“Forgive me, Mother… this is the path I chose to help people. The army has arrived.” These were the haunting final words of Palestinian paramedic Rifaat Radwan, who documented his last moments before being executed by Israeli forces on March 23 in Rafah’s Tel al-Sultan neighborhood, along with 14 colleagues.
A 6-minute, 42-second video, recovered by the Palestinian Red Crescent Society from Radwan’s phone, reveals the tragic events. After Radwan’s body was found in a mass grave, where Israeli forces had buried the bodies of ambulance and civil defense workers in an attempt to conceal the crime, the footage was released on Saturday.
The video captures the relentless sound of gunfire targeting the medical teams for more than five minutes, accompanied by cries for help and some witnesses reciting the Shahada. It also shows that many of the responders were still alive when Israeli forces arrived, suggesting the executions were deliberate.
The video contradicts Israel’s claims about targeting these teams and shows that the ambulances struck by the army had their emergency lights activated, and the paramedics were wearing the standard reflective uniforms designated for emergency response.
On March 31, the Israeli army issued a statement claiming it had not “randomly attacked ambulances” but had observed “suspiciously approaching vehicles” that did not activate their lights or emergency signals, prompting the army to fire at them.
The army also stated that its attack on civil defense and Red Crescent teams killed “a member of Hamas’s military wing, along with eight other operatives belonging to the Palestinian group and Islamic Jihad.”
Shocking moments
The video shows that as soon as the ambulance teams exited their vehicles to rescue fellow responders who had already been targeted, Israeli forces opened a barrage of gunfire.
Seconds later, Radwan began to recite the Shahada, a sign that he had been shot, as his voice gradually faded.
In the background, the screams of his colleagues can be heard – some crying for help, others repeating the Shahada.
With heavy, broken words, Radwan said, “Forgive me, Mother… This is the path I chose to help people.”
He continued: “O Allah, accept me as a martyr. Forgive me and have mercy on me.”
Moments later, gunfire is heard more clearly, indicating the shooters were drawing nearer.
At the end of the recording, Radwan says faintly, “The army has arrived.”
Beyond the footage
Radwan’s statement in the video that the army reached the area while they were still alive clearly indicates that Israeli forces executed them deliberately after identifying their humanitarian role.
This is further confirmed by a statement from the Gaza Civil Defense, which reported that the bodies of the victims were found buried about 200 meters from their destroyed vehicles, wearing the recognizable orange uniforms used in humanitarian and rescue work. Civil Defense spokesperson Mahmoud Basal confirmed this during a press conference on Wednesday.
He added that some civil defense personnel were found with their hands and feet tied and bullet wounds to their heads and chests – clear evidence they were executed at close range after being identified.
One civil defense worker was found decapitated, while the remains of others were reduced to “body parts.”
Additionally, the first minute of the video shows the ambulances intact and illuminated – clear evidence that the army deliberately targeted vehicles bearing the Palestinian Red Crescent emblem.
The footage leaves no doubt that Israel deliberately committed this horrific crime, which Civil Defense spokesperson Basal described as a crime “beyond imagination – unprecedented in modern history.”
Since Israel’s military onslaught began in October 2023, more than 50,600 Palestinians, most of them women and children, have been killed in Gaza.
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