U.N. Accuses Israel of Killing 15 Rescue Workers in Gaza

As Israeli forces advanced on the southern Gaza city of Rafah before dawn last Sunday, an ambulance crew set out to evacuate civilians wounded by Israeli shelling.But the ambulance was hit on the way, and its crew injured.Several more ambulances and a fire truck headed to the scene, according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society, as did a U.N.

vehicle, the United Nations said.Seventeen people were dispatched in total.Then they all went silent.It took five days for the United Nations and Red Crescent to negotiate with the Israeli military for safe passage to search for the missing people.

After receiving clearance, U.N.officials said, the retrieval team found 15 dead over the weekend, most of their bodies dumped in a mass grave.On Monday, the United Nations said Israel had killed them — a rare accusation by the organization, which is typically cautious about assigning clear blame.“They were killed by Israeli forces while trying to save lives,” the U.N.

humanitarian chief, Tom Fletcher, said on X.“We demand answers & justice.”The Red Crescent, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the United Nations said all of those killed were humanitarian workers who should never have come under attack.

The Red Crescent called the killings a war crime and demanded accountability.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe....