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The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has said it is “outraged” at the deaths of eight medics killed on duty in Rafah in southern Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The nine-person ambulance team came under heavy fire in al-Hashashin on 23 March, said the IFRC. Their bodies were retrieved on Sunday after access was denied for a week. One medic is still missing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said their staff’s bodies were discovered along with those of six members of Gaza’s Hamas-run civil defence agency and one UN employee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They did not say who opened fire on the convoy – but Hamas blamed the Israel Defense Forces for the attack. The BBC has sought comment from the IDF.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Sunday’s statement, the IFRC said the eight bodies of PRCS workers were retrieved “after seven days of silence and having access denied to the area of Rafah where they were last seen”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The organisation identified those killed as ambulance officers Mostafa Khufaga, Saleh Muamer and Ezzedine Shaath, and first responder volunteers Mohammad Bahloul, Mohammed al-Heila, Ashraf Abu Labda, Raed al-Sharif and Rifatt Radwan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It added that ambulance officer Assad Al-Nassasra was “still missing”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I am heartbroken. These dedicated ambulance workers were responding to wounded people. They were humanitarians,” IFRC Secretary General Jagan Chapagain said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“They wore emblems that should have protected them; their ambulances were clearly marked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Even in the most complex conflict zones, there are rules. These rules of International Humanitarian Law could not be clearer \u2013 civilians must be protected; humanitarians must be protected. Health services must be protected.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The IDF has publicly not commented on the Red Cross and Red Crescent statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The AFP news agency reported that on Saturday the Israeli military admitted it had fired on ambulances in southern Gaza last Sunday after identifying them as “suspicious vehicles”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Israeli troops had “opened fire toward Hamas vehicles and eliminated several Hamas terrorists”, the military said in a statement to AFP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“A few minutes afterward, additional vehicles advanced suspiciously toward the troops… The troops responded by firing toward the suspicious vehicles, eliminating a number of Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The military added that “after an initial inquiry, it was determined that some of the suspicious vehicles… were ambulances and fire trucks”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It also said there had been “repeated use” by “terrorist organisations in the Gaza Strip of ambulances for terrorist purposes”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Senior Hamas official Basem Naim condemned the attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The targeted killing of rescue workers – who are protected under international humanitarian law – constitutes a flagrant violation of the Geneva Conventions and a war crime,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Israel resumed its military offensive in Gaza on 18 March after the first phase of a ceasefire that began in January came to an end, and negotiations on a second phase of the deal stalled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n