By Jamal Kanj – The Palestine Chronical
In yet another brazen war crime, the Israeli army has murdered eight medics, six civil defense responders, and a United Nations employee. The bodies of the first responders and the UN staff were buried in the sand, and rescuers were prevented from reaching the site for a week in an unscrupulous attempt to obstruct efforts to save and or recover the missing humanitarian teams.
The first responders were on their way to the Tal El-Sultan neighborhood area of Rafah to provide emergency medical assistance to injured civilians following Israeli shelling in the area. Instead of facilitating their life-saving work, Israel targeted and mercilessly murdered the medics, destroying four ambulance vehicles and fire trucks.
This latest murder of medics brings the total number of healthcare workers murdered by Israel to 1,060. Targeting of medical personnel and humanitarian workers is strictly prohibited by Article 25 of the Geneva Conventions and is a blatant war crime, yet Israel continues to flout these laws with impunity. As the world watches in horror and condemns, yet a meaningful action remains absent.
The murder of these first responders was a premeditated war crime and a blatant violation of the International Criminal Court’s statutes, which mandate that countries respect and facilitate medical teams’ work during wartime. The paramedics and rescue workers vanished on March 22 after Israeli soldiers directly targeted their ambulances and fire trucks. The systematic assault on medics and UN personnel is not only a violation of international law but also an affront to human decency—an unmistakable reflection of the Israeli government’s disregard for legal and moral norms.
The genocide in Gaza is part of Israel’s long-standing policy of ethnic cleansing in Palestine, often concealed behind euphemisms like “evacuations” or “protecting civilian lives.”
However, for the first time, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has publicly acknowledged Israeli plans to ethnically cleanse Gaza, aligning with the so-called US President Donald Trump plan. Former racist minister Itamar Ben Gvir rejoined Netanyahu’s ruling coalition to help execute “Trump’s vision” for the expulsion of the Palestinians from Gaza. What was once whispered behind closed doors has now become an explicit strategy.
After the completion of the first phase of the recent ceasefire agreement, Israel unilaterally disregarded its obligations, ultimately refusing to proceed with the second phase in early February. It reinstated the full blockade, halted all food and medical aid from entering Gaza, and cut power to the strip’s only drinking water plant. The Israeli government’s insistence on maintaining military control over the Philadelphi Corridor made it clear that it never intended to honor the agreement it had signed.
In fact, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a staunch ideological racist, never resigned—confident in Netanyahu’s private assurances that Israel would not proceed with phase II of the signed agreement without approval from the security cabinet. This effectively granted Smotrich veto power over any withdrawal from the Philadelphi Corridor, eventually ensuring the collapse of the ceasefire.
Against this backdrop of Israeli deceit and warmongering, the supposed US mediator Steven Witkoff continued to play a pivotal role in whitewashing Israeli violations and manipulating public perception. Rather than holding Israel accountable, Witkoff, the Israeli-first mediator, engaged in outright deception, falsely claiming that the Palestinians “chose war” by rejecting an alleged 50-day extension. This claim was not only misleading but a direct inversion of reality—an effort to shift blame onto Palestinians while giving Netanyahu diplomatic cover to violate an agreement he helped mediate.
The resumption of Israel’s genocide—following the ceasefire brokered by the United States, Qatar, and Egypt—reveals either the mediators’ impotence or their outright complicity in Israel’s flagrant violations. Meanwhile, Washington’s refusal to enforce accountability only further underscores its role in enabling Israeli intransigence.
These facts raise serious questions about the integrity of the US mediation effort. Why does the US feel the need to introduce new conditions or negotiate a new agreement when it had already mediated an agreement? The answer lies in the US’ inability—or unwillingness—to exert pressure on Israel to comply with international norms and agreements. Rather than criticizing Israel for its violations, the US has chosen to blame the victim, and then rationalize and excuse the Israeli-imposed starvation on the children of Gaza.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration has not only shielded Israel from international liability but has also implemented policies designed to suppress criticism of Israel within American academic institutions. By leveraging federal funding and political pressure, the administration has sought to intimidate universities into cracking down on pro-Palestinian activism and to silence dissent under the guise of combating antisemitism.
This deliberate misrepresentation of antisemitism is a perverse attempt to shield Israel from culpability. It not only distorts the term’s true meaning but also weaponizes it to silence legitimate criticism of Israeli crimes. As a result, American institutions that once championed free thought and open debate are increasingly policing speech, disciplining students and faculty, and canceling events that challenge Israeli policies.
This has created a chilling effect on academic freedom, as universities—fearful of government backlash and donor influence—become complicit in stifling legitimate discourse on Palestinian rights, effectively transforming into instruments of repression and censorship. In Trump’s USA, the disappearance of student activists from the streets of American cities into ICE detention centers is the harsh reality for those who dare to speak truth to power.
Intimidating those who challenge power is what allows a country like Israel to continue murdering with impunity. The latest Israeli murder of first responders is not just a tragedy—it is an attack on the very essence of humanity, a crime that undermines the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law.
First responders, medics, and rescue workers embody the most selfless aspects of human nature, risking their own lives to save others. This Israeli action, one of many, is not only a war crime but a moral indictment of a world that allows such brutality to persist. The world’s inaction to Israeli crimes emboldens war criminals, sending a dangerous message that mass killings, starvation, forced displacement, and the targeting of humanitarian workers will face no consequences.
Israel’s brazen dismissal of international laws—weaponizing food and water to achieve military objectives, targeting first responders, bombing hospitals, and annihilating civilian shelters—has not been seen on such a scale since the Nazi atrocities of World War II. Yet, Israel continues to carry out these heinous war crimes with complete impunity, enabled by a US administration paid for, and owned by pro-Israel Jewish billionaires.