1/ New Revelations Regarding the Paramedic Massacre in Rafah
One month ago, on 23 March, Israeli forces executed 15 Palestinian aid workers—among them Red Cresent paramedics, rescue teams, and UN staff. In the same operation, troops killed at least 10 civilians, including five children and a woman. However, evidence suggest that the actual number from that day is significantly higher
Today, the PAL Commission on War Crimes, Justice, Reparations, and Return [The Commission] Legal Director and Chief Counsel- alongside Criminal Defense Attorney Maira Pinheiro, Investigative Journalist Younis Tirawi formally submitted the first fully exhaustive legal dossier detailing its findings on the Tel Sultan Massacre to both the Palestinian Red Crescent and the UN Office in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and the ICJ South African Legal Team
The dossier titled "You identify anyone, you eliminate him” consisting of hundreds of pages forensically documents the Tel Sultan Massacre in unprecedented detail, identifies the commanders and officers directly responsible—circumventing IDF efforts to conceal their identities, establishes the legal foundation for prosecution—and reveals a coordinated operation
involving multiple battalions, multiple commanders, and a sequence of orders delivered through a chain of command that has been painstakingly reconstructed and verified.
It identifies by name key military figures who gave direct orders, fired upon aid workers, buried bodies to conceal war crimes, and terrorized civilians with coercive threats and psychological warfare.
The Commission will announce specific legal actions in the coming period. This submission marks the first phase in our campaign to secure justice for the victims and ensure accountability for the perpetrators
2/ Key Findings:
1. The IDF has acknowledged that the deputy battalion commander led troops on that day and issued the initial order to open fire on the paramedics—, prompting his subordinates to follow suit. Through our investigation, we have identified this officer as 𝐌𝐚𝐣𝐨𝐫 𝐍𝐢𝐤𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐢 𝐀𝐬𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐯
2. The IDF said that the brigade commander ordered the bodies to be dumped and that the ambulances, UN vehicles and firetrucks to be crushed and buried. The brigade commander of the 14th Brigade is Col. Tal ElKobi.
We suspect that Lt. Col. Asaf Shalem, who served as the brigade’s combat operations officer, played a central role in the decision-making process.
Given his position as the brigade’s combat controller during the invasion and operation in the Tel Sultan neighborhood, it is likely that he was closely involved in the planning and execution of the events that unfolded there.
3. According to multiple testimonies who witnessed the attack with their eyes, between 30 and 40 soldiers were hiding in ambush on Baraksat Road. After approximately five minutes of continuous fire, groups of five soldiers approached the wounded aid workers and executed them at point-blank range—less than one meter away. Negev Machine Guns and standard M16 Rifles were the weapons used in the attack.
One witness, with a medical background, emphasized that the soldiers made no effort to check pulses or offer medical assistance, despite having a clear opportunity when they reached the victims at the second ambulance attack
4. Additionally, three tanks from the 87th Battalion—specifically from Companies M and K—arrived early that morning and fired a shell at the vehicle of UN Staff Field Security Supervisor in Rafah, Kamal Shatout while he was still inside. He was killed instantly. A bulldozer later crushed the UN vehicle. In the same area, another UN employee (working as a security guard) was seriously injured by bullets while in a clearly marked UN vehicle. According to a local resident who helped evacuate him, the incident occurred shortly after the killing of the aid workers. Both Kamal Shatout and the injured employee were in the Baraksat area—home to UN logistical warehouses—along with several families who had taken it as a shelter, The 87th Battalion is led today by 𝐋𝐭. 𝐂𝐨𝐥 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐚𝐧 𝐆𝐫𝐮𝐛𝐞𝐫, and M Company commander Major 𝐘𝐨𝐭𝐚𝐦 𝐀𝐡𝐢𝐞𝐥
One of the tanks itself at the massacre scene on 23 March
5. Members of the Nov 23’ enlistment group from Sayeret Golani were positively identified as present at the exact scene of the killings.
Cropped illustrative image taken from the personal footage of a Sayeret Golani soldier implicated in the massacre.
6. At least two teams from Company A of Sayeret Golani, including a specialized sabotage team of 17 soldiers, were confirmed to have been positioned in a building overlooking the massacre scene.
