Israeli army killed over 1,400 medical staff in Gaza since start of genocide: Officials

Fifteen Palestinian humanitarian workers, including civil defense teams, Red Crescent medics, and an UNRWA employee, were recently executed by the Israeli army during rescue operations

News Desk

MAR 31, 2025

https://thecradle.co/articles/israeli-army-killed-over-1400-medical-staff-in-gaza-since-start-of-genocide-officials

The Israeli army has killed at least 1,402 medical personnel and 111 civil defense personnel in the Gaza Strip since the start of the US-backed genocide, according to a statement released by Gaza's Government Media Office on 31 March.

Moreover, 362 health workers and 26 civil defense staff have been arrested since 7 October 2023, including three doctors tortured to death in Israeli detention centers.

Israeli forces have also bombed 34 hospitals, 80 health centers, 162 health institutions, 15 civil defense headquarters, 142 ambulances, and 54 fire trucks across the besieged enclave.

The announcement by the Government Media Office came hours after the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) retrieved the bodies of 14 rescue workers killed by Israeli forces while under siege in Rafah's Tal al-Sultan neighborhood.

“Field evidence and testimonies confirm that some of the victims were physically executed while handcuffed and were shot in fatal areas of the head and chest by the occupation forces, which proves that this was not a random act of violence, but rather a deliberate execution sanctioned by the Israeli army,” the Government Media Office announced on Monday morning.

Those executed by Israeli troops include eight PRCS paramedics, six members of the Palestinian Civil Defense teams, and an employee of the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA). They were killed while they were “carrying out a humanitarian mission to evacuate the wounded in Rafah Governorate (southern Gaza Strip) in response to an urgent distress call.”

On Saturday, the Israeli military acknowledged attacking ambulances and fire trucks in the Tal al-Sultan neighborhood of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, claiming occupation troops initially opened fire “toward Hamas vehicles.” 

“After an initial inquiry, it was determined that some of the suspicious vehicles … were ambulances and fire trucks,” the statement added.

Israel has killed over 1,000 Palestinians in Gaza since the full resumption of its genocidal war on the strip, about half of whom are women and children.