A boy sits in the back of a tricycle cart with sacks of flour provided by the Turkish disaster relief agency AFAD, received from a supply centre affiliated with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) in al-Tifah neighbourhood of Gaza City on April 1, 2025. Photo by Bashar TALEB / AFP
Geneva: The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor called for economic, diplomatic, and military sanctions against Israeli occupation over its systematic and severe violations of international law.
It also urged accountability for states complicit in or aiding these crimes.
In a statement, the monitor pressed the international community to take urgent action in holding all Israeli officials and individuals accountable for the deliberate killing of Palestinian Red Crescent and Civil Defense medics, as well as a staff member of UNRWA, in the city of Rafah, southern Gaza Strip. The attack is part of a widespread assault targeting medical, humanitarian, and UN personnel, who are protected under international law.
The statement described the killings as the largest mass execution of humanitarian workers in modern warfare, citing field evidence that Israeli forces carried out summary executions of all victims eight Palestinian Red Crescent medics, five Civil Defense personnel, and one UNRWA staff member. Their bodies were reportedly buried in a deep pit covered with sand after Israeli forces completely destroyed their vehicles.
The Euro-Med Monitor highlighted that this massacre is part of a series of deliberate attacks on medical and humanitarian workers since October 7, 2023. According to the statement, Israeli forces killed 111 Civil Defense personnel, 27 Palestinian Red Crescent medics, and over 1,400 healthcare workers in a systematic campaign aimed at crippling Gaza's health and relief infrastructure as a means of dismantling Palestinian resilience.
The statement urged the international community to take decisive legal responsibility and immediate action to halt the genocide in Gaza in all its forms.