Some of their names and faces have been identified
7. Eyewitnesses—formally interviewed via detailed intake forms by the PAL Commission—visually identified several Israeli soldiers from the Golani Reconnaissance Unit present at the scene that day of the massacre. Among those recognized were Commander David Cohen, multiple team leaders, and specific members of both the Auxiliary Unit and the November 2023 enlistment group.
Screenshot from an eyewitness identifying Golani Reconnaissance Unit Commander Lt.Col David Cohen.
8. Within 48 hours of the massacre, the PAL Commission’s Investigative Team had already established the responsibility of the Golani Reconnaissance Unit for the atrocity.
Our investigation further confirmed the involvement of the unit’s own auxiliary company, which arrived shortly afterward in exactly seven armored personnel carriers (APCs). This company sealed off the area, actively participated in the forced disappearance of bodies, and took part in the forcible displacement of civilians from Rafah.
The APCs utilized 200 cartridges of 7.62×51mm NATO rounds that day on their machine guys that day
9. In a particularly harrowing case, a 55-year-old man and his 12-year-old son were detained by Israeli troops. While the IDF claimed that the detention demonstrated an intention to avoid indiscriminate killing, our findings show it served a military objective.
Acting on orders from a high-ranking officer, the civilian man was used as a human shield, forced to dress as a paramedic, perform tasks under coercion and deliver military threats to civilians in Tel Sultan. He was made to proclaim: “Tell the residents to evacuate. Anyone remaining in Tel Sultan after 14:00 will be executed.” His son was held hostage to ensure his compliance.
10. We also identified a D9 bulldozer operator from the Tzama Company of the 601st Combat Engineering Battalion as likely responsible for digging the mass grave where the bodies of the aid workers, along with their vehicles, were buried. The D9 Company is under the command of 𝐂𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐍𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐥 𝐂𝐨𝐡𝐞𝐧
The bulldozer at the massacre scene
11. Notably, visual evidence we obtained shows at least 17 soldiers leaving the exact ambush site the morning of the attack.
The IDF’s own internal investigation acknowledges the involvement of at least 24 soldiers and their commanders.
12. Of the 10 civilian victims we identified, at least 7 were executed by gunfire or shelling in the presence of Israeli forces on Baraksat area, where the auxiliary unit, Company A team members, the deputy battalion commander, and tanks from the 87th Battalion were all present.
13. According to several testimonies from residents of Rafah, Israeli troops made an operational error when they set up a checkpoint near the Hilmi Saqr Mosque, under the mistaken belief that only a few residents remained in the Saudi area of Tel Sultan neighborhood and that residents would move through the mosque street. They soon realized, however, that a number of civilians were moving along Tayran Street, both of which lead to the main evacuation road. In response, they temporarily closed the checkpoint between 11:00 and 11:20 to redirect people toward Alam Junction and take the road leading to the coast from there.
When civilians reached the area, two civilians were killed and six others injured by Israeli troops present there, including a father Mohammed Turki Abo Hasanin who was shot dead reportedly holding a white flag afront of his kids
14. SMS messages obtained show an IDF Intelligence Officer, known by the alias Captain Hosam, issuing threats to civilians—warning that their tents and all belongings would be bombed if they failed to take them
This highlight an intent to target civilian infrastructure .
15. Among the civilians killed by Israeli troops on that day are three Egyptian nationals—including two young girls—between 06:30 and 06:45, as they walked along a main road just 200–300 meters from the massacre site in the sight of the tanks.
The family had been sheltering nearby but were forced to flee after an earlier shelling killed an elderly couple and destroyed the tent behind them.
To this day, their bodies have not been recovered. The mother of the two daughters states that Israel has refused to allow her to retrieve the remains of her daughters and husband.
Special thanks to those who cannot be named for security reasons, and to the incredible Brazilian criminal defense attorney Maira Pinheiro—Instagram: advmaira—whose was vital in drafting this dossier.
All intake forms and perpetrator evidence was managed under strict chain of custody protocols to ensure its admissibility in court.
For context, these soldiers operated under the command of Lt. Col. David Cohen, who is genocidal.
The deputy battalion commander injured in October is Major Matan Yosef. He is mentioned here because he may have also been involved in previous operations of a similar nature.
