Fifteen aid workers found buried in Gaza, UN demands answers and justice

The Israel Defense Forces acknowledged last Friday that it had fired on ambulances and fire engines, saying they had identified them as "suspicious vehicles"

Fifteen emergency and aid workers from the Red Crescent, the United Nations, and the Palestinian Civil Defense were found buried in the sand in southern Gaza, UN officials confirmed on Monday, according to a report by The Times of Israel.

 

The bodies were discovered near “wrecked & well-marked vehicles,” Tom Fletcher, UN aid chief posted on X. He further wrote, “They were killed by Israeli forces while trying to save lives. We demand answers & justice.”

 

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) acknowledged last Friday that it had fired on ambulances and fire engines, saying they had identified them as “suspicious vehicles”. 

 

 

However, following reports and criticism surrounding these deaths, the IDF’s international media spokesman, Lt Col Nadav Shoshani, defended the actions saying, “Last Sunday, several uncoordinated vehicles were identified advancing suspiciously toward IDF troops without headlights or emergency signals. IDF troops then opened fire at the suspected vehicles.”

 

The IDF did ???????????? randomly attack an ambulance on March 23. Let me walk through what happened step-by-step:  1.⁠ ⁠Last Sunday, several uncoordinated vehicles were identified advancing suspiciously toward IDF troops without headlights or emergency signals. IDF troops then… https://t.co/VdtyXd8qj5

— LTC Nadav Shoshani (@LTC_Shoshani) March 31, 2025

He said an initial assessment showed that the forces had eliminated a Hamas operative, Mohammad Amin Ibrahim Shubaki, who was involved in the October 7 attack on Israel. He added that eight other Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants were also killed.

 

Outrage from humanitarian organisations

 

The UN and humanitarian organisations strongly condemned the recent killings. According to a report by The Times of Israel, Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), called the discovery of the bodies a “profound violation of human dignity.” 

 

He further noted that these deaths brought the total number of aid workers killed in Gaza since the war began to 408.

 

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) also condemned the incident, “These staff and volunteers were risking their own lives to provide support to others.” 

 

The Palestine Red Crescent Society said it had also recovered the bodies of six civil defense workers and one UN employee from the same area. It claimed that Israeli forces had targeted the aid workers.

 

Jonathan Whittall, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Gaza, said that the bodies were found as a “mass grave”. He said the grave had been marked with the emergency light from a crushed ambulance. OCHA later told Reuters that the burial site looked like a mound of sand “clearly created by a bulldozer or similar machinery rather than the impact of a blast.”

 

1/6 First responders should never be a target. Yet today @UNOCHA supported @PalestineRCS and Civil Defense to retrieve colleagues from a mass grave in #Rafah #Gaza that was marked with the emergency light from one of their crushed ambulances. pic.twitter.com/xFYFXWp2c6

— Jonathan Whittall (@_jwhittall) March 30, 2025

 According to OCHA, the first team of aid workers was killed by Israeli forces on March 23. As other emergency and aid teams searched for their missing colleagues, they too were targeted over several hours.

 

War in Gaza and its toll

 

The war between Israel and Hamas has resulted in heavy casualties on both sides. The United Nations reports that at least 1,060 healthcare workers have been killed since Israel launched its military campaign in Gaza following Hamas’ October 7 attack.

 

The IDF has accused Hamas of using medical facilities and vehicles for military operations. It claimed that some of the people killed in the March 23 attack were Hamas operatives disguised as medical workers. “When terrorists act in an active combat zone, we will do whatever it takes to protect our civilians and troops,” IDF spokesperson Shoshani said.

 

Due to escalating violence, the United Nations has decided to reduce its international staff in Gaza by one-third, citing safety concerns.

 

According to Gaza’ health ministry, at least 921 people have been killed in Israeli airstrikes since March 18, when Israel resumed large-scale attacks. The strikes followed the collapse of a hostage-release and ceasefire deal. Israel said it renewed military pressure after Hamas rejected multiple offers to extend the ceasefire, which had been in place for two months. 

 

Hamas, however, insists that Israel must fulfill the original agreement, which includes a complete withdrawal of troops from Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to approve this, saying it would leave Hamas in power. The overall death toll in Gaza since the war began has surpassed 50,000, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.