Mother laments her son killed by the IDF during forced displacement from Rafah

No.

16235

Date

23 March, 2025

Location

Original Social Media Post

"The Israeli occupation forces carry out field executions in Rafah. A Displaced Palestinian in Rafah Bids Farewell to Her Martyred Son in Anguish: “I Left Him in the Street with Tanks in Front of Me.” الاحتلال يعدم العشرات من المواطنين في رفح، سيدة تركت نجلها خلفها بعد اصابته برصاص الاحتلال. Source:@hazmaslman" - Source

Tags

Archivist Notes: Rafah displacement and massacre of rescue team

Forced displacement:

Around 8 am, the IDF issued a forced displacement order covering the Tal al-Sultan area, in southwest Rafah.

Israel prohibited displacement by vehicles, forcing people, ailing, elderly to walk long distances under Israeli gunfire, as was documented by journalists on the ground.

Field executions

Multiple eyewitnesses recounted that the IDF shot at people during the forced displacement, and struck a bus full of people.

A father, displaced from the Saudi neighborhood, also recounted seeing two people being shot dead on the coastal road, and found his own son killed lying on the ground in the "barracks" area.

A mother, also reported her son was killed but could not take his body as the tanks were in front of her.

Rescue vehicles bombed and crew missing

At dawn, hours before the forced displacement announcement, the IDF had struck a PRCS ambulance north of Rafah. Palestinian sources reported hours later, around 8 am, that IDF troops had surrounded a number of ambulances and people in Rafah, including some injured by Israeli attacks. The vehicles were transporting 15 paramedics and rescue workers responding to the aftermath of Israeli strikes in Al-Hashashin area of Rafah.

At 10 am, contact was lost with Civil Defense crews who were on a mission to rescue PRCS crews targeted by the IDF.

On March 28, a joint mission involving Civil Defense, Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) and UNOCHA reached the area and found the PRCS and Civil Defense vehicles bombed and completely destroyed. Moreover the head of the Civil Defense mission to Rafah, Anwar al-Attar was found killed.

On March 30, another mission to search for the missing crew found most of the missing crew members killed, including a UN staff.

Al-Jazeera's fact checking agency, Sanad, obtained and analyzed satellite imagery which clearly showed IDF vehicles surrounding the rescue vehicles.

List of the members of the rescue mission:

  1. Mustafa Khafaja (Red Crescent, killed)
  2. Ezz El-Din Shaat (Red Crescent, killed)
  3. Saleh Muammar (Red Crescent, killed)
  4. Muhammad Bahloul (Red Crescent, killed)
  5. Muhammad Al-Hila (Red Crescent, killed)
  6. Ashraf Abu Libda (Red Crescent, killed)
  7. Raed Al-Sharif (Red Crescent, killed)
  8. Refaat Radwan (Red Crescent, killed)
  9. Asaad Al-Nsasra (Red Crescent, missing)
  10. Anwar Al-Attar (Civil Defense, killed)
  11. Fouad Al-Jammal (Civil Defense, killed)
  12. Yousef Khalifa (Civil Defense, killed)
  13. Zuhayr Al-Farra (Civil Defense, killed)
  14. Sameer Al-Bahabsa (Civil Defense, killed)
  15. Ibrahim Al-Mughari (Civil Defense, killed)
  16. unnamed United Nations staff member (killed)

The details for each video come from social media. None of it has been verified.