At Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, Taghreed al-Attar sits subsequent to her husband’s physique, which was found final Friday in Rafah. Her husband, Anwar al-Attar, left with fellow first responders to Rafah the earlier week, however nobody returned.
His spouse says that once they misplaced contact with him, individuals instructed her he had been imprisoned by the Israeli military. However she says he got here to her in a dream, and he or she noticed him in paradise surrounded by rivers and fruit. She couldn’t imagine he was a prisoner.
“He by no means missed work for a second because the conflict started. He was injured 3 times, and everybody requested him to cease working and take a relaxation,” Taghreed says in a video testimony to Mondoweiss. “However he all the time stated he wanted to be a job mannequin for his colleagues and would by no means cease working and offering providers to his individuals. He risked his life, coming into the rubble and extracting martyrs. I’m happy with him and hope our kids might be like him.”
She notes that he all the time talked to her concerning the risks he confronted, typically telling her that quadcopter drones all the time chased after them and typically fired on them. She would ask him if he was scared, and he would inform her that God was with him.
“Anwar has three daughters, the youngest of whom is 4,” his spouse says.
Al-Attar had been dispatched along with his Civil Protection colleagues final week on a mission to rescue a staff of paramedics with the Palestinian Pink Crescent Society (PRCS) who had gone lacking, solely to have contact with him and the rescue staff severed as nicely.
Anwar’s physique was discovered buried within the sand just a few days later. This was the primary signal of proof that the Israeli military had focused Civil Protection and PRCS crews in Rafah, a Civil Protection spokesperson instructed Mondoweiss.
Just a few days after discovering the physique of al-Attar, Civil Protection groups that had been digging within the space after being granted permission by the Israeli military discovered 14 useless our bodies.
The Gaza Ministry of Well being stated in a press release on March 30 that the our bodies belonged to eight paramedics from PRCS, 5 members of the Civil Protection, and one particular person whose id stays unknown. The assertion stated that the crews had been “executed” and “some have been discovered with their arms certain.”
The Ministry added that the our bodies of the primary responder groups confirmed indicators of being intentionally focused. “A few of them have been shot within the head and chest, and so they have been buried in deep holes to forestall them from being discovered,” the Ministry stated.
On the funeral of al-Attar final week, Civil Protection members bidding farewell to their fallen colleague with tears of their eyes instructed Mondoweiss through video testimony about al-Attar’s dedication to his work. “He was finishing up humanitarian work all through the conflict, and his mission was to retrieve the wounded and the martyrs from the rubble,” stated Abdul Rahman Ashour, one of many Civil Protection members who recovered al-Attar’s physique from Rafah.
“Anwar’s vest and helmet, which mark him as a Civil Defence Employee, have been punctured by over 20 bullet holes,” Ashour instructed Mondoweiss. “He was shot within the head and chest, and within the decrease a part of his physique. He was brutally murdered.”
The PRCS ambulance that had been despatched to Rafah to reply misery calls had caught fireplace after being fired upon by the Israeli military, Ashour stated. That was when al-Attar and his crew have been dispatched, leaving with a hearth engine and one other ambulance in tow.
“The ambulance and fireplace crews have been instantly focused,” Ashour added, saying that al-Attar and his colleagues have been “executed within the discipline.”
How the Bloodbath of First Responders Unfolded
Over the previous week, the Israeli military raided varied areas within the Gaza Strip, together with the Tal al-Sultan neighborhood in Rafah, particularly an space to the west half generally generally known as “al-Baraksat.” Through the first days of the raid, residents shared horrific tales of mass executions, younger males being rounded up in ditches and shot at point-blank vary, and youngsters being killed in entrance of their moms.
A number of survivors who managed to depart the world repeated these claims to Mondoweiss, however Mondoweiss was unable to confirm them on the time on condition that no first responders have been allowed to succeed in the world on account of the tight blockade imposed by the Israeli military. Since then, an increasing number of testimonies have emerged from survivors and first responders who got here from the world.
