Rafah: The Israeli occupation military has provided new details that changed its initial account of the killing of 15 emergency workers near the southern Gaza city of Rafah last month, but said investigators were still examining the evidence.

According to Oman News Agency, the 15 paramedics and emergency responders were shot dead on 23 March 2025 by Israeli occupation army and buried in a shallow grave where their bodies were found a week later by officials from the United Nations and the Palestinian Red Crescent. Another man is still missing.

The Israeli occupation military initially said soldiers had opened fire on vehicles that approached their position "suspiciously" in the dark without lights or markings. It said they killed nine militants from Hamas who were travelling in Palestinian Red Crescent vehicles.

But video recovered from the mobile phone of one of the dead men and published by the Palestinian Red Crescent debunked the whole account of the Israeli occupation army. The video showed emergency workers in their uniforms and clearly marked ambulances and fire trucks, with their lights on, being fired on by soldiers.

The only known survivor of the incident, Palestinian Red Crescent paramedic Munther Abed, also said he had seen soldiers opening fire on clearly marked emergency response vehicles.

The U.N. and Palestinian Red Crescent have demanded an independent inquiry into the killing of the paramedics.

Red Crescent and U.N. officials have said 17 paramedics and emergency workers from the Red Crescent, the Civil Emergency service and the U.N. had been dispatched to respond to reports of injuries from Israeli air strikes.

Apart from Abed, who was detained for several hours before being released, another worker is still missing.

The U.N. said last week that available information indicated one team was killed by Israeli forces and other emergency and aid crews were killed one after another over several hours as they searched for their missing colleagues.

The United Nations confirmed last week that it had been informed of the location of the bodies but that access to the area was denied by the Israeli occupation army for several days. It said the bodies had been buried alongside their crushed vehicles - clearly marked ambulances, a fire truck and a U.N. car.