Red Crescent Says Israeli Troops Shot Gaza Crew ‘with Intent to Kill'

Mourners carry the bodies of 8 Red Crescent emergency responders, recovered in Rafah a week after an Israeli attack, as they are transported for burial from a hospital in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, on Monday, March 31, 2025. (AP)
Mourners carry the bodies of 8 Red Crescent emergency responders, recovered in Rafah a week after an Israeli attack, as they are transported for burial from a hospital in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, on Monday, March 31, 2025. (AP)
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Red Crescent Says Israeli Troops Shot Gaza Crew ‘with Intent to Kill'

Mourners carry the bodies of 8 Red Crescent emergency responders, recovered in Rafah a week after an Israeli attack, as they are transported for burial from a hospital in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, on Monday, March 31, 2025. (AP)
Mourners carry the bodies of 8 Red Crescent emergency responders, recovered in Rafah a week after an Israeli attack, as they are transported for burial from a hospital in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, on Monday, March 31, 2025. (AP)

The Palestine Red Crescent Society said on Monday that 15 medics and rescuers killed by Israeli forces last month in Gaza were shot in the upper body with "intent to kill".

The killings occurred in the southern Gaza Strip on March 23, days into a renewed Israeli offensive in the Hamas-ruled territory, and have since sparked international condemnation.

Younis Al-Khatib, president of the Red Crescent in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, told journalists in Ramallah that an autopsy revealed that "all the martyrs were shot in the upper part of their bodies, with the intent to kill".

He called for an international probe into the killings, which the Israeli military has separately announced it was investigating.

"We call on the world to form an independent and impartial international commission of inquiry into the circumstances of the deliberate killing of the ambulance crews in the Gaza Strip," Khatib said.

The Israeli military has said its soldiers fired on "terrorists" approaching them in "suspicious vehicles", with a spokesman later adding that the vehicles had their lights off.

But a video recovered from the cellphone of one of the slain aid workers, released by the Red Crescent, appears to contradict the Israeli military's account.

The footage shows ambulances travelling with their headlights on and emergency lights flashing.

Eight staff members from the Red Crescent, six from the Gaza civil defense agency and one employee of the UN agency for Palestinian refugee were killed in the incident.

Their bodies were found buried near the site of the shooting in the Tal al-Sultan area of Rafah city, in what the UN humanitarian office OCHA described as a mass grave.

"Why did you hide the bodies?" Khatib said of the Israeli forces involved in the attack.

Hamas has accused Israel of a "deliberate attempt to cover up the crime by burying the victims in mass graves".

- 'War crimes' -

An Israeli military official, briefing journalists over the weekend on condition of anonymity, said troops first fired at a vehicle carrying members of Hamas internal security force, killing two and detaining another.

Two hours later, at 6:00 am on March 23, the soldiers "received a report from the aerial coverage that there is a convoy moving in the dark in a suspicious way towards them" and "opened fire from far", said the official.

"The forces are not trying to hide anything. They thought they had an encounter with terrorists."

According to OCHA the first team, which it said comprised of rescuers and not Hamas fighters, was hit by Israeli forces at dawn.

In the hours that followed, additional rescue and aid teams searching for their colleagues were also struck, OCHA said.

The United Nations' human rights chief Volker Turk said last week the shootings may constitute "war crimes".

Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas of using ambulances to transport militants and weapons in Gaza, charges the group has rejected.

On Monday, Israeli government spokesman David Mencer said that the among the 15 killed were six Hamas fighters.

"What were Hamas terrorists doing in ambulances?" he said.

Khatib dismissed the accusation, saying Israel has failed "to prove even once in 50 years that the Red Crescent or its crews carry or use weapons".



Settlers Force Re-burial of Palestinian Man in West Bank, Family Says 

Israeli settlement structuers being installed in Sanur near Jenin, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, May 9, 2026. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman
Israeli settlement structuers being installed in Sanur near Jenin, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, May 9, 2026. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman
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Settlers Force Re-burial of Palestinian Man in West Bank, Family Says 

Israeli settlement structuers being installed in Sanur near Jenin, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, May 9, 2026. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman
Israeli settlement structuers being installed in Sanur near Jenin, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, May 9, 2026. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman

Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank forced Palestinians to exhume the body of their father from his freshly dug village grave, his family said, near a settlement re-established by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government.

