Israel Frees Gaza Medic Survived Deadly Attack on Emergency Responders
Gaza (Quds News Network)- Israel released from detention on Tuesday a Palestinian paramedic who survived an Israeli attack on emergency responders in Gaza last month.
“The occupation forces have just released medic Asaad Al-Nassasra, who was detained on March 23, 2025, while performing his humanitarian duty during the massacre of medical teams in the Tel Al-Sultan area of Rafah Governorate”, the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said.
Nassasra, an ambulance driver, was among at least 10 Palestinian detainees who were released into the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, the PRCS said.
The agency shared footage on social media that showed a visibly emotional al-Nassasra, dressed in a bright red PRCS jacket, embracing his colleagues after 37 days in Israeli detention.
The first moments of colleague Asaad Al-Nsasrah’s arrival and reunion with his teammates following his release today, after 37 days in detention by the occupation forces. He had been arrested while performing his humanitarian duty during the massacre of medical teams in the Tel… pic.twitter.com/TzGHbZHeJl
— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) April 29, 2025
The PRCS had previously reported Nassasra missing since 23 March, when Israeli forces shot dead 15 paramedics and emergency responders while they were on a rescue mission, before burying them underneath their crushed ambulances in a shallow grave.
Initially, the military claimed that soldiers opened fire on vehicles approaching their position in the dark without emergency lights or markings, deeming them “suspicious”.
However, video footage recovered from the mobile phone of one of the victims and released by the PRCS contradicted this account. The video showed emergency workers in uniform, operating clearly marked ambulances and fire trucks with lights on, being fired upon by soldiers.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said in a statement that it had “received information that the PRCS medic Assad al-Nassasra was detained in an Israeli place of detention”, but it did not provide information about where he was being held.
Another survivor from the attack, Munther Abed, reported that he had seen Nassasra being led away alive and blindfolded by Israeli officers following the killings.
On Sunday, the Israeli army confirmed Nassasra’s detention.
On Wednesday, Haaretz reported that its analysis of the military’s own materials collected as part of an internal investigation into the incident contradicted the army’s claim that soldiers did not shoot indiscriminately at Palestinian ambulances and a fire engine in the early hours of 23 March.
Instead, Haaretz said, soldiers fired continuously at the vehicles for three and a half minutes from close range despite the aid workers’ attempts to identify themselves.
More than 1,400 medical workers have been killed in Israeli attacks since October 2023, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. Around 360 others from the health sector remain in Israeli detention.
