GAZA (Palestine Foundation Information Center) The Hamas Movement has reiterated its calls for an international investigation into the deliberate execution of paramedics by the Israeli occupation forces in Rafah, southern Gaza.
The Movement dismissed Israeli claims surrounding the incident as a clear attempt to evade responsibility for “a heinous crime committed with premeditation.”
On 23 March, Israeli forces killed 15 members of emergency and civil defense teams in the Tel al-Sultan neighborhood in western Rafah. The victims—protected under international law—were buried in a mass grave, with their vehicles deliberately destroyed and concealed.
The massacre sparked global outrage and renewed calls for the prosecution of Israeli political and military leaders for crimes of genocide against the Palestinian people, particularly the targeted killings of humanitarian and medical personnel.
In a press statement issued Monday, Hamas declared: “The announcement made by the fascist Israeli army regarding the execution of fifteen paramedics and rescue workers in Rafah last month is nothing more than a blatant attempt to shirk full responsibility for a heinous and deliberate crime.”
The statement condemned the Israeli military’s announcement as “a deceptive move to suggest an internal investigation, aimed at mitigating the impact of a crime that shook global conscience.”
Hamas affirmed that the released video documented a systematic, field execution of medical teams—part of a long series of violations and crimes committed against paramedics, rescue workers, and humanitarian staff.
The Movement noted that medical teams had been targeted in precision assassinations using drones and through direct field executions.
Hamas reiterated its call for the United Nations to form “an independent international commission of inquiry to uncover the truth behind what happened to paramedics and rescue teams in Rafah, and to expose the manipulative cover-up by the Israeli army regarding the nature of its crimes in Gaza.”
On Sunday evening, the Israeli military published what it claimed to be the findings of a “thorough investigation” into the killing of the paramedics, attempting to exonerate its soldiers by alleging a lack of evidence showing that the victims had been bound or executed and asserting that the incident occurred in a “hostile combat zone.”
The Israeli army further claimed that accusations of war crimes were “nothing but rumors, slander, and vile lies.”
Previously, the Israeli military admitted to killing 15 Palestinians in Tel al-Sultan, claiming that six of them had been identified as members of Hamas. In response to such assertions, Hamas has consistently denied the presence of any fighters among the victims, labeling the claims as baseless attempts to justify a massacre.