Hussein Asasa, 80, died on Friday of natural causes and was buried that evening at the cemetery of Asasa village near Jenin, with all the necessary permits from Israel's military, whose forces were at the site, his son Mohammed said.

But shortly after the burial, the family was called back by some of the villagers, who said settlers were at the grave, ordering the grave be dug up.

"They said the land was for settlement and that burial was not allowed. We told them that this is the village's cemetery, not part of the settlement," said Asasa, Reuters reported.

The settlers then threatened to dig the grave up with a bulldozer, Asasa said, so the family decided to exhume their father's body themselves.

"We found that they already dug the grave and reached the body," Asasa said. "We continued digging and got the body and buried him in another cemetery," he said.

VIDEO SHOWS PEOPLE REMOVING A BODY

Video circulating on social media appeared to show settlers watching as people dig in the ground of a hill slope. They then carry away what looks like a body as Israeli troops walk behind them. Reuters verified the location as Asasa.

The Israeli military said that the funeral had been coordinated with it and that it had not instructed the family to rebury their father. Soldiers were sent to the scene following a report about a confrontation with settlers who were "digging in the area," the military said. "The soldiers confiscated digging tools from the Israeli civilians and remained at the location in order to prevent further friction," the military said. It added that it condemns actions that violate the "dignity of the living and the deceased".

The UN Human Rights Office condemned the incident.

"This is appalling and emblematic of the dehumanisation of Palestinians that we see unfolding across the OPT (Occupied Palestinian Territories). It spares no one, dead or alive," said Ajith Sunghay, head of the OHCHR Palestinian office.

Sa-Nur was one of 19 settlements evacuated under the 2005 Israeli disengagement plan, which also included Israel's withdrawal of settlers and troops from Gaza. Netanyahu's government approved Sa-Nur's re-establishment a year ago and construction has advanced rapidly, according to Peace Now, an Israeli settlement watchdog.

The West Bank is among the territories that Palestinians seek for an independent state. Israel cites historical and biblical ties to the land, as well as security needs.

Netanyahu's government, which staunchly opposes the establishment of a Palestinian state, has been accelerating settlement building, while a rise in attacks by settlers on Palestinians has drawn international alarm. The United Nations and most countries deem Israel's settlements on West Bank land captured in the 1967 war illegal, a view that Israel disputes.


Gaza Flotilla Activists to Be Released from Israel Detention and Deported

Global Sumud Flotilla Steering Committee members Susan Abdallah, Muhammad Nadir Al-Nuri, Suemeyra Akdeniz Ordu, Maimon Herawati, Thiago Avila and Saif Abukeshek, Eva Saldana, Greenpeace Spain; Maria Serra, GSF Catalunya and Oscar Camps, Open Arms attend a press conference as humanitarian flotilla prepares to depart for Gaza, from Barcelona, Spain, April 12, 2026. REUTERS/Albert Gea
Global Sumud Flotilla Steering Committee members Susan Abdallah, Muhammad Nadir Al-Nuri, Suemeyra Akdeniz Ordu, Maimon Herawati, Thiago Avila and Saif Abukeshek, Eva Saldana, Greenpeace Spain; Maria Serra, GSF Catalunya and Oscar Camps, Open Arms attend a press conference as humanitarian flotilla prepares to depart for Gaza, from Barcelona, Spain, April 12, 2026. REUTERS/Albert Gea
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Gaza Flotilla Activists to Be Released from Israel Detention and Deported

Global Sumud Flotilla Steering Committee members Susan Abdallah, Muhammad Nadir Al-Nuri, Suemeyra Akdeniz Ordu, Maimon Herawati, Thiago Avila and Saif Abukeshek, Eva Saldana, Greenpeace Spain; Maria Serra, GSF Catalunya and Oscar Camps, Open Arms attend a press conference as humanitarian flotilla prepares to depart for Gaza, from Barcelona, Spain, April 12, 2026. REUTERS/Albert Gea
Global Sumud Flotilla Steering Committee members Susan Abdallah, Muhammad Nadir Al-Nuri, Suemeyra Akdeniz Ordu, Maimon Herawati, Thiago Avila and Saif Abukeshek, Eva Saldana, Greenpeace Spain; Maria Serra, GSF Catalunya and Oscar Camps, Open Arms attend a press conference as humanitarian flotilla prepares to depart for Gaza, from Barcelona, Spain, April 12, 2026. REUTERS/Albert Gea

Two activists arrested last month when Israeli forces intercepted the Gaza-bound flotilla they were travelling on are expected to be deported in the coming days after being released from security detention on Saturday, their lawyers said. Saif Abu Keshek, a Spanish national, and Brazilian Thiago Avila were detained by Israeli authorities on April 29 and brought to Israel. The activists were part of a second Global Sumud Flotilla launched from Spain on April 12 to try to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza by delivering aid to the enclave.

