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".



7 Killed in Drone Strike on Hospital in Sudan's Kordofan

A Sudanese man rides his decorated bicycle as others (unseen) rally in support of the Sudanese armed forces. (Photo by Ebrahim Hamid / AFP)
A Sudanese man rides his decorated bicycle as others (unseen) rally in support of the Sudanese armed forces. (Photo by Ebrahim Hamid / AFP)
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7 Killed in Drone Strike on Hospital in Sudan's Kordofan

A Sudanese man rides his decorated bicycle as others (unseen) rally in support of the Sudanese armed forces. (Photo by Ebrahim Hamid / AFP)
A Sudanese man rides his decorated bicycle as others (unseen) rally in support of the Sudanese armed forces. (Photo by Ebrahim Hamid / AFP)

A drone strike Sunday on an army hospital in the besieged southern Sudan city of Dilling left "seven civilians dead and 12 injured", a health worker at the facility told AFP.

The victims included patients and their companions, the medic said on condition of anonymity, explaining that the army hospital "serves the residents of the city and its surroundings, in addition to military personnel".

Dilling, in the flashpoint state of South Kordofan, is controlled by the Sudanese army but is besieged by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The greater Kordofan region is currently facing the fiercest fighting in Sudan's war between the army and the RSF, as both seek to wrest control of the massive southern region.

The UN has repeatedly warned the region is in danger of witnessing a repeat of the atrocities that unfolded in North Darfur state capital El-Fasher, including mass killing, abductions and sexual violence.


Iraq's Election Result Ratified by Supreme Federal Court as Premiership Remains up for Grabs

Election workers gather parliamentary election ballots after the polls closed in Baghdad, Iraq, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban, File)
Election workers gather parliamentary election ballots after the polls closed in Baghdad, Iraq, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban, File)
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Iraq's Election Result Ratified by Supreme Federal Court as Premiership Remains up for Grabs

Election workers gather parliamentary election ballots after the polls closed in Baghdad, Iraq, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban, File)
Election workers gather parliamentary election ballots after the polls closed in Baghdad, Iraq, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban, File)

The result of last month’s parliamentary elections in Iraq was ratified by the Supreme Federal Court on Sunday, confirming that the party of caretaker prime minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani won the largest number of seats — but not enough to assure him a second term.

The court confirmed that the voting process met all constitutional and legal requirements and had no irregularities affecting its validity.

The Independent High Electoral Commission submitted the final results of the legislative elections to the Supreme Federal Court on Monday for official certification after resolving 853 complaints submitted regarding the election results, according to The AP news.

Al-Sudani's Reconstruction and Development Coalition won 46 seats in the 329-seat parliament. However, in past elections in Iraq, the bloc taking the largest number of seats has often been unable to impose its preferred candidate.

The coalition led by former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki won 29 seats, the Sadiqoun Bloc, which is led by the leader of the Asaib Ahl al-Haq militia, Qais al-Khazali, won 28 seats, and the Kurdistan Democratic Party, led by Masoud Barzani, one of the two main Kurdish parties in the country, won 27 seats.

The Taqaddum (Progress) party of ousted former Parliament Speaker Mohammed al-Halbousi also won 27 seats, setting the stage for a contest over the speaker's role.

 


Hamas Confirms the Death of a Top Commander in Gaza after Israeli Strike

Destroyed buildings, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip November 18, 2025. (Reuters)
Destroyed buildings, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip November 18, 2025. (Reuters)
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Hamas Confirms the Death of a Top Commander in Gaza after Israeli Strike

Destroyed buildings, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip November 18, 2025. (Reuters)
Destroyed buildings, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip November 18, 2025. (Reuters)

Hamas on Sunday confirmed the death of a top commander in Gaza, a day after Israel said it had killed Raed Saad in a strike outside Gaza City.

The Hamas statement described Saad as the commander of its military manufacturing unit. Israel had described him as an architect of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that sparked the war in Gaza, and asserted that he had been “engaged in rebuilding the terrorist organization” in a violation of the ceasefire that took effect two months ago, The AP news reported.

Israel said it killed Saad after an explosive device detonated and wounded two soldiers in the territory’s south.

Hamas also said it had named a new commander but did not give details.

Saturday's strike west of Gaza City killed four people, according to an Associated Press journalist who saw their bodies arrive at Shifa Hospital. Another three were wounded, according to Al-Awda hospital. Hamas in its initial statement described the vehicle struck as a civilian one.

Israel and Hamas have repeatedly accused each other of truce violations.

Israeli airstrikes and shootings in Gaza have killed at least 391 Palestinians since the ceasefire took hold, according to Palestinian health officials. Israel has said recent strikes are in retaliation for militant attacks against its soldiers, and that troops have fired on Palestinians who approached the “Yellow Line” between the Israeli-controlled majority of Gaza and the rest of the territory.

Israel has demanded that Palestinian militants return the remains of the final hostage, Ran Gvili, from Gaza and called it a condition of moving to the second and more complicated phase of the ceasefire. That lays out a vision for ending Hamas’ rule and seeing the rebuilding of a demilitarized Gaza under international supervision.

Israel’s two-year campaign in Gaza has killed more than 70,660 Palestinians, roughly half of them women and children, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between militants and civilians in its count. The ministry, which operates under the Hamas-run government, is staffed by medical professionals and maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by the international community.