre or bring some of his family’s food from home to share.

He was married in September 2023 and left behind his wife and their two-month-old baby girl, Wiam. Al Jazeera’s reporters called him “a quiet one” and added that Ashraf was always a reassuring presence for his colleagues.

Maysoon Diab Awad extended his condolences to the parents and other relatives of Ashraf, writing, “My dear aunt, Weam Al-Qatati, may God give you patience and strength, and patience to Uncle Nasser […] My love, sister, and friend, Psy Dareen Naseer. My dear ones, Nermeen Naser, Nadeen Naser, Heleen Naser. May God give you patience and support, I am truly unable to tell you, may God reward you greatly.“ Bushra Ameen also extended condolences to the sister of the late Ashraf, Nermin Nasser Abu Labdeh calling Ashraf “the young, virtuous paramedic.”

Deema Mousa was among those grieving the death of Ashraf, her cousin’s husband. She wrote, “With deep sadness and sorrow, and in submission to God’s will and destiny, we received the news of the martyrdom of my cousin’s husband, may God have mercy on him […] the paramedic in the Red Crescent Society, our martyr son / Ashraf Nasser Abu Labdeh ‘Abu Weam’ while performing his humanitarian duty for the wounded besieged in the Rafah area.” The sources shared an image of the late Ashraf, a young man wearing glasses and dressed in a white T-shirt with an emblem of the PRCS.

Ezz El-Din Ahmed Shaat

51-year-old Ezz El-Din Ahmed Shaat was a father to six children. He joined the PRCS in 2000, and four years later, he married Nivine, with whom he had four boys and two girls.

According to Al Jazeera’s report, Ezz El-Din was a sort of caregiver, making sure his colleagues got at least a little rest every night and something to eat. He also had a great sense of humour, but the war on Gaza “stripped that away from him as he gradually stopped laughing.”

On social media, Ezz El-Din was remembered in the posts by his cousins, Yasser Mahmoud Shaath, Cr Fady Ameen Aeady, and Mohammed Shaat. Cr Fady Ameen Aeady called him a “generous, dutiful man.”

Prof. Ousama Shaath wrote a heartfelt tribute to the late Ezz El-Din, “To the eternal gardens of paradise, my beloved cousin, Ezz El-Din Ahmed Shaat, and your martyred comrades. My sincere condolences to Uncle Abu El-Ezz, the entire family, the families of the martyrs, and their colleagues in the Red Crescent. […] The treacherous [Israeli] army arrested them, shackled them, tortured them, then shot them and covered them with dirt.”

In an image shared by sources, Ezz El-Din Ahmed Shaat Mahmoud Shaat can be seen as a man with grey hair and a grey beard wearing a green T-shirt.

Mohamed Sobhi Bahloul

Similarly to Ezz El-Din, 36-year-old Mohamed Sobhi Bahloul was also a father to five children, four boys and one girl, whose ages ranged from three months to 11 years. He was extremely dedicated to work, as reported by Al Jazeera. During crises, he would stay at the Red Crescent centre, only going home to see his wife and five children once a week.

He studied nursing at Al-Azhar, earned his ambulance license, trained as a medic, and was pursuing a health administration degree. Since 2018, he had volunteered nonstop, despite the absence of a salary. Al Jazeera remembered: “His family remembers him as a hero, always answering a call for help. He would organize transport and shelter for families in need, treating them as his own.”

His death was mourned by numerous sources on social media. Feras Abo Sharekh wrote a touching tribute to Mohamed: “He was a lighthearted man with a beautiful spirit. He loved the camera and media appearances. He was always on the front lines serving the people, sacrificing his life at every moment to save others. Now, Mohamed has become the event and the image, and no one is capable of saving him. May God have mercy on you, Muhammad. Your presence was an everlasting light.”

Yazan Ahmed called him “the brave hero, the sacrificial paramedic” while Abo Asem Hussin praised him as “our friend, colleague, and beloved companion.”

Mohamed cousin Abeer Sabah emphasised the ruthless circumstances of his relative's death, calling him “A martyr of humanitarian duty, who was treacherously and cold-bloodedly killed, his hands bound. To the eternal gardens, my dear son of the dear ones. May God grant us all patience.”

Mohamed’s father, 63-year-old Sobhi Bahloul, wrote a heartfelt post about his son, “We belong to Allah and to Him we shall return. We mourn our son, Mohamed Sobhi Bahloul, a martyr of duty and humanitarian work. We belong to Allah and to Him we shall return. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds.” He added an image of the smiling Mohamed, a young man dressed in a red uniform.

According to the report by Watan News, when Sobhi found his son’s body, he was too shocked to cry. “They were still in their medical uniforms, covered in blood and dust.” He recognized Mohamed only after leaning close to his face and checking his ID card. Mohamed had gunshot wounds in his chest and wrist, indicating he may have raised his arm in defense. “Four bullets, all to the chest and heart,” Sobhi said. “I believe he died instantly.”

