Testimony of an agonizing rescue of humanitarian workers in a grave in Gaza: “They killed them with the uniforms put”

The search place was clear: “A common grave in Rafah marked with the emergency lights of one of its crushed ambulances.” Thus begins Jonathan Whittall, head of the UN Humanitarian Affairs Coordination Office (Ocha) in Palestine, the story of an agonizing mission to dig up the common grave and rescue the bodies of humanitarian workers killed by Israel. Whittall accompanies his testimony with a video of emergency services stacking the bodies of his classmates. In total 15 bodies were recovered.

“Seven days ago, while Israel’s forces advanced by Rafah, 10 members of the Palestinian Red Crescent and six civil defense rescue workers were deployed [en la zona] To collect injured, ”Whittall said in a wire of the social network X this Sunday.“ The five ambulances and a fire truck were attacked, next to a UN vehicle that arrived later. Contact with everyone was lost. ”

For several days, the Ocha tried to coordinate with Israel a mission to access the area. “But we were only allowed access to the area five days later.” When they finally managed to enter, they met “hundreds of civilians fleeing under shots.” “We saw how a woman was shot in the back of the head. When a young man tried to recover her, he was also shot. We could recover her body using our UN car.”

Whittall had to retire with his team and return the next day. “We discovered a devastating scene: ambulances, the UN car and the fire truck had been crushed and partially buried.” “After spending hours, we recovered a corpse; a civil defense worker under his truck.”

A day later, on Sunday, the team finally continued to dig and recovered all the buried bodies. “They were killed with their uniforms.

The International Federation of Red Cross Societies has denounced the facts. “After seven days of silence and access denied to the Rafah area where they were last seen, the bodies of ambulance workers have been received today,” pointed in a statement. “It is the worst attack on Red Cross workers worldwide since 2017,” added its president.

“What did he do wrong? He went to rescue others. It wasn’t even his turn. He went to rescue them on his day off is that what he deserves?” One of the relatives of the deceased in tears said.