A Palestinian paramedic who has been missing since a massacre of medics and rescue workers by Israeli troops in Gaza last month is being detained in Israel, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
The whereabouts of Assad al-Nsasrah, a Palestinian paramedic, had been unknown for weeks since an incident on 23 March when workers from the Palestinian Red Crescent (PRCS) and Palestinian civil defence came under fire as they drove ambulances to rescue injured colleagues in the southern city of Rafah.
Fifteen Palestinian paramedics and rescue workers, including at least one United Nations employee, were killed in the attack by Israeli troops. The UN has said they were deliberately shot “one by one” and the bodies, along with the rescue vehicles, were then buried with a bulldozer in a sandy pit, in what appears to have been an attempt to cover up the killings. Witnesses who uncovered the bodies said the workers were found still in their uniforms and some had their hands tied.
The Red Crescent called the attack on its workers a “grave violation of international law” and has called for an international investigation.
Nsasrah, 47, from Gaza, who had been working for Red Crescent for 16 years, was among the medics in the ambulances caught up in the ambush, and he had not been seen since. In an interview with the Guardian, another survivor, the Red Crescent volunteer Munther Abed, 27, said he had seen Nsasrah being taken away alive and blindfolded by Israeli officers at the scene of the killings.
On Sunday, the ICRC said it had “received information that the PRCS medic Assad al-Nsasrah has been detained in an Israeli place of detention”. The ICRC spokesperson gave no further details on where Nsasrah was being held and confirmed that Israel had not granted access to visit him.
“The ICRC has not been able to visit any Palestinian detainees held in Israeli places of detention since 7 October 2023,” said the spokesperson. “The ICRC continues to call for access to all places of detention and reiterates publicly and privately that all detainees must always be treated humanely and with dignity.”
In a statement, PRCS called on the international community to demand the release of Nsasrah, a father of six, stating that he had been “forcibly abducted while carrying out his humanitarian duties”.
There was no immediate comment from the Israel military.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have faced mounting pressure over inconsistencies in their account of the attack. They had initially claimed troops opened fire on vehicles that were “advancing suspiciously” without headlights or emergency signals.
However, the IDF had to backtrack after mobile phone footage, from a medic who was among those killed at the scene, showed the ambulances – clearly marked with the Red Crescent logo – driving with flashing red emergency lights and headlights on their vehicles.
Abed, the medic who survived the attack, described how he was held for several hours by Israeli forces after the ambulances came under fire. He said he was fully stripped, beaten again and interrogated about his past before he was finally released.
The IDF said they were now re-examining “operational information” to understand why the initial account had been “mistaken”, and that an investigation was being carried out.
They added that a preliminary inquiry had indicated “troops opened fire due to a perceived threat after a previous encounter in the area, and that six of the individuals killed in the incident were identified as Hamas terrorists”. However, none of those killed in the attack were armed and no proof has yet been presented that any of those killed were Hamas militants.
