Palestinians transport goods along the al-Rachid coastal road, connecting Gaza City in the north to Nusseirat in the central part of the Palestinian territory, on April 4, 2025. (Credit: Eyad BABA/AFP.)
A video recovered from the cellphone of a rescuer killed with others in March, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent, shows their ambulances with clearly recognizable signs and sirens on amidst heavy gunfire sounds.
On March 23, 15 rescuers and humanitarian personnel were killed by Israeli gunfire in Rafah, in southern Gaza, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent and the U.N., which denounced a "war without limits" in the Palestinian territory embroiled in a conflict between Hamas and Israel. Among them were eight members of the Palestinian Red Crescent, six members of Gaza's civil defense agency, and one U.N. member.
Their bodies were found on March 30 buried under sand near Rafah in what the U.N.'s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) described as a "mass grave."
During a press conference Friday at the U.N. in New York, the vice president of the Palestinian Red Crescent, Marwan Jilani, stated that the video was filmed with a cellphone by one of the killed rescuers, found with his body. The Israeli army "did not attack (any) ambulance randomly" on March 23, spokesman Nadav Shoshani claimed earlier this week, adding that soldiers opened fire on "suspicious vehicles" with no lights on. But in the video obtained by AFP, ambulances can be seen driving with headlights and sirens on.
According to the Palestinian Red Crescent, the convoy was dispatched in response to calls for help from civilians trapped in the bombing in Rafah. The video, apparently filmed from inside a moving vehicle, shows a red fire truck and ambulances driving in the dark.
The vehicles then stop next to another one on the side of the road, and two men, one wearing a paramedic uniform and the other a rescuer's vest, got out. Seconds later, heavy gunfire erupts and the screen goes black. The paramedic filming is then heard reciting the declaration of faith, the "shahada," traditionally spoken by Muslims before death. "There is no God but God, and Muhammad is his messenger," he keeps repeating, his voice trembling with fear.
The heavy gunfire continues, and he is heard saying: "forgive us guys, forgive me mom for I chose this path, that of helping people." He then repeatedly adds "God, accept my martyrdom and forgive me." Just before the video ends and as the gunfire continues, he says: "the Jews are coming, the Jews are coming," referring to the Israeli soldiers.
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