Saleh Muammar

42-year-old Saleh Muammar (reported by Watan News to be 45 years old) was also a father to five children, three boys and two girls. His colleague Abu al-Kass commented to Al Jazeera, “Saleh was dedicated to helping, and used to say that wherever people were crying out for help, that’s where we should be, to respond to them.”

Saleh was originally a business student at Al-Azhar University. He joined the Red Crescent during the 2008–2009 Israeli invasion out of a desire to do something real and immediate in order to help. He loved his work and spent most of his time in the emergency department, according to his brother, who spoke to Watan News. After ambulance shifts, he would help in vehicle maintenance, deliver medicines, and visit injured patients at home. He searched for those in need.

According to the CNN report, Saleh had been previously shot while on duty, as recounted by his wife, Hadeel. Two months earlier, in February, Saleh was shot in the chest by the IDF, Hadeel told CNN. She said that he survived the attack, getting “a new lease on life” and returned to work as a paramedic. “We bid him farewell every time he left. We expected that he would be martyred,” Hadeel said. “I felt that he would leave this world because the nature of his work is full of risks.”

Watan News wrote that before his shift on the night of March 22, Saleh bought a large amount of household supplies for his wife, five children, and two nephews he had been caring for after their father was killed in the war. “He said it would benefit them in the future,” his brother Bilal recalled, “as if he knew he wasn’t coming back.”

Watan News wrote that when the tragic news arrived that the bodies had been recovered, Bilal and relatives rushed to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, hoping Saleh wasn’t among the dead—but his body was there. “I was the one who uncovered his face,” Bilal said. “There were handcuff marks on his wrists. His fingers were broken.” They recognized him by his ring.

In a photo collage posted by many social media users of the eight paramedics who were killed, the image of Saleh was visible in the upper left corner. He had slightly grey hair and a broad smile.

Kamal Muhammad Shahtout

Multiple sources, including the Palestinian Information Center, reported that in addition to the Civil Defense and PRCS victims, the body of UNRWA employee Kamal Muhammad Shahtout, a resident of the Al-Shaboura neighborhood in Rafah, was also found. Nasser Atallah offered condolences to the Shahtout family in Rafah and the Qishta (Zarnoqa) family for the death of his dear friend, the “honorable” professor Kamal. Abood Ashour mourned Kamal, a “respectful man with a good heart.” Muhammad Sand, Kamal's nephew, mourned his uncle after initially reporting him missing and wishing for his safe return. Muhammad Sand’s posts included two images of Kamal, one showing him wearing a formal royal blue suit and tie smiling at the camera and another of him sitting at a podium wearing an Adidas zip-up.

Assad al-Nassasrah

47-year-old father of six, Assad al-Nassasrah, was originally considered missing and later reported by the New York Times to have been arrested by the Israeli military.

According to Al-Jazeera, used to “bribe” kids with sweets to try to keep them safe. The report said, “Whenever he saw children playing in the street, he would get to wheeling and dealing, offering them candy to get off the road and go play somewhere safe. The kids quickly figured him out, though, and would be playing in the street again the next time, giggling and saying: ‘We tricked you!’ But Assad never minded, and simply kept handing over sweets.”

IDF statements

The Israeli military claimed to have killed a Hamas member, identified as Mohammed Amin Ibrahim al-Shoubaki, along with eight other members of “Hamas and Islamic Jihad.” Mohammed al-Shoubaki allegedly participated in the October 7 attack.

In its press release on April 2, 2025, the IDF claimed that the ambulances were used by “terrorists.” The press release read, “IDF troops operating in southern Gaza opened fire toward Hamas vehicles and eliminated several Hamas terrorists. A few minutes afterward, additional vehicles advanced suspiciously toward the troops. An initial inquiry indicates that the vehicles were moving without prior coordination, and without headlights or emergency signals. The troops responded by firing toward the suspicious vehicles, eliminating a number of Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists. After an initial inquiry, it was determined that some of the suspicious vehicles that were moving towards the troops were ambulances and fire trucks.  The IDF condemns the repeated use of civilian infrastructure by the terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip, including the use of medical facilities and ambulances for terrorist purposes.”

Mohammed al-Shoubaki was not among the bodies recovered from the mass grave, according to the report by The Guardian. According to a New York Times report, the Red Crescent, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the United Nations had previously stated all of those killed were humanitarian workers who should never have been attacked. The survivor of the incident, paramedic Munther Abed, told CNN that he did not know anybody by the name al-Shoubaki, nor had he heard it before.

On April 20, 2025, the IDF released another statement after an examination into the incident, conducted by the General Staff Fact Finding Mechanism, and led by MG (res.) Yoav Har-Even and presented to the Chief of the General Staff, LTG Eyal Zamir. According to the statement, “the findings show that the incident occurred in a hostile and dangerous combat zone, under a widespread threat to the operating troops.”

