GAZA (Palestine Foundation Information Center) The Hamas Movement has strongly condemned the Israeli military’s targeting of Palestinian Civil Defense and Red Crescent teams in Rafah, describing it as a full-fledged war crime and a blatant violation of international law and humanitarian conventions.
In a statement issued on Friday, Hamas said the recent discovery of the bodies of 15 first responders, found buried in sand next to their destroyed vehicles in the Tel al-Sultan and al-Baraksat areas of Rafah—days after losing contact with them—reveals the extent of the atrocity committed during the latest Israeli assault.
The Movement stressed that the deliberate targeting of emergency workers while performing their humanitarian duties represents one of the most egregious violations of the laws of war, and forms part of Israel’s ongoing attacks against civilians in the Gaza Strip. “The Israeli war machine recognizes no limits to its brutality,” the statement read.
Hamas condemned what it described as international silence in the face of these crimes, calling such inaction unacceptable complicity. It held the international community historically accountable for failing to stop what it labelled a campaign of systematic extermination.
The Movement also called on the United Nations, its specialized agencies, and international humanitarian organizations, particularly the International Committee of the Red Cross, to take urgent action to establish an international investigation into this atrocity.
Hamas further urged investigators to be granted immediate access to Rafah to determine the fate of thousands of civilians who remain unaccounted for and to facilitate urgent humanitarian relief to devastated areas across the Gaza Strip.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has earlier confirmed that the fate of nine of its emergency responders remains unknown for the sixth consecutive day, after they were besieged and reportedly targeted by Israeli forces in Rafah, southern Gaza.
The PRCS said its teams returned to Tel al-Sultan in Rafah, accompanied by representatives from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), in an attempt to determine the whereabouts of the missing medics.
However, Israeli soldiers prevented the teams from entering the area and forced them to withdraw, obstructing the search efforts.
The statement noted that none of the medics’ bodies have been located so far, though on Thursday, four ambulances were discovered completely destroyed and buried under sand, offering grim evidence of the intensity of the attack.
The PRCS stressed that the Israeli military is deliberately hindering search and rescue operations, impeding all efforts to uncover what happened to the missing personnel.
After five days of attempting to secure access, Red Crescent teams were only granted permission on Thursday to enter the area. The organization has since lost contact with 14 members of its own staff and those from the civil defense, after Israeli forces surrounded and attacked them during operations in Rafah.
