(Adnkronos) – The Palestinian rescuers and paramedics who lost their lives on March 23 near Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, were mostly killed by gunshots to the head, some to the chest, fired by Israeli soldiers. This is reported by the New York Times, citing the results of autopsies conducted on the 14 rescuers and one United Nations employee who died after IDF soldiers opened fire on ambulances and a fire truck sent by the Palestinian Red Crescent and Civil Defense, as confirmed by a video of the massacre.
Israel has admitted that its military carried out the attack. Israeli soldiers buried most of the bodies in a mass grave, destroyed the ambulances, the fire engine and a United Nations vehicle, and buried those as well. The Israeli army is continuing to investigate the incident.
The autopsies were performed between April 1 and 5 after a team of aid workers recovered the bodies of the men in southern Gaza. The New York Times reviewed the autopsy results of all but the United Nations employee. The autopsies were performed by Dr. Ahmad Dhair, head of the forensic medicine unit at the Gaza Ministry of Health. Dr. Arne Stray-Pedersen, a forensic pathologist at Oslo University Hospital in Norway, who had traveled to Gaza in early March to train doctors in forensic medicine, reviewed photographs of the autopsies and consulted with Dr. Dhair to write a summary report.
At the time of their deaths, the 14 men were wearing Red Crescent or Civil Defense uniforms, according to the autopsy reports. Video of a portion of the attack shows that as Israeli troops began firing on them, some of the paramedics had gotten out of their vehicles and were clearly visible in their uniforms. The autopsy reports revealed that 11 of the men had sustained gunshot wounds, with at least six shot in the chest or back and four in the head. Most had been shot multiple times.
One man had multiple shrapnel wounds to his chest and abdomen. Two others had injuries that the autopsy reports said were “consistent” with shrapnel wounds, probably from an explosion. Several of the bodies were missing limbs or other body parts, according to the reports. One man’s body had been severed from the pelvis down, according to the autopsy.
