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Red Cross 'outraged' by killing of eight medics in Gaza
The IFRC said it was the single most deadly attack on its colleagues anywhere in the world since 2017.
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Ambulances carrying the bodies of Palestinian first responders who were killed a week before in Israeli military fire on other ambulance vehicles arrive at Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on March 30, 2025. The Palestinian Red Crescent said on March 30 that it had recovered the bodies of 15 rescuers from the Red Crescent, Gaza's civil defence agency, and one UN agency employee. The group said the those killed “were targeted by the Israeli occupation forces while performing their humanitarian duties as they were heading to the Hashashin area of Rafah to provide first aid to a number of people injured by Israeli shelling in the area“. (AFP/Khan Yunis)
T
he Red Cross federation voiced outrage Sunday after eight medical colleagues were killed while on duty in the Gaza Strip, asking: "When will this stop?"
The Palestine Red Crescent Society said earlier Sunday it had recovered the bodies of the medics, killed a week ago when Israeli forces fired on ambulances in southern Gaza.
The PRCS said the bodies were found along with those of six members of Gaza's civil defence agency and one UN agency employee. One Red Crescent ambulance officer remains missing.
"The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies is outraged at the deaths of eight medics from PRCS, killed on duty in Gaza," the world's largest humanitarian network said in a statement.
The IFRC said the bodies were retrieved after "seven days of silence" and of having access denied to the area of Rafah where they were last seen.
"I am heartbroken," IFRC secretary general Jagan Chapagain said in a statement.
"These dedicated ambulance workers were responding to wounded people. They were humanitarians. They wore emblems that should have protected them; their ambulances were clearly marked. They should have returned to their families; they did not."
He stressed that under the rules of International Humanitarian Law, civilians, humanitarians and health services must be protected.
"Instead of another call on all parties to protect and respect humanitarians and civilians, I pose a question: when will this stop?
"All parties must stop the killing."
The IFRC said it was the single most deadly attack on its colleagues anywhere in the world since 2017.
The number of PRCS volunteers and staff killed since the war between Israel and Hamas began in October 2023 is now 30, the global federation said.