Israel's foreign ministry said Abu Keshek was suspected of affiliation with a terrorist organization and Avila was suspected of illegal activity. Both denied the allegations, Reuters reported.

BRAZIL AND SPAIN SAID THE DETENTION WAS UNLAWFUL

The governments of Spain and Brazil said Abu Keshek's and Avila's detention was unlawful, but Israel's Ashkelon Magistrate’s Court remanded them in custody until May 10.

Human rights group Adalah, which has assisted in their legal defense and also said the detention was unlawful, said that Abu Keshek and Avila were informed that they will be released from detention on Saturday and handed over to immigration authorities' custody until their deportation.

"Adalah is closely monitoring developments to make sure that the release from detention goes ahead, followed by their deportation from Israel in the coming days," the group said. Israeli officials were not immediately reachable for comment.

Israeli authorities held them under suspicion of offences that included aiding the enemy and contact with a terrorist group.

Gaza is largely run by Palestinian militant group Hamas, which is designated as a terrorist group by Israel and much of the West. The group's October 7, 2023, attack on Israel started the Gaza war that has left much of the enclave's population homeless and dependent on aid - that humanitarian agencies say is arriving too slowly.


EU Official Urges Increased Humanitarian Access in South Lebanon

Israeli troops maneuver on the Lebanese side of the border, as seen from the Upper Galilee in northern Israel, 08 May 2026, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon.  EPA/ATEF SAFADI
Israeli troops maneuver on the Lebanese side of the border, as seen from the Upper Galilee in northern Israel, 08 May 2026, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon. EPA/ATEF SAFADI
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EU Official Urges Increased Humanitarian Access in South Lebanon

Israeli troops maneuver on the Lebanese side of the border, as seen from the Upper Galilee in northern Israel, 08 May 2026, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon.  EPA/ATEF SAFADI
Israeli troops maneuver on the Lebanese side of the border, as seen from the Upper Galilee in northern Israel, 08 May 2026, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon. EPA/ATEF SAFADI

European Union crisis management chief Hadja Lahbib on Saturday urged increased humanitarian access in south Lebanon, where Israel has kept up strikes and Hezbollah has been launching attacks despite a ceasefire.

"Humanitarian aid is ready, but too often it cannot reach those who need it most," Lahbib told a news conference on the second day of her visit to Lebanon, ahead of an expected EU aid delivery.

A ceasefire came into effect on April 17 but Israel has kept up strikes. Its troops are operating inside an Israeli-announced "yellow line" that runs around 10 kilometres (six miles) deep inside Lebanon along the border, where Lebanese have been warned not to return.

Under the terms of the ceasefire, Israel reserves the right to act against "planned, imminent or ongoing attacks".

With both sides trading accusations of truce violations, the Iran-backed Hezbollah has also announced attacks, mainly on Israeli targets in south Lebanon.

"South of the Litani River, access is still severely restricted due to evacuation orders and Israeli military activity. And this includes 55 villages below the so-called yellow line," Lahbib said.

The Litani River runs around 30 kilometres from the border, an area where many of the attacks since the ceasefire have taken place.

She noted that key infrastructure including bridges over the Litani have been destroyed, "and that means longer routes, people waiting days and days for help".

"Even north of the Litani River, where some of these constraints have eased, it is still not enough. We need humanitarian access in full respect of international humanitarian law. Aid cannot save lives if it cannot reach people," she said.

Lahbib said that since the start of the war, the European Union had announced some 100 million euros in new humanitarian support for Lebanon and had sent six planes carrying aid, with a seventh due to arrive in the coming days.

Authorities say more than 2,750 people have been killed since March 2, including at least 104 health and emergency workers, with Israeli strikes having killed dozens since the ceasefire.

More than one million people have been displaced.

"Hospitals and ambulances targeted and journalists attacked for simply doing their job -- there is no justification for this. International humanitarian law must be respected," Lahbib said.

"This crisis is not over, so all support for the Lebanese people must continue," she said.