What we know about the killings of 15 Palestinian first responders by Israeli forces

Israel has backtracked on its initial account of how 15 Palestinian first responders were killed near Rafah on March 23, after a video retrieved from one of the deceased workers' phones appeared to contradict its version of events.

An Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) official, speaking on condition of anonymity over the weekend, acknowledged that its original claim the emergency vehicles had proceeded "suspiciously" and "without headlights or emergency signals" had been "mistaken."

The footage claiming to show the attack, first shared by the New York Times, shows all vehicles had their headlights and emergency signals on, meaning their emblems were clearly visible.

There was no fire coming from the emergency vehicles, according to the video evidence.

Deliberate attacks against humanitarian and medical personnel that wear the emblems recognised under the Geneva convention – including that of the Red Crescent – constitutes a war crime, unless they commit "acts harmful to the enemy."

Before the emergence of the footage over the weekend, an IDF source told Euronews that the vehicles that came under fire were carrying terrorists belonging to Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, making them "legitimate targets."

The IDF has said as many as nine terrorists were eliminated as part of the attack, and that six of the 15 Palestinian medics killed were Hamas operatives, but has not provided any evidence for that claim.

The bodies of the 15 workers — eight from the PRCS, one from the Hamas-run Palestinian Civil Defence, and one UN employee — were recovered by the UN from a grave in late March along with their vehicles.

A Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) medic remains missing.

Euronews' comparative analysis of the PRCS footage that claims to show the attack and the UN's footage from the burial site shows two idential concrete strucutres, suggesting the bodies were buried close to or at the scene of the attack.

Euroverify breaks down what we know about the events.

23 March: IDF opens fire at emergency vehicles

At around 3:50 local time on March 23, the PRCS dispatched one ambulance to attend to the injured in Rafah's Al-Hashash neighbourhood, which had been struck by Israeli air strikes.

On the same morning, the IDF had ordered the evacuation of the nearby Tal as Sultan neighbourhood and directed people to move on foot towards the al-Mawasi area it has designated as a humanitarian zone along Gaza's coast. 

It described the area as a "dangerous combat zone" and prohibited the movement of vehicles.

The PRCS says the ambulance sent to attend to the injured "came under fire from Israeli forces," injuring the crew. It subsequently dispatched three further ambulances to assist both those injured in the airstrikes and the medical workers that had come under attack.

Ten Red Crescent workers — including ambulance officers and first responder volunteers — were dispatched in total. All contact was lost with them, but one of the officers, Munzer Abed, was released by Israeli forces that same evening. 

The bodies of eight of the remaining nine PRCS medics were later found while one of the paramedics, Assaad al-Nassasra, remains missing. 

Munzer Abed told the Associated Press (AP) that al-Nassasra was led away, blindfolded by Israeli troops.

In addition to the eight PRCS workers, six staffers from the Hamas-run Palestinian Civil Defence – travelling in a fire truck — as well as one employee of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA  — who according to the UN arrived at the scene later in a marked vehicle — were killed and their bodies were later retrieved.

27 March: UN granted first access to site of burial, retrieves one body

On 27 March, the UN's humanitarian office, OCHA, was first granted access to the site where the bodies of the medics were buried in the Tal as Sultan neighbourhood.

OCHA found five ambulances, a fire truck and a UN vehicle "crushed and partially buried" in the sand in what it described as a "mass grave."

The body of one Civil Defence worker was retrieved from beneath a fire truck.

The PRCS says Israeli authorities had rejected "all coordination attempts by international organisations to facilitate the rescue team's access to the site."

An IDF representative, however, told Euronews it was "in contact with the organisations multiple times to coordinate the evacuation of the bodies."

29 March: IDF claims Hamas and Islamic Jihad operatives killed

The IDF admitted to opening fire at the emergency vehicles six days after the attack. 

In a statement to the Agence France Presse (AFP) news agency on 29 March, it said Israeli troops had "opened fire toward Hamas vehicles and eliminated several Hamas terrorists." 

"A few minutes afterward, additional vehicles advanced suspiciously toward the troops,” the statement added.

"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 (…) were ambulances and fire trucks," the statement to AFP went on to say.

30 March: UN retrieves a further 14 bodies

On 30 March, the UN humanitarian crew returned to the burial site and recovered the remaining 14 bodies.

"Their vehicles, their ambulances, UN vehicles, civil defence vehicles are crushed and dumped, covered in sand next to us," Jonathan Whittall, the head of OCHA in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, said in a video message from the site.

"It's absolute horror what has happened here. This should never happen. Healthcare workers should never be a target."

The Hamas-led Civil Defence Agency has said some of the crew members were found "buried with their hands and feet tied" with bullet wounds on their heads and chests, showing that they were "executed at close range."

The Secretary-General of the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC), Jagan Chapagain, said that the workers "wore emblems that should have protected them; their ambulances were clearly marked."

After the bodies were retrieved on 30 March, IDF international spokesperson Nadav Shoshani claimed in a statement on X that "several uncoordinated vehicles were identified advancing suspiciously toward IDF troops without headlights or emergency signals."

5 March: PRCS releases mobile phone footage; IDF acknowledges initial version of events was 'mistaken'

After the PRCS shared video footage retrieved from the mobile phone of one of the paramedics killed, clearly showing the vehicles with their emergency signals on, the Israeli military acknowledged its initial version of events was "mistaken."

It also claimed that six of the 15 first responders killed were Hamas operatives, but has not provided any evidence for that claim.

Euronews asked the IDF to elaborate on that allegation, but a spokesperson declined to comment.

Evidence could point to potential 'war crime'

Geoffrey Nice, a British human rights lawyer who has prosecuted genocide cases in the past, told Euronews that, while not yet "fully confirmed", the testimonies and documentation that has emerged "would seem to be strong evidence of war crimes committed against aid workers and indeed, of cover-up."

This is despite the Israeli claim that the vehicles were transporting Hamas and Islamic Jihad operatives.

"Even if there was, say, one suspected Hamas individual in a group of aid workers otherwise untainted by that sort of description, then any attack, like every attack, where civilians may be injured or killed, has to be proportionate."

"A bare assertion that one of the people in the trucks may have been or was a Hamas person is only the beginning of the justification for the Israeli Defense Force," Nice added.

Asked whether a credible investigation could be conducted into their deaths, lawyer Geoffrey Nice told Euronews: "Although the UN may have had access to this particular site, (....) uncovering the bodies and the vehicle in the sand, they don't have access to the documented justification by the Israeli Defense Force, and they [the IDF] may never release that information."

"What you really need [to investigate] is the command structure or evidence from the command structure of the Israeli Defense Forces."

The IDF says the event is "under thorough investigation" by its Southern Command.

"All claims, including the documentation circulating about the incident, will be thoroughly and deeply examined to understand the sequence of events and the handling of the situation," it said in a statement shared with Euronews.