More than dozen aid workers found in "mass grave" in southern Gaza Photo

The bodies of at least 14 aid workers have been recovered from what the United Nations has described as a "mass grave" in southern Gaza, a week after they went missing following attacks by Israeli forces.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said eight of those recovered on March 30 were members of its organisation, while five were civil defence personnel and one was a UN agency worker, Caliber.Az reports via foreign media.

Another PRCS medic remains missing.

A fifteenth body, belonging to a civil defence worker, was recovered on March 27 after PRCS said it had initially been denied access to the site in the Rafah area.

PRCS previously reported that nine of its emergency medical technicians went missing on March 23 after Israeli forces fired on ambulances and fire trucks in southern Rafah.

The Israeli military claimed it had targeted the vehicles because they were allegedly being used by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad militants. However, international aid organisations and the UN have strongly condemned the attacks, with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) calling it the “single most deadly” attack on its workers in almost a decade.

“This massacre of our team is a tragedy not only for us at the Palestine Red Crescent Society, but also for humanitarian work and humanity,” PRCS said, describing the attack as a “war crime” under international law.

The attacks occurred amid an intensified Israeli assault on Gaza, with the enclave nearing a month under a near-total blockade of humanitarian aid.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the bodies were recovered after a “complex, week-long rescue operation” using bulldozers and heavy machinery to dig them out from beneath sand and debris.

Jonathan Whittall, head of UNOCHA in the occupied Palestinian territories, said from the site: “Health workers should never be a target. And yet, we’re here today, digging up a mass grave of first responders and paramedics.”

Video footage shared by the UN showed emergency responders using shovels to unearth bodies, some of whom were still wearing PRCS vests and showed signs of decomposition. According to initial reports, the first aid team was killed on March 23, and subsequent responders were struck over the following hours as they searched for missing colleagues.

“One by one, they were hit, they were struck, their bodies were gathered and buried,” Mr Whittall said. “We’re digging them out in their uniforms, with their gloves on.”

He also accused Israeli forces of attempting to cover up the scene, stating that ambulances and civil defence vehicles were found crushed and buried under the sand.

Israel’s military has maintained that its forces fired on “suspicious vehicles,” including ambulances and fire trucks, which were approaching troops without coordination, headlights or emergency signals.

The military said it had “eliminated” Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants who were allegedly using civilian infrastructure for military purposes.

The attacks came just days after Israel resumed its offensive on Gaza on March 18, breaking a ceasefire with Hamas. Since then, at least 921 Palestinians have been killed and more than 2,000 injured, according to the Hamas-controlled Gaza health ministry. These figures cannot be independently verified, as foreign journalists are barred from entering Gaza.

The incident follows Israel’s decision to block humanitarian aid deliveries before the ceasefire collapsed, in what it described as an attempt to pressure Hamas into accepting new truce terms.

UNOCHA and aid agencies accuse Israel of violating international law by restricting aid access and using starvation as a weapon of war. International humanitarian groups have repeatedly condemned Israeli strikes on medical facilities and personnel.

Jagan Chapagain, Secretary General of the IFRC, stated: “Even in the most complex conflict zones, there are rules. These rules of International Humanitarian Law could not be clearer – civilians must be protected; humanitarians must be protected. Health services must be protected.”

According to OCHA, more than 400 aid workers—including teachers, doctors, and nurses—have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. PRCS said the number of its staff killed in the line of duty now stands at 27.

Meanwhile, Gaza health officials report that the death toll in the enclave has surpassed 50,000, marking a grim milestone in a conflict with no end in sight.

By Aghakazim Guliyev