In a lengthy investigation, Sky News dismissed the IDF’s claims that the place of the incident was a “combat zone”; the evacuation order for the area was only issued at 8.31 a.m., almost four-and-a-half hours after the first ambulance was attacked.

The IDF listed three shooting incidents that occurred on March 23, 2025: the first, shooting at a vehicle identified as a Hamas vehicle; the second one, at arriving ambulances; and the third, at the UN vehicle. The Israeli military admitted firing at five vehicles, which it allegedly did not recognize as ambulances in the episode of the second shooting, claiming that “Due to poor night visibility, the deputy commander did not initially recognize the vehicles as ambulances. Only later, after approaching the vehicles and scanning them, was it discovered that these were indeed rescue teams,” the statement said. It added, “Supporting surveillance had reported five vehicles approaching rapidly and stopping near the troops, with passengers quickly disembarking. The deputy battalion commander assessed the vehicles as employed by Hamas forces, who arrived to assist the first vehicle’s passengers. Under this impression and sense of threat, he ordered to open fire.”

The IDF also denied the allegations of executing the paramedics and dismissed them as “blood libels and false accusations against IDF soldiers.” According to the statement, the next day at dawn, the Israeli military decided to gather and cover the bodies in order “to prevent further harm and clear the vehicles from the route in preparation for civilian evacuation,” a task which was carried out by field commanders. The examination of the incident concluded that removing the bodies was reasonable under the circumstances, but the decision to crush the vehicles was wrong. In general, officials claimed that there was no attempt to conceal the event, which was discussed with international organizations and the UN, including coordination for the removal of bodies.

In its report of the incident released on April 7, 2025, CNN published the video discovered on Refaat’s phone. After obtaining this video, the PRCS sent a copy of the footage to the UN Security Council. A UN diplomat leaked the footage to The New York Times, which was the first outlet to post it.

The video  showed that, contrary to the Israeli military's claims, the ambulances and a fire truck had their emergency lights on as Israeli forces unleashed their barrage. The New York Times described the video in detail: “Filmed from what appears to be the front interior of a moving vehicle, it shows a convoy of ambulances and a fire truck, clearly marked, with headlights and flashing lights turned on, driving south on a road to the north of Rafah in the early morning. The first rays of the sun can be seen, and birds are chirping. The convoy stops when it encounters a vehicle that has veered onto the side of the road — one ambulance had been sent earlier to aid wounded civilians and had come under attack. The new rescue vehicles detour to the side of the road. Rescue workers, at least two of whom can be seen wearing uniforms, are seen exiting a fire truck and an ambulance marked with the emblem of the Red Crescent and approaching the ambulance derailed to the side. Then, sounds of intense gunfire break out.”

The IDF reported that as a result of its investigation, the deputy commander of the Golani Reconnaissance Battalion would be dismissed from his position for his responsibilities as field commander and for providing an incomplete and inaccurate report during the debrief.

The IDF also regretted causing harm to “uninvolved civilians.” Still, the IDF continued to claim that six casualties identified in a retrospective examination were “Hamas terrorists.” It failed to provide their names or any further evidence. Airwars does not consider accusations by belligerents to be sufficient evidence of militancy. In the absence of evidence of militancy among the local sources reviewed, the victims in this attack have been graded as civilians.

According to CNN, family members and colleagues of the slain paramedics vehemently denied that any of the workers were militants and called for an independent investigation into the killings.

The investigation by Sky News also dismissed the IDF claim that the first ambulance was a “Hamas vehicle.” The social media profiles of Mustafa Khafaja, Ezz El-Din Shaat and Munther Abed did not have any evidence that the paramedics were affiliated with Hamas. Ezz El-Din was photographed at a hospital wearing a PRCS uniform in October 2023. He was later pictured in February 2024 lifting an injured person out of a PRCS ambulance in Rafah. Mustafa, meanwhile, had extensively documented his paramedic career online in photos dating back to 2011. In one post, his young son is pictured at the wheel of a PRCS ambulance: “Mohammed insists on visiting me at work and sharing my working hours with patients.”

On August 19, 2026, more than a year after the killings, the IDF released a report titled 'IDF: Criminal Investigation Decisions Regarding 5 Incidents Examined by the General Staff Fact-Finding and Assessment Mechanism (FFAM),' which included a summary of its investigation and determinations regarding "The Deaths of Fifteen Palestinians, Including Medical Personnel and a UN Employee, in Tel al-Sultan, March 2025." The report stated that "Following review of the findings, having found that the firing conducted during the incident raises a reasonable suspicion of criminal misconduct, it has been decided to initiate a criminal investigation of the incident by the MPCID. In light of this decision, no further details can be provided beyond the above with respect to the FFAM's examination." The toll of 15 Palestinian fatalities refers to those killed in this incident as well as those killed subsequently, as assessed by Airwars in ISPT230325za.