Gaza mass grave underscores ‘war without limits’, UN official says
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Palestinians inspecting the damage at an ambulance repair yard that was hit during Israeli strikes on the al-Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on March 24.
PHOTO: AFP
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NEW YORK - The mass grave in Rafah where the bodies of 15 medics were found
“It was shocking” to see medical workers “still in their uniforms, still wearing gloves, killed while trying to save lives”, said Mr Jonathan Whittall, head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) in the Palestinian territories.
“The ambulances were hit one by one,” he said in a video conference after a mission to Gaza uncovered the mass grave. Of the 15 killed, eight were members of the Palestinian Red Crescent and one was from the UN.
UN chief Antonio Guterres on April 2 also expressed revulsion at the killings.
His spokesman Stephane Dujarric told a briefing: “The Secretary-General is shocked by the attacks of the Israeli army on a medical and emergency convoy on March 23 resulting in the killings of 15 medical personnel and humanitarian workers in Gaza.”
Ocha said on April 1 that the first team of first aid workers was killed by Israeli forces on March 23, and that other emergency and aid teams were hit one after another over several hours while searching for their missing colleagues.
After several weeks of ceasefire in Gaza, Israel resumed its bombardments on March 18. On April 2, it announced the extension of its military operations to seize “large areas” of the territory
Mr Whittall said 64 per cent of Gaza is under displacement orders, and that 200,000 people have been uprooted since the end of the ceasefire.
He said the 25 bakeries run by the UN’s World Food Programme have been closed since April 2.
“It’s an endless loop of blood, pain, death, and Gaza has become a death trap,” he said. “What is happening here defies decency, it defies humanity, it defies the law.” AFP