Marwan al-Hams, director of discipline hospitals in Gaza, instructed Mondoweiss through video testimony that that they had been receiving stories of “many our bodies and physique elements” being present in Rafah. “They’re the stays of a gaggle of martyrs,” he stated. “Individuals tried to retrieve them however have been unable to. They simply lined them with sand to maintain them from being eaten by stray canines.”
It was on this context that civilians trapped in Tal al-Sultan despatched out misery calls to the PRCS and Civil Protection within the Rafah space final week. Two autos have been dispatched, and once they disappeared, the 2 autos led by Anwar al-Attar went after them.
The destiny of all of the crews remained unknown for over every week. Throughout this era, the PRCS and Civil Protection tried to acquire coordination permission from the Israeli military to enter Rafah to seek for their lacking colleagues.
Mahmoud Basal, a Civil Protection spokesperson within the Gaza Strip, recounts that as quickly as Attar’s staff had arrived in Rafah, the Israeli military closed the entrances and exits to Rafah, successfully besieging the primary responders. That was when communications have been misplaced, Basal says.
“We demanded that worldwide organizations and the worldwide group assist us to coordinate with the occupation to be allowed entry into the world, so we might know the destiny of our crews,” Basal tells Mondoweiss. “Over a number of days, we tried to coordinate, however the occupation categorically refused.”
After quite a few requests, the Civil Protection, the Pink Crescent, and the UN Workplace for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) obtained coordination from the occupation on March 27.
“We entered Rafah after a lot struggling, solely to be shocked by the size of the bloodbath that had taken place there,” Basal says. “The occupation forces opened heavy fireplace on Pink Crescent and Civil Protection autos. Israeli bulldozers even positioned sand obstacles over the world [where they were buried], utterly altering its options.”
“All indications on the scene present that the Israeli occupation forces executed the medical crews,” Basal continues, including that in search efforts on March 27, the groups recognized the physique of Anwar al-Attar. “We tried to find the others, however darkness fell and prevented us from finishing the search.”
Three days later, the Civil Protection groups discovered the remainder of the lacking crews — 14 individuals discovered buried, some with their arms certain and displaying indicators of being shot within the head and chest.
Civil Protection and Pink Crescent crews take pleasure in worldwide immunity and are protected by worldwide humanitarian legislation, Basal factors out.
“However sadly, the occupation has clear expertise with killings. We’re speaking about 105 civil protection martyrs, all of whom had immunity, however the occupation killed them,” Basal says. “This demonstrates that the occupation has no crimson traces and doesn’t abide by worldwide or humanitarian legislation.”
An Israeli military statement to AFP stated that “a couple of minutes” after troopers “eradicated a number of Hamas terrorists” by opening fireplace on their autos, “further autos superior suspiciously towards the troops.” The assertion added that the military had shot “towards the suspicious autos, eliminating quite a lot of Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists.”
The military admitted that an preliminary inquiry revealed that “some” of the autos have been ambulances and fireplace vans, including that the military condemns using such autos by “terrorist organizations” for “terrorist functions.”
Mahmoud Basal denies these allegations, saying that the occupation needed to cowl up the crime by claiming that they have been fighters from Hamas and Islamic Jihad. He says that the Civil Protection holds the Israeli occupation totally accountable for killing the crews, violating worldwide humanitarian legislation, and committing a bloodbath in opposition to medical personnel and first responders, who’re distinguished by their orange vests.
“This vest is coordinated with the Israeli occupation,” Basal says. “The entry operation [of the rescue teams into Rafah] was clear, however the occupation dedicated the bloodbath and now needs to flee embarrassment.”
“What occurred to our crews is a full-fledged bloodbath and against the law for which the occupation have to be held accountable by the free world and humanitarian organizations,” Basal added. “This has critical repercussions, and the world should understand that what occurred in Gaza is a flagrant violation of worldwide humanitarian legislation.”
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